(Bloomberg) — JD.com Inc. is boosting its share buyback plan by 50%, the latest in a slew of tech firms to repurchase stock after China’s regulatory crackdown over the past year sparked a selloff.
The country’s No. 2 online retailer will set aside $3 billion for the buyback program, which will be extended until March 2024, it said in a filing Wednesday. That’s up from the $2 billion it had targeted under the plan originally adopted in March 2020. JD fell as much as 2.1% on Wednesday as Chinese technology shares in Hong Kong extended their declines.
Shares of the e-commerce firm have tumbled as part of a wider rout in tech stocks as Beijing stepped up oversight of issues such as antitrust to data security, while a surprise move by top investor Tencent Holdings Ltd. last week to distribute more than $16 billion of its JD shares has also weighed on the retailer. The Hang Seng Tech Index’s 1.5% loss Wednesday added to a 34% slump for the year, after regulators over the past week proposed new rules that would increase scrutiny of firms seeking to sell shares overseas.
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In response, firms are stepping up efforts to repurchase shares and reward investors. Rival e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in August announced it will boost its repurchase program by 50% to $15 billion, while Tencent resumed buying back shares over the summer. Xiaomi Corp. in March also announced a HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) share buyback plan.
JD on Wednesday unveiled a five-year green loan facility of $2 billion, its first such financing for new and existing green projects. Under President Xi Jinping, China has made reaching carbon neutrality by 2060 a strategic priority and many tech firms regard participating in green efforts as a way to engender greater goodwill with the government.
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