JD: We have noticed rumors that "a businessman surnamed Liu is suspected of violating the law and has been arrested" and have reported the case

On October 13th, a spokesperson for JD.com stated in an article that we are concerned about rumors that "Liu, a businessman surnamed Liu, is suspected of violating the law and has been arrested"

On October 13th, a spokesperson for JD.com stated in an article that we are concerned about rumors that "Liu, a businessman surnamed Liu, is suspected of violating the law and has been arrested". This rumor was deliberately published by people with ulterior motives in JD.com's relevant news dynamics to confuse the public and manipulate public opinion. We express strong indignation at this heinous behavior and have reported it to the public security organs. (Yan Yan)

Extended reading:

Rating downgraded, JD Hong Kong shares suffer their largest decline since the beginning of this year

On October 13th, the stock price of JD Hong Kong suffered its largest decline this year. As of the morning close, JD Hong Kong's stock price fell 12.06% to HKD 103.5. In addition to JD, the stock prices of other companies in the JD family have also declined. As of the morning close, JD Health's stock price fell 4.33% to HKD 38.65, while JD Logistics' stock price fell 4.15% to HKD 9.48.

Today, Hong Kong technology stocks continued to weaken. As of the noon close, Meituan's stock price fell 3.89% to HKD 113.8, Alibaba's stock price fell 3.44% to HKD 82.9, and Bilibili's stock price fell 5.81% to HKD 108.6.

Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Broadcom Analytics, said that the decline in JD Hong Kong's stock market is related to the downgrade of JD's rating by multiple institutions. According to Futu, on October 13th, Macquarie downgraded JD Group's Hong Kong stock rating to neutral, with a target price of HKD 124. Morgan Stanley has downgraded JD Group's ADR rating to flat, with a target price of $33. In addition, Nomura released a report predicting that JD's revenue in the third quarter will increase by 1% year-on-year to 246 billion yuan. The bank estimates that JD's retail revenue remains unchanged at 212 billion yuan annually, 4% lower than the market's expected 220 billion yuan. Wang Pengbo stated that due to the downgrade of JD's rating, market confidence was insufficient, leading to a stock price plunge.

From the stock price trend, the stock prices of JD series companies have been in a continuous downward trend since the beginning of this year. At the beginning of this year, the stock price of JD Hong Kong exceeded HKD 200. On January 6th, JD's stock price rose 13.68% to close at HKD 247.57, and on January 27th, its stock price reached HKD 248. Since then, JD's stock price has been declining all the way, and it has now dropped to around HKD 100. Within nine months, the stock price has dropped by over 55%.

Other companies in the JD family have also fallen along the way. JD Health's stock price has dropped from a high of HKD 68 at the beginning of the year to the current HKD 38.65, a decrease of approximately 44%. JD Logistics' stock price has dropped from a high of HKD 16.78 in February this year to the current HKD 9.48, a decrease of approximately 44%.

Regarding the continuous decline in JD's stock price, Wang Pengbo told First Financial that there are several reasons for the decline in JD's stock price. Firstly, in the face of fierce external competition, JD's business growth rate is not as expected, or only meets the lower limit of analysts' expectations. Secondly, JD's transformation is still in the process of exploration and requires more time. Thirdly, the overall economic environment and growth rate did not meet the market expectations at the beginning of the year, which also led to a continuous decline in the stock prices of companies providing services such as JD and Meituan.

JD's second quarter financial report shows that JD's revenue in the second quarter of 2023 was 287.9 billion yuan, an increase of 7.6% year-on-year, and a growth rate of 5.4% year-on-year. In the second quarter, JD's retail revenue was 253.28 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%. In terms of product category performance, daily necessities continued the downward trend in the first quarter, with a revenue of 81.7 billion yuan in the second quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 8.6%, and a year-on-year decrease of 8.7% in the first quarter. The revenue from electronic products and household appliances reversed the downward trend, with a year-on-year increase of 11.4% in the second quarter.

In the past year, JD has continuously adjusted its personnel, business, and other aspects. On May 11th, Xu Lei, the former CEO of JD Group, resigned from the company due to personal reasons, with Xu Ran serving as the CEO.

On June 26th, JD Logistics announced that the former CEO of JD Logistics, Yu Rui, resigned as an executive director, CEO, and authorized representative due to personal reasons. Hu Wei, the former CEO of JD Industrial Development, served as the CEO of JD Logistics. Meanwhile, Cao Dong, the former CFO of JD Health, took over as the CEO of JD Industrial Development.

In terms of business, JD continues to promote the "10 billion yuan subsidy" low-priced strategy. On January 4th, JD.com released the "Spring Dawn Plan" to various merchants, increasing support for merchants to attract third-party merchants to settle in.

On April 13th, JD Logistics reorganized and established four major business units, canceling seven regional companies. On April 12th, JD Retail launched an organizational change in its procurement and sales units, abolishing the hierarchy of business groups and changing them into business units. The various business units under the original business group that were responsible for managing various product categories will be divided into numerous procurement and sales combat units based on specific categories.

On August 23rd, JD lowered the threshold for self operated products to include shipping. This reduction in the threshold for free shipping is also the first time JD has lowered the threshold for self operated free shipping.