EU Opens Subsidy Probe Into JD.com’s CECONOMY Deal

Brussels is investigating whether Chinese state support gave JD.com an unfair advantage in its bid for German online electronics retailer CECONOMY.

A sign of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Asia 2018 in Shanghai, China, on June 14, 2018. Aly Song/Reuters

The European Commission has launched an in-depth probe into JD.com, a Chinese online e-commerce marketplace giant, over concerns about possible Chinese state subsidies related to its takeover of German online retailer CECONOMY.

The investigation is the first full merger review conducted under the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, introduced in 2023 to examine whether foreign state support gives companies an unfair advantage in the bloc.