On September 17, Dada Group announced that JD.com, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, purchased 87.5 million ordinary shares and 1.875 million American depositary shares of Dada held by Walmart's subsidiary. As a result, JD.com has acquired all of Walmart's shares in Dada, increasing its stake to 63.2%. Meanwhile, Walmart China's president and CEO, Zhu Xiaojing, resigned from Dada's board of directors.

Insiders from Dada stated that this transaction is merely a change in equity investment, and the business relationship between Dada and Walmart remains unaffected. Both parties continue to be important strategic partners and look forward to maintaining mutually beneficial business cooperation in the future.

Insiders from JD.com revealed that the increased stake in Dada demonstrates JD.com's confidence in Dada's long-term and stable development and reflects Dada's unique position within JD.com's ecosystem. They also anticipate further deepening the strategic partnership between the two.

Following the news, Dada's stock soared 21.7% to close at $1.29 per share on September 17, Eastern Time.

Dada was established in 2014 and went public on NASDAQ in June 2020. It currently has two core businesses: Dada Now, a local on-demand delivery platform, and JD Daojia, a local on-demand retail platform. As of the end of March this year, JD.com held a 53.1% stake in Dada, while Walmart held a 9.4% stake.

In 2016, JD.com and Walmart reached a series of deep strategic cooperation agreements, with Walmart acquiring 144.95 million newly issued Class A ordinary shares from JD.com, making it one of JD.com's major investors with approximately 5% of the shares. On the other hand, JD.com acquired the main assets of Walmart's wholly-owned subsidiary, No.1 Shop, in a transaction valued at $1.5 billion at that time.

Regarding this transaction, Walmart responded, "After the equity transfer, we will allocate assets to other priorities." As of the end of July, Walmart had $8.8 billion in cash globally, a decrease of $1 billion from the beginning of the year.

Acquiring Walmart's stake in Dada aligns with JD.com's strategy to increase its investment in the on-demand retail business. Dada has always been an indispensable part of JD.com and continues to benefit from the extensive empowerment of JD.com's ecosystem.

In 2015, JD.com officially entered the on-demand retail sector, leveraging Dada Now to launch JD Daojia delivery services. In 2021, JD.com and Dada jointly launched "JD Hourly Purchase," fully integrating JD's retail and JD Daojia services. Dada subsequently took over JD's on-demand retail and delivery business. In February 2022, JD.com invested $546 million to increase its stake in Dada to 52%, becoming the largest shareholder of the group.

Earlier this year, JD.com announced that "content ecology, open ecology, and on-demand retail" are the three major battles for the company in 2024.

The "2023 China On-Demand Retail Industry Market Research Report" indicates that since 2018, the on-demand retail industry has maintained an annual growth rate of over 50%, and it is expected that by 2025, the market size will reach three times that of 2022.

As a result, JD.com began to strengthen its investment in Dada this year.

In May, Dada announced that its business would accelerate its full integration into JD.com's ecosystem, upgrading its on-demand retail brands, JD Hourly Delivery and JD Daojia, into "JD Express," which delivers within as fast as 9 minutes, continuously optimizing user experience. Currently, the service covers over 2,300 counties, districts, and cities nationwide, with more than 500,000 partnered stores, and has received special support in terms of traffic and exposure, being prominently featured on JD.com's app homepage.

In late August, Dada disclosed its second-quarter financial report for the 2024 fiscal year, reporting revenue of approximately 2.35 billion yuan, a decline year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, with a net loss of about 286 million yuan during the period. Among them, JD Express generated revenue of 912 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 43.6%; Dada Express (now Dada Now) achieved revenue of 1.338 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.6% due to an increase in the volume of same-city delivery services.

At the same time, significant personnel changes occurred within Dada Group. JD.com consultant Guo Qing was appointed as the chairman of Dada's board and also became a member of the compensation committee. Prior to this, he was responsible for various businesses at Meituan, including accommodation, ticketing, and vacation services, and was selected for Meituan's top decision-making body, the S-team, before being reassigned as the general manager of the cycling division.

Insiders revealed that after taking over Dada, Guo Qing proposed a development plan to "fully benchmark Meituan's flash purchase" strategy. During the earnings call, Dada executives stated that the group would fully embrace JD.com's ecosystem, combining Dada's supply side with JD.com's demand side to increase market share in the on-demand retail industry.

JD.com's second-quarter performance report for 2024 shows that the company recorded revenue of 291.4 billion yuan during the period, with first-half revenue reaching 551.4 billion yuan. During this period, JD's Non-GAAP net profit attributable to shareholders reached 14.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 69.0%; the net profit margin reached 5.0% for the first time, both significantly exceeding market expectations.

Among them, revenue from logistics and other services reached 34.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%; and the Non-GAAP operating profit of its logistics segment has achieved profitability for five consecutive quarters, with the Non-GAAP operating profit margin reaching a new high since JD Logistics went public.

In recent days, JD Logistics also signed a freight service framework agreement and an operational support service framework agreement with Dada, valid until December 31, 2026. According to the agreement, Dada will provide local on-demand freight services for JD Logistics.