What's going on?

On Monday, Google announced it�s investing $550 million in JD.com, helping the stock of China�s largest online retailer to rise by 2% (tweet this).

What does this mean?

Google�s been shopping for� shops. Last year, it teamed up with Walmart to allow customers to order via voice. And last week, it announced a deal with France�s Carrefour, which lets customers buy groceries online using Google Home.


Now, Google�s planning to put JD.com�s merchandise on its shopping sites, which will help the retailer expand in Southeast Asia and beyond (most of Google�s services are blocked in China so it won�t be much help there). In the US, Google may hope JD.com will help it compete more effectively against Amazon: once upon a time, most shopping searches happened on Google � but nowadays over half begin on Amazon.

Why should I care?

For markets: Investors like JD.com�s global ambitions.

JD.com�s issuing new stock for Google to buy at a discount to the current share price � Google will be paying close to $40 per share while investors buying stock in the market would get a price closer to $45. Investors often enjoy a discount to the prevailing market price when a �block� of stock is sold, which usually causes the share price to fall � partly because it can suggest to investors that a stock was previously too expensive. Despite this, JD.com�s stock rose on Monday � investors were possibly encouraged by the company�s accelerating global ambitions.

The bigger picture: Google�s going big in Asia.

In February, Google invested in an Indonesian ride-hailing service, GO-JEK, as it raised $1.5 billion. Earlier in the year, it backed a trio of Chinese businesses: an esports company, a biotech firm, and a voice recognition startup. Then, last month, it launched an app that helps Chinese residents manage their online storage space. The company�s betting big on a growing Chinese middle class that�s likely to drive up consumer spending in the coming years.