Wal-Mart Stores Inc has sold its Chinese online grocery store in return for a stake in the country's no. 2 e-commerce firm, ripping up its previous strategy in efforts to cure ailing sales in one of the world's toughest retail markets. The deal will see the U.S. grocery giant swap its Yihaodian platform for a 5% stake in JD.com Inc (JD), worth about $1.5 billion by the firm's latest market value. The move also gives Wal-Mart a ringside seat in JD.com's bitter rivalry with Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The sell-off, announced on Monday, is a significant shift for Wal-Mart in China, where it operates more than 400 bricks-and-mortar stores. The firm has been shuttering underperforming outlets and grappling with soft online sales in the world's second-biggest economy since it bought full control of Yihaodian in July last year, saying the site would play a leading role in its China strategy. Wal-Mart's tie-up gives it access to JD.com's nationwide logistics and warehousing networks, as well as its over 150 million users - helping expand the U.S. firm's reach with China's increasingly tech-savvy middle class. For JD.com, the deal could provide a boost in its intensifying competition in the fast-growing online grocery business with Alibaba - a market set to boom to nearly $180 billion by 2020 from $41 billion last year, according to data from food research body IGD. Under the deal, JD.com will issue around 145 million new class A shares to Wal-Mart. JD.com will take ownership of Yihaodian, although the platform will continue to be operated by Wal-Mart. U.S.-traded shares of JD.com closed up 4.6% @ $21.06 imho, market participants overreacted on this news. JD got an internet resource with questionable value and no operating access. The deal is better for WMT than JD. I think JD will continue its downward slide. $JD, JD.com, Inc. / 1440