JD quarterly loss widens as costs rise on Tencent tie-up

China's leading e-commerce company, JD.com Inc, reported a bigger quarterly net loss due to costs related to a partnership with Tencent Holdings Ltd and higher spending aimed at better competing with market leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

JD, reporting quarterly results for the first time since going public in May, said over the weekend that its net loss widened to 582.5 million yuan ($93.9 million), or 5.86 yuan per American Deposit Shares (ADS) in the second quarter ended June 30.

In the same quarter last year, the company reported a loss of 28.3 million yuan, or 0.57 yuan per ADS.

Expenses in the latest quarter jumped 66 percent to 29.4 billion yuan.

The company said the net loss was mainly due to the amortization of intangible assets and business acquisitions related to its strategic partnership with Tencent.

Tencent, a social media giant, took a 15 percent stake in JD in March to better compete against Alibaba. This stake was increased to 17.6 percent after JD's IPO.

JD also forecast full-year 2014 capital expenditure at 3.5 to 4.5 billion yuan, company executives said in an earnings call following its second-quarter results.

The increase in the loss per ADS reflected the conversion of preferred shares to ordinary shares ahead of the company's IPO.

The gross value of goods sold more than doubled to $10.2 billion, while fulfilled orders doubled to 163.7 million, the company said, adding that active customer accounts rose to 38.1 million.