JD.com revenue jumps, defying China lockdown hit to spending

HONG KONG (May 17): JD.com Inc logged better-than-expected 18% revenue growth, after China's second-largest e-commerce operator grew market share to cushion the blow from Covid-19 lockdowns across the country's biggest cities.

Sales climbed to 239.7 billion yuan (US$35.6 billion) in January-March, beating the 236.7 billion yuan average of analyst forecasts. It reported a net loss of three billion yuan. JD's stock surged more than 8% in pre-market trading in New York.

JD and larger rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd are grappling with the economic fallout from the coronavirus-related lockdowns that have snarled logistics to cities such as Shanghai. Heavily reliant on domestic sales, JD has been expanding brand offerings to tempt shoppers. Alibaba is expected to post its slowest quarterly growth in revenue since its 2014 listing.

Billionaire Richard Liu's online shopping empire has largely avoided a direct hit from Beijing's crackdown on China's biggest tech companies. Fines on Alibaba by Chinese antitrust watchdogs even helped the company gain access to brands like Starbucks and Estee Lauder, which had been previously exclusively tied to Alibaba in China.

But ongoing concern about China's priorities, the fallout from the country's Covid-19 lockdowns, along with US regulators' plans to possibly force JD and some of China's biggest companies to delist, are weighing on the stock. JD's market valuation has shrunk by about 50% from a high last year.