JD, Tencent?extend strategic partnership

Chinese e-commerce giant JD said in an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it has extended strategic partnership agreement with tech heavyweight Tencent Holdings Ltd for a period of three years.

Tencent will continue to provide primary and secondary access points for JD on its social messaging platform WeChat to generate data traffic, and the two parties intend to cooperate in a number of areas, including telecommunication, technology services, marketing and advertising, and membership services, said the announcement.

In addition, JD will issue a certain number of its Class A ordinary shares worth $220 million to Tencent. The two companies will also work on artificial intelligence and information security.

JD and Tencent's partnership started in 2014. The two companies formed a five-year strategic partnership in March 2014. Under the deal, Tencent's mobile social platforms WeChat and QQ provided JD with entry points, data traffic and other platform support.

In May 2019, the two companies renewed their strategic cooperation agreement and extended the partnership by three years. According to the deal, Tencent would continue to provide primary and secondary entry points for JD to bring data traffic to the e-commerce platform.