JD.com bought Farfetch.com shares for $397 million

Tinuku ~ JD.com pays US$397 million for e-commerce stock of luxury fashion provider Farfetch. China's technology giant JD.com has bought Farfetch.com shares, a London-based e-commerce service displaying luxury fashion, marking an international acquisition portfolio for the mainland Chinese market as the second-largest private luxury shareholding in the world.

The two companies announced the strategic policy on Thursday and said the partnership as a means to expand the estimated market share of US$80 billion for the luxury goods segment of consumers in mainland China.

"Luxury is our main part, we do not find a stronger online partner than Farfetch to extend our lead in fighting for the future of high-end consumers in China," said Richard Liu Qiangdong, chairman and chief executive of JD.com.

Farfetch was founded by José Neves in 2008 and has partnered directly with over 700 luxury fashion brands and boutiques in the online marketplace. The company sells about 1 million to customers in over 190 countries and regions.

In 2016, Farfetch reported gross sales of US$800 million by running nine local e-commerce sites covering mainland China, South Korea and Japan. The company last raised funding of the F Series in May 20017 led by Temasek Holdings, IDG Capital Partners and Eurazeo for US$110 million.