NEW YORK/SHANGHAI — Walmart Stores has sold its Chinese online grocery store in return for a stake in the country’s second-largest 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 US grocery giant swap its Yihaodian platform for a 5% stake in JD.com, worth about $1.5bn by the firm’s latest market value. The move also gives Walmart a ringside seat in JD.com’s rivalry with Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding.The sell-off, announced on Monday, is a significant shift for Walmart in China, where it operates more than 400 bricks-and-mortar stores. The firm has been shutting down underperforming outlets and grappling with soft online sales in China since it bought full control of Yihaodian in July 2015, saying the site would play a leading role in its China strategy."The reality is that e-commerce is hypercompetitive in China, and it is tough for any platform to make money," sai...
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