Alibaba vs. JD.com: Which Chinese E-Commerce Stock Has More Upside?
Alibaba Group BABA and JD.com JD are two of China's largest e-commerce players, each playing a critical role in shaping the country's digital economy. While Alibaba has expanded into cloud, AI, and international markets, JD.com continues to build on its strength in supply chain and core retail. Both companies are also tapping into new growth areas like food delivery and instant commerce to stay ahead in a competitive landscape.With China's economy gradually stabilizing and digital consumption rebounding, investors are watching closely to see which platform offers stronger, more sustainable growth. Let's break down their latest earnings and strategies to find out which stock has the greater upside potential.
Alibaba has been benefiting from its continued pivot toward AI, international e-commerce and retail. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, the company reported $32.81 billion in revenues, up 6.96% year over year. The Taobao and Tmall Group has been steadily improving monetization through the rollout of a 0.6% software fee and BABA's AI-powered digital marketing tool Quanzhantui, which has helped drive a 12% rise in customer management revenues.The company's loyalty base has also expanded, with 88VIP members surpassing 50 million, supporting higher user retention. 88VIP is Alibaba's premium paid membership program through which members can enjoy exclusive benefits across the company's ecosystem.Alibaba's international commerce segment has been growing rapidly, up 22% year over year in the last reported quarter, as the company continues to localize supply chains and refine models like AliExpress Choice, which have been improving unit economics and narrowing losses.The company has also been seeing strong results from its investments in AI developments. Alibaba Cloud revenues rose 18%, with AI product revenues continuing triple-digit year-over-year growth for the seventh straight quarter. Its open-sourced Qwen3 AI model family, launched in April, had been downloaded more than 300 million times by April end, driving adoption across multiple industries.BABA has been expanding its instant commerce push with a RMB 10 billion investment into Taobao Shango and Ele.me, which has already shown promising early results in user engagement and efficiency.Overall, Alibaba has been streamlining its focus by exiting non-core assets like Sun Art and Intime, and redirecting capital into scalable segments.
JD.com has been benefiting from its focus on supply chain strength, price competitiveness and retail expansion into lower-tier markets. In the first quarter of 2025, JD reported $41.79 billion in revenues, up 16.01% year over year, supported by continued growth in core retail. Electronics and home appliances rose 17%, and general merchandise grew 15%, with supermarket and fashion categories maintaining double-digit growth for five consecutive quarters.User engagement has been rising steadily. JD has been enhancing shopping frequency and ARPU through AI-powered recommendations, better after-sales services, and personalized delivery features. The company reported more than 20% year-over-year growth in active customers in the last reported quarter.JD's 3P marketplace has been expanding with more merchants and SKUs, especially in value-driven markets. This has been driving 16% year-over-year growth in marketing and marketplace revenues, with the low-price strategy resonating across lower-tier cities.JD has also been aggressively expanding into food delivery, nearing 20 million daily orders. It has been onboarding merchants at zero commission, offering full rider insurance, and leveraging its retail infrastructure for scale. These efforts have been helping build cross-platform user engagement.JD Logistics has been contributing with 11% revenue growth, driven by continued automation in warehousing and last-mile delivery. The company's gross profit rose 20%, and non-GAAP net income surged 43% year over year to RMB 12.8 billion, highlighting strong margin discipline.JD has also been investing in AI ad automation, expanding Jingxi in rural areas and and enhancing user operations to drive long-term growth through improved platform efficiency and stronger user engagement.
Performance metrics strengthen Alibaba's case. Year to date, shares of BABA have rallied 42.4%, while JD shares have lost 3.8%. Alibaba has also outperformed the broader Zacks Retail-Wholesale sector's growth of 0.6% and the S&P 500 index's decline of 1.8%. JD has underperformed both. Alibaba's outperformance comes despite ongoing concerns about China's economy, showing growing investor confidence in its diversified business model and focused strategy.
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In terms of valuation, BABA's current forward 12-month P/E ratio of 11.13X is ahead of JD's 7.63X. Although BABA is trading at a significant premium compared to JD, the premium valuation reflects investor confidence in the company's growth potential for the rest of 2025. In contrast, JD's current forward 12-month P/E ratio indicates more cautious market sentiment around its near-term performance.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BABA's first-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $2.48 per share, which has been revised upward by 4.6% over the past seven days, indicating a 9.73% increase year over year. The consensus estimate for first-quarter revenues is pinned at $34.85 billion, suggesting year-over-year growth of 4.13%.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited price-consensus-chart | Alibaba Group Holding Limited Quote
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for JD's second-quarter 2025 earnings is pegged at 97 cents per share, which has remained steady over the past seven days, indicating 24.81% year over year decline. The consensus estimate for second-quarter revenues is pinned at $46.85 billion, suggesting a year-over-year increase of 16.85%.
JD.com, Inc. price-consensus-chart | JD.com, Inc. Quote
While both JD.com and Alibaba are growing, Alibaba is the better pick for investors right now. It has been gaining from strong momentum in cloud, AI and international e-commerce. Its fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results showed steady growth, with cloud revenues up 18% and AI products growing fast for the seventh straight quarter. Alibaba is also expanding into instant delivery through Ele.me and Taobao Shango, adding new ways to engage users. JD is facing losses in its new business segment, particularly food delivery, and aggressive investments in AI, automation, and logistics are weighing on its near-term profitability. Hence, with a more balanced business and proven innovation, Alibaba offers more upside with less risk.Currently, BABA has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), making the stock a better pick compared with JD, which has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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- Associated Press
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MoonFox Data Releases New Report: Instant Retail Becomes the Next Battleground as JD.com and Meituan Intensify Food Delivery Competition in China
MoonFox Data's report reveals how China's instant retail sector is entering a new phase of fierce competition, with and Meituan at the forefront, leveraging food delivery as a critical driver of user growth and market expansion in 2025. Shenzhen, June 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- [Shenzhen, China] – [June 3, 2025] – MoonFox Data, a leading provider of market intelligence and data analytics, today released its latest report, 'Instant Retail Remains a Long-Term Battle, and the Food Delivery Battle Is Just the Beginning.' The report reveals how China's instant retail sector is entering a new phase of fierce competition, with and Meituan at the forefront, leveraging food delivery as a critical driver of user growth and market expansion in 2025. In 2025, and Meituan engaged in several rounds of online "cross-platform jabs" over their food delivery services. Topics such as "Food Delivery Battle" and "Meituan Issues Another Statement" trended on social media. Amid the ensuing "war of words" and mounting public debate, both platforms' ambitions in the "instant retail" space were laid bare. Tracing back their development, it is evident that and Meituan have been investing in instant retail for over a decade. As early as 2018, Meituan internally launched the "Flash Sale" brand focused on instant delivery of retail items. However, after 7 years and multiple rounds of fierce competition in community group purchase, "Meituan Flash Sale" was only officially launched as an independent brand in 2025. Meanwhile, from 2015 to 2023, steadily bolstered its capabilities in supply chain, digitalization, and logistics. By integrating diverse service segments, including JD Health, JD Car Care, and convenience supermarkets, the company established a robust localized service chain. In 2024, building on this integrated capacity, officially unveiled "JD Instant Delivery" as its flagship instant delivery service. Table 1: Development History of Instant Retail Business on Various Platforms Meituan 2015: Launched "JD Home Delivery" service 2018: Internally launched "Meituan Flash Sale" \ 2019: Launched "Meituan Vegetable Shopping", rapidly expanding into first-tier cities and entering the community group purchase market 2021: and DADA jointly launched "JD Hourly Purchase" 2020: In July, launched "Meituan Selected" to capture community e-commerce in lower-tier markets In September, began deploying "Meituan Flash Warehouse" in first-tier cities 2022: JD became the controlling shareholder of DADA Group Upgraded "Meituan Vegetable Shopping" to "Xiaoxiang Supermarket" in December 2023, expanding supply from fresh produce to daily retail goods 2024: Integrated "JD Hourly Delivery", "JD Home Delivery", etc., and launched "JD Instant Delivery" with a primary entrance on the JD homepage in May JD's fresh food business "7FRESH" opened its first pre-warehouse in Beijing and commenced operations in September 2024: Xiaoxiang Supermarket increased its proportion of self-operated products, benchmarking against Freshippo and Sam's Club, featuring single-portion/small-quantity offerings for differentiation Meituan initiated a "Ten Thousand Warehouses for Thousand Cities" network layout; by October, the number of Flash Warehouses exceeded 30,000 2025: Launched food delivery on the JD platform in February Rebranded "JD Vegetable Shopping" to "JD 7FRESH" in March, transitioning to a platform model to offer fresh food access from Sam's Club, Pagoda, Dingdong Vegetable Shopping, and others JD launched "Self-operated Instant Delivery" e-commerce service in April; over 100,000 JD-branded offline stores have connected to Instant Delivery; Starbucks Delivery and HLA Group officially came on board Official launch of Meituan Flash Sale as an independent brand in April 2025 Data Source: Public information, compiled by MoonFox Research Institute I. Instant Retail Shows Strong Potential, but Sustained Survival Remains Challenging To begin with, it's essential to clarify the concepts of local life services and instant retail: Local life services refer to the use of online channels to display information about local brick-and-mortar businesses, with transactions completed offline services (through in-store visits or home). This model emphasizes "geographic relevance". Instant retail, as a key component of local life services, involves delivering products from local retail models (such as supermarkets, warehouses, and storefronts) directly to consumers through same-city delivery. It covers a wide range of categories, including food & beverages, fresh produce, electronics, and pharmaceuticals. Services like hourly delivery, half-day delivery, community group purchase, and food delivery all fall within the scope of instant retail. Its high time sensitivity is the key factor distinguishing it from traditional e-commerce and parcel delivery. The local life services sector is constantly seeing the emergence of new entrants. However, most of these newcomers tend to focus on "in-store" business models rather than delivery-heavy services, as the latter demand robust and fast-changing delivery ecosystems that many find difficult to sustain. For example, Douyin launched "Beckoning Food Delivery" in 2021 and formed strategic partnerships with service providers like DADA, and SF Express. However, after lukewarm results, Douyin Life Services pivoted its local service strategy to focus on the business from group purchase to in-store visits. Kwai trialed food delivery through selected local life service merchants in 2023 but did not scale up, maintaining its focus on in-store deals of group purchase. DiDi attempted to launch food delivery twice in China but failed both times and has since shifted its food delivery ambitions to overseas markets in 2025. Community group purchase brands like Nice Tuan, Chengxin Selected and MissFresh shut down around 2023 due to operational difficulties... Despite these setbacks, instant retail still holds vast potential within China, especially in lower-tier markets. Industry statistics show that in 2024, China's instant retail market reached approximately RMB 780 billion, accounting for only 6% of total online retail of physical goods. The market distribution between major cities and county-level areas is roughly 7:3. By 2030, the market is expected to surpass RMB 2 trillion. Table 2: Instant Retail Market Growth in China (2018 - 2030) Year Instant Retail Market Transaction Volume (RMB 100 million) Transaction Volume YoY Growth Share of Online Retail Transaction Volume of Physical Goods 2018 690 88 % 1.0 % 2019 1,180 71 % 1.4 % 2020 2,150 82 % 2.3 % 2021 2,350 9 % 2.2 % 2022 5,040 114 % 4.5 % 2023 6,500 29 % 5.3 % 2024 7,800 20 % 6.0 % 2025E 10,030 29 % 7.1 % 2026E 11,750 17 % 7.7 % 2023E 20,000 \ 10.1 % Data Source: Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, National Bureau of Statistics, Reports from SDIC Securities, compiled by MoonFox Research Institute. II. Platforms Face Growth Anxiety and Urgently Need New Growth Curves For local life services remain fertile ground with significant untapped potential. Among them, instant retail, characterized by high purchase frequency and rapid conversion, is undoubtedly a critical lever for driving business growth and attracting UV. Table 3: Comparison of Different Retail Models (In Terms of Profitability Efficiency: Instant Retail > Traditional E-commerce > Offline Retail) Type Instant Retail Traditional E-commerce In-store Visits of Group Purchase Offline Retail Consumer Behavior Place order online, with hourly delivery or flash delivery Place order online → shipped via express → received Order online, redeem in-store Browse and purchase in-store, offline payment B2B Requirements High-frequency demand; rich product supply is essential Low return rate Instant fulfillment High-frequency demand High return rate Long fulfillment cycle Pre-purchase vouchers Redemption rates fluctuate Unstable fulfillment window Low-frequency demand Low return rate Instant fulfillment Traditional e-commerce has passed its high-growth phase. In recent years, large-scale promotional events such as "618" and "D11" have lost their earlier traction, signaling consumer fatigue towards excessive discounting and promotional gimmicks. In response, e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, and Vipshop have extended promotional periods and introduced "Billion-RMB Subsidy" to maintain total sales growth. However, Pinduoduo's rapid rise and the increasing competitiveness of emerging e-commerce platforms like Douyin and Kwai have created new challenges. dominance, particularly in the electronics product category, is now under threat from multiple fronts. During Meituan's Q3 2024 financial report audio conference, founder Wang Xing commented on industry trends, stating that instant retail will eventually account for over 10% of the total e-commerce market, and that Meituan Flash Sale's growth has exceeded expectations. The 2024 financial report noted: "In 2024, 'Meituan Flash Warehouses' experienced significant growth, particularly in lower-tier markets, where they have become a key growth channel for many retailers. A number of major traditional retail companies have adopted 'Meituan Flash Warehouse' model... As our instant delivery business expands, we remain committed to building a sustainable ecosystem." According to Meituan's financial reports from 2022 to 2024, the platform's gross profit margin has grown by over 30% YoY for three consecutive years, with its gross margin increasing from 28% to 38%. Core local services revenue maintained a YoY growth rate exceeding 20%, and new business income continued to accelerate. Although Meituan Flash Sale had not yet officially launched, it was repeatedly highlighted in annual financial reports over the past 5 years as a key growth engine for the platform. III. Surprise PR Offensive: Rapid Expansion into Meituan's Core Territory In early April, CEO Xu Ran stated in an interview with 36Kr that the food delivery business could help increase both user base and purchase frequency, extending its service scenarios. On April 15, a leaked 7-minute internal meeting audio recording of Liu Qiangdong revealed his views on the domestic food delivery industry: Food delivery platform commissions can reach as high as 25% (sometimes over 30%), which he attributed to monopolistic practices that force small and medium-sized merchants to cut food quality, negatively impacting the consumer experience. He also proposed differentiated insurance policies for full-time and part-time couriers to better safeguard their rights. As early as 2022, Meituan's financial report showed that its food delivery business had reached a peak of over 60 million orders per day. Although there is still a significant gap in order volume between the two platforms, JD Food Delivery achieved over 10 million in a single day on April 22, reflecting rapid growth. Comparing the daily new user growth for merchant and courier platforms since the start of 2025, JD Instant Delivery Merchant Edition and DADA Instant Delivery Courier Edition apps saw a UV surge. According to MoonFox Data, JD Instant Delivery Merchant Edition app peaked in daily new user numbers on April 24. Both platform initiatives and market responses clearly indicate that JD is making a bold incursion into Meituan's food delivery "stronghold". Table 4: New Daily User Growth on Merchant & Courier Platforms (2025) Average Daily New Users Meituan Food Delivery Merchant Edition App Meituan Courier Edition App Meituan Crowdsourcing DADA Instant Delivery Courier Edition App JD Instant Delivery Merchant Edition App January 13,236 18,069 18,624 12,345 2,671 February 14,186 26,081 33,413 69,820 45,454 March 16,606 23,781 34,178 47,042 50,499 April 17,256 21,021 31,207 181,658 64,538 Data Source: MoonFox iApp, Data Cycle: January 1, 2025 - April 27, 2025 For users, switching between food delivery apps has low friction. With a clear intent to order, pricing and delivery time are often the only decisive factors. Last summer, attracted UV via its "Answer to Win Free Meal" campaign, which relied on extremely low discounts and simple, engaging interactions. While Meituan launched "Meal Group Buying", significantly lowering average order value to retain users through volume sales, though at the cost of some dining experience. In addition, also tied its premium membership to Taobao's 88VIP, leveraging high member stickiness from Taobao to boost order frequency. For platforms, the fast migration of users and high usage frequency makes food delivery the best UV lever for to grow its instant retail business. But before that, onboarding a large number of restaurant merchants and recruiting a sufficient courier fleet are essential. Since launching JD Food Delivery on February 11, the platform has used a range of PR tactics to become a major industry topic, quickly moving beyond its cold start into a phase of explosive growth. Late February: JD took the lead in advocating reform in the food delivery sector, focusing on courier welfare. This proactive stance gave JD the upper hand in the initial "war of words". With value-driven messaging and concrete policy support, gained public recognition and courier endorsement. In April, and Meituan entered a second round of confrontation. issued an open letter condemning Meituan's various "misdeeds" and simultaneously rolled out new support policies and promotional benefits, once again pushing "JD Food Delivery" into the spotlight across the internet. The following day, "Liu Qiangdong Takes on Food Delivery" showcased JD's strong commitment to developing its food delivery business. With a light-hearted and humorous public image, Liu won over netizens, who jokingly dubbed his delivery persona "GG Bond". This, coupled with the platform's swift marketing response, sparked a new wave of viral attention. During this second "war of words" wave, although Meituan responded swiftly with rebuttals, and some couriers questioned the accuracy of JD's claims on social media, the incentives offered by JD helped counterbalance earlier criticism. However, overall, the various incentives released by the platform are helping to offset the negative public opinion caused by early-stage issues. JD has still managed to earn the trust of most merchants and couriers. Table 5: Platform-level New User Scale Growth Average Daily New Users Meituan App JD App January 2,031,496 862,633 February 1,168,203 807,748 March 1,265,657 889,403 April 1,331,168 1,484,954 Data Source: MoonFox iApp, Data Cycle: January 1, 2025 - April 27, 2025 Table 6: Key Events in the 2025 "Food Delivery Battle" Key Date Actions Meituan Responses February 24 JD Food Delivery announced "Three Key Policies": no commission all year, full social insurance for full-time couriers, and mandatory dine-in capability for merchants Meituan launched the "City Defense Plan", lowering core merchant commissions from 23% to 6% - 8%. April 14 JD launched "Self-operated Instant Delivery" Meituan Flash Sale launched. April 21 JD issued an open letter: accusing Meituan of forcing couriers to choose one platform and announced plans to recruit 100,000 full-time couriers and offer a "late delivery, free meal" policy. Meituan denied the accusations and ramped up subsidies. April 22 JD Food Delivery surpassed 10 million daily orders; "Liu Qiangdong Takes on Food Delivery" trended online. \ IV. The "Food Delivery Battle" Ushers in a New Era of Instant Retail Competition In April, amid the intense "Food Delivery Battle" between and Meituan, both Meituan "Flash Sale" and JD's "Self-operated Instant Delivery" services were launched simultaneously. Just ahead of the Labor Day holiday, "Taobao Flash Sale" went live in 50 cities, followed by a nationwide rollout on May 2. To drive up order frequency during the holiday, Taobao partnered with to issue substantial consumer subsidies such as free-order card and treat-voucher card. According to MoonFox Data, since April 2025, daily new user volume has continuously increased, and has surpassed Meituan's since April 16. Since the launch of its food delivery service, has also seen a steady rise in average user online time. As of April 23, average daily online time reached 14.27 minutes per user, increased by 54% compared with the same period last year. Table 7: Changes in Active User Online Time Month Average Usage Time (mins/month) MoM Changes 2024-4 276.31 -4.3 % 2024-5 300.10 8.6 % 2024-6 310.27 3.4 % 2024-7 292.11 -5.9 % 2024-8 291.60 -0.2 % 2024-9 309.98 6.3 % 2024-10 337.85 9.0 % 2024-11 332.55 -1.6 % 2024-12 319.87 -3.8 % 2025-1 329.24 2.9 % 2025-2 310.20 -5.8 % 2025-3 343.47 10.7 % 2025-4 384.93 12.1 % Data Source: MoonFox iApp, Data Cycle: April 28, 2024 - April 23, 2025 Despite reports of issues such as "inefficient processes" and "system bugs" with JD Food Delivery, there are still many shortcomings in the courier operation procedures that need to be addressed. However, driven by benefits related to commission rates and employee protection, a large number of couriers are switching platforms, while food delivery merchants and offline stores are also accelerating their entry into "JD Instant Delivery". With intensified investment in business development models, infrastructure construction, and supporting policies, both JD and Meituan are stepping up efforts to seize market share. Table 8: Platform Characteristics Comparison Infrastructure JD Instant Delivery Meituan Flash Sale Warehouse Mode Centralized Warehouses (self-operated) + Branded Stores (as front warehouses) Flash Warehouse + Offline Retail Stores Delivery Service DADA Instant Delivery(contracted couriers) + JD Logistics Third-party Service Provider Contracted Couriers Introduction Stage Policy Advantages 0% commission for select premium merchants "Billion-RMB Subsidy" campaign for JD Food Delivery users Job & insurance support for couriers 0% commission for Flash Warehouse franchising (initial investment > RMB 300K) Exclusive UV privilege, "Climbing Plan" course and customized support for new merchants Digital Platform JD Instant Delivery Open Platform Meituan Morning Glory System Coverage Area As of May 2024, JD Instant Delivery has covered 2,300 counties/cities, with 500K+ partner stores As of October 2024, Meituan has had over 30K flash warehouses UV Entrance JD App (homepage + search bar) Meituan Homepage + Meituan Food Delivery Data Source: Public information, compiled by MoonFox Research Institute Meituan's instant retail business is an extension of its food delivery capabilities, relying on third-party franchises and offline retail store partnerships for warehousing, and service-provider-based courier models. This asset-light strategy plays to Meituan's platform operation strengths, enabling rapid territorial expansion across cities. JD's instant retail business places greater emphasis on its "self-operated" model, leveraging its early investments in e-commerce warehousing as a key foundation. It expands operations based on regional fulfillment centers while strengthening partnerships with offline stores, particularly branded chain stores, to enhance delivery efficiency and ensure product quality, a strategy that aligns with users' existing perception of JD's authenticity and logistics capabilities in e-commerce. The supply of local couriers primarily relies on contracted riders from DADA Instant Delivery. In recent years, JD Group's increasing equity stake in DADA has further strengthened its influence over last-mile delivery in the instant retail sector. The attention generated by the "Food Delivery Battle" and the boom of instant retail has created invisible pressure for traditional e-commerce giants like Taobao. Taobao, backed by Alibaba's vast ecosystem, including Tmall Supermarket, Amap, Freshippo, and Alipay, has promising opportunities in the local life service sector. However, the coordination between different business units and the logistics efficiency within the last 3 to 5 kilometers remain key challenges that the platform must overcome to scale its instant retail business. At present, Taobao Flash Sale appears to be a combination of original food delivery services and Taobao's previous "hourly delivery" feature, swiftly entering the competition to drive UV and user engagement. During the Labor Day holiday, topics such as #Taobao Flash Sale Crashed# even trended on social media platforms. For Meituan, instant retail represents a new growth engine; For it is a strategic lever to drive growth across its entire e-commerce ecosystem. Compared with the overt and covert competition between the two giants, the rapid launch of Taobao Flash Sale is more of a defensive move. Its long-term prospects remain to be seen. For now, all major platforms are still focused on strengthening infrastructure and optimizing operational efficiency, with instant retail shaping up to be a long-term battle. About MoonFox Data As a sub-brand of Aurora Mobile, MoonFox Data is a leading expert in data insights and analysis services across all scenarios. With a comprehensive, stable, secure and compliant mobile big data foundation, as well as professional and precise data analysis technology and AI algorithms, MoonFox Data has launched iAPP, iBrand, iMarketing, Alternative Data and professional research and consulting services of MoonFox Research, aiming to help companies gain insights into market growth and make accurate business decisions. About Aurora Mobile Aurora Mobile (NASDAQ: JG) established in 2011, is a leading customer engagement and marketing technology service provider in China. Its business includes notification services, marketing growth, development tools, and data products. For Media Inquiries: Contact: zhouxt@ | Website: in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Online broker Tiger to double Hong Kong headcount, targets offshore China wealth
By Selena Li HONG KONG (Reuters) -Tiger Securities plans to double its headcount in Hong Kong over the next two to three years as the online brokerage targets a bigger share of the growing offshore Chinese wealth in the financial hub, its chief executive said. The Singapore-headquartered firm, founded in 2014 in Beijing, currently employs 60 people in Hong Kong, where it started operations in late 2022, founder and CEO Tinahua Wu told Reuters late Monday. "Hong Kong is a very important global financial centre and it's not only about the several million local residents," Wu said. Tiger's parent firm UP Fintech Holding listed in the U.S. in 2019. "It is because it's backed by China," the 40-year-old former tech veteran said, adding growing accumulation of Chinese wealth offshore needs investment services. Securities trading activities have risen in the offshore Chinese market since Beijing started to unveil a slew of stimulus last September, a trend which has not been dampened by the global trade tensions, according to Wu. Mainland investors have poured HK$651 billion ($83 billion) into Hong Kong-listed shares via the Southbound Stock Connect so far this year, more than double the HK$283 billion during the same period last year, CICC analysts said in a note on Tuesday. The capital inflows augurs well for local brokerages closely connected to clients in China, the world's second-largest economy, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war weighs on investor appetite for U.S. assets. The buoyant Hong Kong market has attracted some companies such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group to foray into Hong Kong by acquiring a 50.55% stake in local broker Bright Smart in April. As more Chinese high-net worth individuals set up family offices in Hong Kong and domestic companies increasingly seek to expand offshore, Wu said Tiger expects sizable growth in demand from both individual and corporate clients. Tiger holds more than $50 billion worth of assets globally and operates in markets beyond Hong Kong, including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. The brokerage's assets under custody, a key measure of client holdings in Tiger's Hong Kong accounts, quadrupled in the first quarter of 2025 from the same period last year, according to UP Fintech's first quarter report. Strong pipeline of initial public listings in Hong Kong with "star" Chinese firms coming to raise funds in the city has also resulted in heightened interest in buying and trading new shares, he said. ($1 = 7.8435 Hong Kong dollars)
