Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

CEO, chairman quit Wal-Mart's China e-commerce firm Yihaodian

Published 07/15/2015, 03:11 AM
Updated 07/15/2015, 03:35 AM
© Reuters.  CEO, chairman quit Wal-Mart's China e-commerce firm Yihaodian

© Reuters. CEO, chairman quit Wal-Mart's China e-commerce firm Yihaodian

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The CEO and Chairman of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) Inc's Chinese e-commerce company Yihaodian.com have quit "to pursue their next venture", the U.S. retailer said on Wednesday, as it aims to grow a company still far smaller than local rivals.

"Yihaodian co-founders, Chairman Gang Yu and CEO Junling Liu have announced they are leaving Yihaodian," Walmart said in a statement, adding that it is recruiting other leaders.

The U.S. company "will work to accelerate (Yihaodian's) growth ... and Walmart continues to be committed to investing in China and in e-commerce."

The world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart plans to close some under-performing stores in China and seek to tap into the faster-growing online grocery market through its digital Yihaodian.com platform.

Wal-Mart's Asia head Scott Price told Reuters earlier this year that online retail was important to help tap China's younger generations. "What we're finding is that the Chinese customer is going online and they're going online outside of China pretty aggressively," he said.

Wal-Mart, along with France's Carrefour (PARIS:CARR) SA and Britain's Tesco (LONDON:TSCO) PLC have all seen sales growth slip over the last five years, losing market share to local rivals, according to a report from consumer analytics firm Kantar Worldpanel.

But Yihaodian.com remains dwarfed in China by Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc, let alone the many other rivals it competes with including compatriot Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN).

In 2012, Wal-Mart took control of Yihaodian.com by bumping up its stake to 51 percent, scouring for new sources of revenue outside traditional retail amid tough competition and hoping to latch onto a boom in Chinese e-commerce.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.