By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – JD.com ADRs (NASDAQ:) plunged 8.6% in Thursday’s premarket trading on the decision of its largest shareholder, Tencent Holdings (OTC:), to give up most of its stake in the online retailer.

Tencent’s stock stock was 4.2% lower in Hong Kong than it closed. Tencent believes JD.com has grown sufficiently to no longer require its support.

Tencent stated that they would give out 457 million JD.com shares, valued at over $16billion, as a special dividend. These shareholders will become shareholders of JD.com.

The exercise will cut Tencent’s holding in JD.com to 2.3% from 17%.

Tencent President Martin Chiping Lau quit the JD.com board in accordance with this decision. Tencent stated that both companies would continue to have a business relationship.

Tencent has acquired stakes in many internet companies to compete with the larger, more well-known ones over the years. Alibaba (NYSE:). It maintains significant stakes in other major players like Meituan (OTC) and farm-focused platform Farmer’s Market. Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:).

JD.com, despite trailing Alibaba in revenue, has seen a strong run over the past few years. For the 12th of December 2020, JD.com reported net revenues in excess of 746 billion won (more than $114 billion) – an increase 29% The net income increased more than four-fold to nearly 49 billion Yuan.