Dada IPO'd as instant-retail first stock at $16 — JD took it private at $2

Dada Group listed on the Nasdaq on June 5, 2020 — China's 'instant retail first stock' — pricing 20 million ADS at $16 to raise up to ~$368 million, with cornerstone investors JD ($41.6 million) and Walmart ($30 million). At listing, its Dada Now couriers covered over 2,400 counties and had delivered 822 million orders in the previous twelve months, while JD Daojia linked 89,000 stores to 27.6 million users. The pitch was an independent on-demand network; the structure said otherwise — its biggest shareholder was also its biggest customer.

Independence never paid. Dada lost over ¥13 billion cumulatively from 2017 to 2023, and 2024 brought no turn: revenue fell 8% to ¥9.66 billion and the net loss widened to ¥2.04 billion. Meanwhile JD's stake climbed — 53.1% in March 2024, then 63.2% by September after buying out Walmart. A delivery network whose largest client owns you is not a market; it is a department waiting to be folded in.

On January 25, 2025 JD offered $2.00 per ADS — one-eighth of the IPO price — valuing Dada at about $520 million, though its existing stake meant JD's actual cash outlay was only ~$189 million. The merger agreement came in April, shareholders approved on June 10, and on June 17, 2025 Dada delisted as JD's wholly-owned unit. The timing was the point: Liu Qiangdong had called JD's last five years 'lost years' and was entering food delivery — Dada became the base for JD Miaosong and JD Food Delivery in the war against Meituan.