Google’s £400m China bet

GooGle is investing more than £400m in Chinese online retailer JD as it steps up the battle in online shopping against Amazon.

The US technology group will hand JD £416m, helping it expand in Asia and become a major competitor in the online retail sector.

As part of the deal, Google will promote JD’s products on its shopping service, allowing the Chinese firm to grab a foothold in US and european markets.

Google will also have access to JD’s expertise in the competitive online shopping market. Jianwen liao, chief strategy officer at JD, said: ‘This partnership opens up a broad range of possibilities to offer a superior retail experience to consumers throughout the world.’

Despite being virtually unknown in the UK, JD, China’s answer to Amazon, is one of the world’s biggest shops.

The group is worth about £47bn and has 292m active customers. It is China’s second largest online retailer after Alibaba. JD’s investors include Walmart and Chinese technology group Tencent, which is considered an arch-rival to Alibaba.

Google is increasing its investment across Asia as a rapidly growing middle class makes it a battleground for American and Chinese internet firms. Google recently took a stake in Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek, and is reportedly planning to invest in Indian ecommerce firm Flipkart, founded by two former Amazon warehouse employees.

Google will get 27.1m newly issued JD shares as part of the investment deal, giving it a less than 1pc stake.