Tencent, JD.com close to shareholding deal

China's leading Internet company Tencent, and e-commerce firm JD.com may soon announce a deal in which Tencent holds a stake of about 16 percent in JD.com, according to Saturday media reports. The two sides have basically reached the shareholding deal and may announce it on Monday, Zhengzhou Evening News reported, citing a source close to Tencent. As well as its 16-percent stake, Tencent will transfer its e-commerce assets, including yixun.com, to JD.com to collaborate in their competition against Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, the newspaper said. The deal was also confirmed by Caixin.com, a Chinese financial and business news provider. Its report on Saturday said the 16-percent shareholding is still subject to changes before final announcements, citing several sources with knowledge of the deal. One was quoted by Caixin.com as saying, "Sixteen percent is the minimum amount according to present negotiations. The possibility of a shareholding of more than 20 percent cannot be ruled out." When phoned by Xinhua, spokesmen of both JD.com and Tencent declined to comment on the reports, neither did they deny the deal.