JD.com sees its share price plummet as police investigate rape accusation against CEO
JD.com has seen its share prices plummet, with £5.5bn wiped off its value after chief executive Richard Liu was accused of sexual assault and arrested last week in the US.
He was held for 16 hours as Minneapolis police launched an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegation, before he was later released without charge.
Since then the 45-year-old internet entrepreneur has left the country and returned to China. Police continue to investigate.
Liu denies any wrongdoing, but the Beijing-based e-commerce giant, which specialises in AI and high-tech drones, has seen its share prices drop by 16 per cent in response to the developments.
One of the driverless vehicles JD.com has developed for logistics (Source: Getty)
The company said in a statement that he continues to be in charge of the company, and that there should no impact on the day-to-day running of JD.com.
Alongside the nature of the accusations, one of the chief concerns for shareholders is the significant level of control Liu has over the company.
He owns approximately 16 per cent of the company, and controls approximately 80 per cent of the votes, according to Reuters. He also has a provision which prevents the board making decisions unless he remains director and is present when decisions are made.
It is feared that this level of influence would prevent the board making any decisions without him present, even if were to end up behind bars.
This isn't the first time in recent months that JD.com has been in the news, as the commercial titan reported a loss of £262.8m for the three months since April, which exceeded even Reuter's pessimistic forecast of £136.5m.