Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com leaped 5.75% higher on its Hong Kong debut Thursday, after raising almost US$4 billion in an initial public offering that was the world’s second-biggest this year.
JD.com is the third Chinese tech firm to launch a secondary listing on the Hong Kong exchange, following rival Alibaba in September and gaming giant Netease last week. It was one of the largest market debuts for a Chinese tech firm as well as for the Hong Kong market this year.
JD went public on the New York–based Nasdaq stock exchange in 2014, a few months before its online retailing rival Alibaba Group debuted on the same exchange.
The June 18 debut coincides with JD’s massive “618” shopping festival, an annual promotion that last year brought in a record $29.2 billion in sales. The event coincides with the company’s founding on June 18, 1998.
This year’s campaign, though, is unlike any other in the company’s history. The event — which has grown to include JD.com’s big rivals, Alibaba (BABA) and Pinduoduo (PDD) — is one of the most significant barometers yet of how much Chinese consumers are spending as the world’s second-largest economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Nationwide coronavirus lockdowns in China in the first months of the year caused online retail sales to surge. In the first quarter of 2020, JD’s revenue grew 20.7% year over year, and online sales during the May Day holiday in the first week of May increased 45% compared with the holiday period in 2019.
