After bad news for one of its competitors, the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding (BOY 3.07%) saw a slight upswing in shares. The company’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) rose more than 3% on Wednesday, easily outpacing the benchmark index’s 0.4% rise. S&P500 Index.

Sale completed

This rival is JD.com (JD -4.15%)which has lost a major American shareholder. In a regulatory notice Walmart (WMT 0.94%) effectively announced that it had sold its entire stake in JD.com, ending a nearly decade-long partnership. However, it did not specify exactly how many shares it sold or the amount of proceeds.

Financial news agency Bloomberg wrote, citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” that Walmart raised around $3.6 billion from the sale. The sale included 144.5 million shares of the Chinese company at a price of $24.95 per share. This price is 11 percent below JD.com’s closing price on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, the stock fell by about the same amount on the following trading day.

Walmart said in a statement that this move “allows us to focus on our strong China businesses for Walmart China and Sam’s Club and deploy capital to other priorities.” Walmart did not provide any more specific details about its plans in the country.

Tough competition despite the large market

Competitors like the mighty Alibaba are likely a major reason for Walmart’s decision to virtually abandon JD.com. The company has to contend with such titans, even though China is a huge consumer market whose economy continues to grow – albeit relatively slowly.