Shares of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com plunged 10% in Hong Kong on Wednesday and also fell in pre-market trading on Wednesday after retail giant Walmart (WMT) said it would sell its stake in the company.
Walmart is seeking to raise around $3.74 billion (£2.87 billion) by selling a stake in JD.com, first reported by Bloomberg. The company is offering 144.5 million shares at between $24.85 and $25.85 a share.
The deal also signals Walmart's confidence that its business in China is large enough to compete in the fiercely competitive retail market.
The US retailer said it would maintain its working relationship with JD.com and that the sale would “allow us to further focus on China's strong development, including our operations of Walmart Supercenters and Sam's Clubs, and free up assets to reallocate to other priorities.”
Read more: UK government borrowing hits highest since pandemic
In a statement, JD.com said it was “very confident about future cooperation between the two parties.”
Walmart first acquired a stake in the group in 2016 in exchange for selling Chinese e-commerce site Yihao to JD.com. Walmart continued to invest in the Chinese group later that year, nearly doubling its stake.
Netflix (NFLX)
Shares of the streaming company hit a record high on Tuesday and also rose in premarket trading after the company said it would increase its sales commitments by 150% through 2023.
The company has signed advance agreements with all major holding companies and independent advertising agencies, advertising president Amy Reinhardt said in a blog post.
The advertising deals included spots in consumer goods, technology, entertainment, automotive, retail and fast-food restaurants.
Lily Collins attends the season 4 premiere of Netflix's 'Emily in Paris' in Los Angeles, California on August 14. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin via Getty Images)
This sent the company's shares to an all-time high on Tuesday morning, briefly exceeding $700.
The company said its success has been fueled by upcoming movies and series such as “Happy Gilmore 2” and “Squid Game 2,” as well as recent acquisitions of live sports content such as NFL Christmas Day games and WWE Raw, which is scheduled to launch in January 2024.
The story continues
Eli Lilly (LLY)
Eli Lilly's shares rose before the U.S. market opened after the company said its weight-loss drug significantly reduced the risk of developing diabetes over three years.
The company's weight-loss drug, Zepbound, sold in the United States as the diabetes drug Mounjaro, reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 94% in obese or overweight adults with prediabetes compared with a placebo, early results of a long-term study showed.
“These data support the potential clinical benefit of long-term treatment for patients with obesity and prediabetes,” said Jeff Emick, Lilly's senior vice president of product development.
Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: European stocks rise as UK borrowing beats expectations
The company said people given the drug lost an average of about 23 percent weight, compared with 2.1 percent in those given a placebo.
“You don't see numbers like this in the metabolic space,” said Evan Sagerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
National Express parent Mobico saw its shares rise more than 12 percent after its European coach division posted its best half-yearly results on record.
The FTSE 250 (^FTMC) transport operator also confirmed that the sale process for its struggling North American school bus division is now “ongoing” and progress is “as expected”.
Mobico, which posted a 28.1 percent rise in first-half profits, will sell the unit as part of a debt reduction programme due to be implemented in the second half of the year.
The bus division is expected to generate revenue of £1.12 billion in 2023, and the group's net debt stood at £1.24 billion at the end of June.
Chief executive officer Ignacio Garratt said: “Mobico delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2024, with continued growth in passenger demand and revenue.
Read more: Today's Trending Stocks
“Debt reduction remains a priority and, in addition to commencing the formal sale process for North American School Buses, we have identified new organic debt reduction initiatives that will deliver results in the second half of the year. We are confident that we can achieve adjusted operating profit in the range of £185m to £205m for FY24.”
Investors will not receive semi-annual dividends. Last year, Mobico decided to suspend dividend payments and not pay an interim dividend.
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android
