JD's acquisition of German retail company CECONOMY, which took over a year to complete, has finally been finalized.
On November 3 local time, CECONOMY announced that its partnership with JD.com has received conditional approval from the European Commission in accordance with the "Foreign Subsidies Regulation" ( Foreign Subsidies Regulation, FSR ). CECONOMY stated that this completes the acquisition of all regulatory approvals required for the offer documents.
This acquisition had previously received approval for foreign direct investment ( FDI ) in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Austria.
CECONOMY CEO Remko Rijnders stated: "We will work together to accelerate the advancement of our successful omnichannel retail platform strategy."
Jingdong’s CEO Xu Ran stated that they support CECONOMY in accelerating its growth in a sustainable manner, further consolidating its competitive position in Europe, and continuously driving innovation in the ever-changing retail market.
It is understood that after the acquisition, the business model and strategy of CECONOMY will remain unchanged, and the board of directors will continue to be responsible for the implementation of the business strategy and the operational management of the company.
The acquisition began last July. In July of last year, JD.com announced a voluntary public offer to CECONOMY, to acquire all the issued and outstanding bearer shares of CECONOMY for 4.6 euros per share in cash, with a transaction valuation of approximately 2.2 billion euros.
On December 2 last year, JD.com announced that after the end of the additional tender acceptance period, it had acquired approximately 59.8% of the share capital and voting rights of the German retail group CECONOMY.
According to public information, CECONOMY is a European consumer electronics retailer. Its main brands, MediaMarkt and Saturn, operate omnichannel retail businesses, with 1,000 retail stores and 50,000 employees.
CECONOMY's latest financial report shows that in the first nine months of the 2025 to 2026 fiscal year, revenue increased by 5.0% to 1.84 billion euros, and the adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation (EBITDA) were 342 million euros, a year-on-year increase of 22%. In addition, the online business grew by 10.0% in the same period.
Since last year, JD.com has continued to invest heavily in the European market. In April of last year, JD.com announced the initiation of recruitment for international and overseas brands in the maternal and child products and toys categories for its online retail business in Europe. This March, JD.com launched its online retail brand Joybuy in Europe, further expanding its retail and logistics supply chain presence in the region, following its previous entries into the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg markets. In addition, JD.com Logistics' own courier brand JoyExpress has replicated JD.com's "211" delivery speed to the European market.
Zhang Zhouping, the executive dean of Bense Think Tank, told Yicai News that there are mainly three reasons for JD.com's acquisition: First, it is to gain trust by directly acquiring a local customer base and brand relationships, saving the lengthy process of building them from scratch; second, to implement its core capabilities, as JD.com's expertise in self-operated supply chains highly overlaps with the main business of CECONOMY, thus increasing the success rate of integration; third, to seize a competitive advantage by taking the lead in focusing on delivery experience as the industry shifts in that direction, avoiding being caught up by competitors later on.
On the other hand, Zhang Zhouping also stated that JD.com faces significant challenges, such as potential pressure on profits in the early stages. In addition, JD.com is at risk due to low order volume density; when the market is fragmented and the number of orders is insufficient, its warehousing and distribution capabilities are underutilized, and these barriers instead become a burden.
AiMedia Consulting's CEO Zhang Yi stated that in replicating the heavy-asset model in the European market, JD.com is facing not only issues with transaction volume but also difficulties in integrating the teams from both regions. Cultural differences, legal regulations, and regulatory environments all need to be adapted to. In addition to these factors, strict local regulations must also be taken into consideration.
