Image: JD.com courier delivering in Wuhan, China, Feb. 4, 2020. Source: JD.com
China’s e-commerce giant, JD.com Inc, announced today it would buy back up to $2 billion of its shares. The company expects the buyback to occur over the next 2 years and plans to fund the program with its existing cash balance.
According to the announcement, JD.com’s board will review the share repurchase program periodically, and may authorize adjustment of its terms and size. The company had previously announced buybacks of $1 billion each in 2015 and 2018.
Despite the virus outbreak, JD.com earlier this month forecast revenue to rise by at least 10% in the first quarter as consumers stuck at home turned online for most of their shopping needs. Besides helping people through its online shopping platform, JD.com’s use of drones during the coronavirus outbreak in China was noted by the World Economic Forum’s blog. The blog post mentions the company’s use of drones to address delivery challenges to isolated areas during the epidemic period. It writes, “With the support of the local government, e-commerce company JD.com deployed its drone team. That team quickly conducted ground surveys, designed flight corridors, requested airspace access permission and conducted final flight tests.”
Additionally, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has approached Bank of America and UBS about a secondary listing in Hong Kong. The South China Morning Post reported the move was spurred by the difficult conditions caused by the ongoing US-China trade war. The Beijing-headquartered company has not applied for its secondary listing to the Hong Kong stock exchange yet, but is planning to do so in the first half of 2020, Hong Kong investment site Ryanben Capital reported on Monday, citing “informed sources.”
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Source: Equities News
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