AK has been an analyst at long/short equity investment firms, global macro funds, and corporate economics departments. He co-founded Macro Ops and is the host of Fallible.
Today we’ve got an update on the JD.com situation with the company’s CEO, Richard Liu, being accused of misconduct. Is he going to jail? What does this mean for JD.com’s stock price? Should you sell? We’ll discuss all that and more in this video!
Last week Richard Liu was arrested in Minnesota after being accused of misconduct. This was a huge story, especially in China, because Richard and his wife Zhang Zetian aka “Nancy” are basically China’s “it” couple. As I explained in previous videos, Richard’s wife is known as the Milk Tea Sister after achieving superstardom after a picture of her holding a milk tea in high school blew up on the internet. Her relationship with the billionaire Richard made them a very popular celebrity couple. So a lot of the Chinese people were distraught to learn what happened.
This whole situation looks pretty bad. But fortunately, even though it’s still under investigation by the Minnesota police department, no charges have actually been filed against Liu. And based on how fast he was released by the police, along with no bail and no travel restrictions (he was free to go straight back to China) lawyers are saying there probably wasn’t much evidence against him. It was a flimsy case. And worst case, if charges did get put against Richard and he needed to be arrested, it would be nearly impossible to extradite him from China. He’s safe over there.
All in all this looks like a short-term problem for JD.com. It doesn’t really affect the stock’s potential over the long term.
To learn more, make sure you watch the video above!
And as always, stay Fallible out there investors!