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Walmart has cut its stake in Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com to zero, as the world’s largest retailer focuses on expanding its own brands in the country.

The US retailer disclosed in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it had entirely disposed of its nearly 10 per cent holding in the ecommerce company.

Walmart reported owning 289mn shares of JD.com as of December 31, which would have been worth $4bn at the end of trading in New York on Tuesday.

JD.com separately said it had spent $390mn repurchasing its own shares in a transaction on Wednesday. Hong Kong-listed shares of the group fell by as much as 12 per cent in early trading.

Walmart first acquired a stake in the group in 2016 in exchange for the sale of its Chinese ecommerce site Yihaodian to JD.com. Walmart nearly doubled its holding later that year by continuing to invest in the Chinese group.

The deals spurred growing collaboration between the two retailers, including Walmart and its Sam’s Club unit launching stores on JD.com’s ecommerce platform and a delivery partnership in some Chinese cities. 

But JD.com has faced growing ecommerce competition in China from rising rival Pinduoduo as well as Alibaba. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that PDD has now displaced JD.com as the second-largest ecommerce company in China.

JD.com increased revenues 1 per cent from a year earlier in the second quarter, bolstering its bottom line by cutting back on the discounts offered to shoppers.

“Walmart invested nearly 10 years ago when JD.com and the ecommerce market were growing really fast,” said Li Chengdong, the head of Chinese tech think-tank Haitun. “The stake allowed them to learn from JD. Now they are doing well on their own in China, so the strategic value of the stake has ended.”

Walmart has increasingly focused on building up its own China business, with its Sam’s Club warehouse outlets gaining popularity among China’s discerning, cost-conscious shoppers.

The US retailer said it would maintain co-operation with JD.com and that the sale “allows us to better focus on the strong development of China, including the operation of Walmart Supercenter and Sam’s Club, and allocate assets to other priorities”.

The company added that it “has achieved success in various markets around the world by adjusting its asset portfolio in a timely manner”.

The group’s China business sales grew 16 per cent to $17bn in its latest financial year ended January 31, though the market contributed to less than 4 per cent of total sales.

Walmart’s share disposal comes after JD.com’s other major partner, Chinese social media group Tencent, distributed nearly all of its 17 per cent stake in the group to shareholders in 2022.

JD.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Additional reporting by William Sandlund in Hong Kong

MINNEAPOLIS — Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, was transferred to a federal prison in Texas almost nine months after he was stabbed in a different facility, the federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Chauvin, 47, is now housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, a low-security prison. He was previously held in Arizona at FCI Tucson in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22 1/2-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

The transfer comes nearly nine months after Chauvin was stabbed 22 times in prison by a former gang leader and one-time FBI informant.

Another former Minneapolis officer, Thomas Lane, who held down Floyd’s legs as the man struggled to breathe, was released from federal prison in Colorado on Tuesday, the Bureau of Prisons said. Lane, 41, was serving a three year sentence for aiding and abetting manslaughter.

When Lane pleaded guilty, he admitted that he intentionally helped restrain Floyd in a way that he knew created an unreasonable risk and caused his death. He admitted that he heard Floyd say he couldn’t breathe, knew Floyd fell silent, had no pulse and appeared to have lost consciousness.

Floyd, 46, died in May 2020 after Chauvin, who is white, pinned him to the ground with a knee on Floyd’s neck as the Black man repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Lane, who is white, held down Floyd’s legs. J. Alexander Kueng, who is Black, knelt on Floyd’s back, and Tou Thao, who is Hmong American, kept bystanders from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Kueng and Thao are both set to be released in 2025. Kueng is detained at a federal prison in Ohio and Thao at a facility in Kentucky, according to Bureau of Prisons records.

The killing, captured on bystander video, sparked protests in 2020 as part of a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice.

Lane is the first of the four officers convicted of crimes related to Floyd’s killing to be released from prison. He served time for a federal sentence alongside his state sentence after being convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights.

Chauvin is making a longshot bid to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didn’t cause Floyd’s death. If he is unsuccessful, he would not be released until 2038.

John Turscak, who is serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, attacked Chauvin on Nov. 24, 2023. He told investigators he targeted the ex-Minneapolis police officer because of his notoriety for killing Floyd.

FCI Tucson, a medium-security prison, has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages. Chauvin’s lawyer at the time, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of the general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he would be a target.

Turscak, who was charged with attempted murder, told correctional officers he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly.