Pinduoduo shoot up 22 per cent after donating £1bn to Chinese agriculture sector
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Chinese e-commerce group Pinduoduo said it would donate RMB 10bn (£1.12bn) in future earnings to contribute to the development of agriculture as part of the country’s “common prosperity” vision.
Shares for the Nasdaq-listed company were up 22 per cent following the announcement of the programme.
Pinduoduo reported its first-ever quarterly profits as a public company yesterday. Sales brought in RMB 23bn (£2.6bn), with a net income of RMB 2.4bn (£270m).
The group’s platform allows users to access group buying deals and is run through Tencent’s Wechat app. The company said the initiative will address critical needs in the agricultural and rural areas.
“Agriculture has long been at the core of Pinduoduo’s corporate mission and strategy and the [initiative] we announced today is a way for us to deepen our support for agricultural modernisation and rural vitalisation,” said Pinduoduo boss Chen Lei.
It follows calls by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s for “common prosperity” programmes to encourage wealth redistribution amid rising social inequality.
The philanthropic incursion follows tech firm Tencent’s announcement that it would contribute RMB 5bn (£562m) to the programme.
Fears of a widespread crackdown on Chinese tech companies due to heightened scrutiny by the authorities have wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off the stock market. Shares in Pinduoduo have dropped 44 per cent since the start of the year.