Tencent to Hand $16 Billion Stake in JD.com to Its Shareholders

By Du Zhihang, Qian Tong, Zhou Wenmin and Kelsey Cheng

To a certain extent, the company’s decision was an attempt to avoid future risks, a source close to Tencent said. Photo: VCG

Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. is planning to distribute more than $16 billion worth of shares in JD.com Inc. to its shareholders, which will result in it no longer being the Chinese e-commerce firm’s biggest shareholder.

From March on, Tencent will give out around 457 million Class A shares in JD.com as a special interim dividend, representing about 86.4% of its total stake and 14.7% of the online retailer’s total issued shares, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday. At Wednesday’s close, that many shares were worth HK$127.7 billion ($16.4 billion).