JD.com Founder Calls for Change as PDD Holdings Surges Ahead

Richard Liu acknowledges company's struggles amid PDD's rapid growth and market dominance.

Richard Liu, the founder of JD.com, has called for change within his company, acknowledging issues such as lackluster execution, lack of coordination among different units, and not being proactive enough in offering cheaper products.
JD.com's struggles come as rival PDD Holdings, formerly known as Pinduoduo, continues to surge ahead, winning over cost-conscious shoppers with better executed discount campaigns.
PDD's growth, coupled with the aggressive expansion of its overseas shopping site Temu, has catapulted PDD's market capitalization past that of Alibaba, making it China's most valuable e-commerce company.
JD.com's shares have slumped about 55% this year, while PDD's stock has skyrocketed 75%, surpassing Alibaba in market capitalization for the first time last month.
Liu's call for change echoes a similar message from Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma, who also called on his own e-commerce titan to improve as PDD continues to grow at a blistering pace.