Alibaba rival JD Finance is going independent after raising $1 billion from external investors last year. The companies are rivales in China’s e-commerce; while Alibaba holds a 54% market share to JD.com’s 23.2%, the percentage gap has narrowed.
JD.com is divesting its entire 68.6 percent stake for 14.3 billion RMB, or around $2.1 billion USD. The move essentially hedges any risk that JD.com investors may feel around JD Finance, which was valued at $7.1 billion at the time of last year’s financing.
Meanwhile, Alibaba’s fintech affiliate, Ant Financial, is out doing deals to expand its global presence and raising a $3 billion war chest for further M&A. Ant Financial raised $4.5 billion at a valuation of $60 billion last April, and will likely go public this year or the next.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/03/jd-finance-spin-out/
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/030516/alibaba-vs-jdcom-battle-china-baba-jd.asp