Amazon.com Inc’s Chinese joint venture is in talks about a merger with local e-commerce firm Kaola, which sells imported products in the Asian country, business magazine Caijing reported.
Kaola, owned by Nasdaq-listed NetEase Inc, sells apparel, household appliances and other products, and is the biggest among Chinese shopping sites that focus on imported goods, followed by Tmall Global and JD Worldwide, according to a report from consulting agency iiMedia.
It buys goods directly from overseas manufacturers and last year it imported more than 5,000 brands from 80 countries. Amazon told Reuters it did not comment on market speculation. NetEase declined to comment.