MediaMarktSaturn is being acquired by JD.com: Who is that?

In Beijing, they call it an industrial park—but there are no warehouses or assembly halls there, but rather impressive buildings, like those found elsewhere in prime downtown business center locations. We are standing in the Daxing District , Beijing's Yizhuang Economic and Development Zone, in front of the JD.com headquarters: a complex, imposing building with a glass facade. Everything radiates one thing above all: energy. Here, dear top executives from all over the world, so the message goes, you will find excellent conditions in a harmoniously designed atmosphere.

Haven't heard of JD.com yet? That's about to change, as JD.com is acquiring one of Germany's largest technology retailers: MediaMarktSaturn. The Federal Cartel Office has approved the deal, paving the way for China's largest retailer by revenue, comparable to Amazon and a competitor to the better-known company Alibaba .

The current majority shareholder, Düsseldorf-based Ceconomy AG, and the Chinese have agreed that the German technology retailer can be transferred to Chinese hands in the first half of 2026. The Chinese have apparently already secured 57.1 percent of the shares.

JD.com: Technology and Services

JD.com offers more than just delivery and distribution ; the company also operates as a leading technology and services company. In 2024, revenue totaled nearly $159 billion, accounting for approximately one-third of the total federal budget expenditures for 2024. JD.com has 580 million annual active customers in China.

In front of the headquarters in Beijing, in a spacious green area, sits a meter-tall, white, very cute little dog with a wide, laughing mouth – the logo and mascot of the retail giant, which offers electronics, clothing, food, household goods, and much more. You'll soon get to know this cute animal better.

To put the dimensions into perspective: MediaMarktSaturn generated approximately €22.2 billion in net sales in 2022/23 across 1,000 stores and its still-small online segment in several European countries. The German company employs 55,000 people, while the Chinese company employs more than 600,000. A strategic partnership existed between JD.com and the US retail giant Walmart for eight years. In 2024, the American company ended the cooperation, selling its JD.com shares on the stock market for $3.6 billion.

The Beijing headquarters is entered through the intimidatingly grand entrance area, where the greenery of the exterior gradually blends into the sober interior. Precisely lined surfaces with islands of greenery spread out across the floor. We'll be taking a guided tour of the company's exhibition in September 2023.

The young lady, a tour guide in a perfectly fitting dark suit, complete with headset, microphone, and perfect command of her informational text, leads us past an impressive gallery of delivery drones. JD.com is proud to be the first company in the world to deploy drones on a significant scale. They are sent to rural areas, loaded with medication, for example, quickly, safely, and independently of other infrastructure.

According to the company, they reach residents of remote communities, in areas with inaccessible terrain, people who are still underserved by the e-commerce industry. JD drones overcome the difficult so-called last mile, which can be up to 100 kilometers long. They take off from regional delivery stations and fly to "village promoters" hired by JD. The company has contracted 300,000 such local recipients; these then distribute the orders directly to customers in the neighborhood. This shortens delivery times and reduces costs, according to JD.

According to the JD website, around 60 drone routes have been in operation in remote parts of Beijing, Jiangsu, Shaanxi and Sichuan since May 2017, making it easier for people to participate in Chinese online shopping.

The company had the drones, which visitors to the exhibition walk past with awe, specially developed: There's the JD drone Y3, which, with three twin propellers on its sides, can transport an externally attached commercial cargo weighing up to ten kilograms "stably, even in headwinds" – over a distance of 20 kilometers round trip. It navigates to its destination autonomously, unloads autonomously, and returns independently. In 2023, this was the model used primarily.

While the V3 drone resembles an airplane—fixed wings and a propeller at the front—it's a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft developed by JD that can fly loads of up to 20 kilograms over long distances. The display panel explains: "With a flight radius of 100 kilometers, the V3 is primarily used for deliveries to remote areas."

Deliver or explore: drones for all occasions

There's also the VT1, which can distribute even more load within a 200-kilometer radius, or a small reconnaissance drone, portable, hand-launched, and usable for monitoring power lines or assessing the situation in earthquake zones. It doesn't take much imagination to imagine possible military applications.

A special section is dedicated to the history of the still young company. It was founded in 1998 as JD Multimedia by Liu Qiangdong and went online in 2004. Initially, the then 25-year-old specialized in magneto-optical devices, but soon expanded his product range to include electronics, mobile phones, and computers.

Since 2023, the domain name has been JD.com – "J" stands for the first name of his then-girlfriend, "Jing," and the "D" for "Dong," the short form of his own first name. At a time when counterfeit products were significantly more widespread than today, Liu Qiangdong focused on selling genuine products. In July 2021, Forbes estimated his net worth at $19.3 billion. He served as CEO of JD.com until 2022.

The exhibition organizers have lovingly recreated Liu's office, a rented shop in a Beijing market: a tiny space that barely fits the rolled-out raffia mat with a pillow, folded blanket, and antique alarm clock, on which the young entrepreneur spent his short nights at work, next to a small desk. One display case displays his first laptop, another two massive drive cases, an Olympus camera, Liu's briefcase, an orange safety vest, a Nokia cell phone, and a red pennant with the gold-embroidered inscription: Awarded as an Outstanding Department.

The big breakthrough came with a crisis: Due to the SARS outbreak in Beijing in 2003, Liu had to temporarily close his then twelve stores and shifted the business online.

Today's headquarters is a different universe compared to those early days. The tour takes you past futuristic installations, video walls on which company locations in Shanghai, Chengdu, Kushan, and the sorting plant in Jinan report their current performance. You walk through corridors whose marble floors and walls gleam as if polished hourly. Finally, the tour guide stops in front of a model: building after building, interspersed with multi-lane roads, bridges, and green spaces – the expansion plans, an entire JD.com district in Beijing, primarily for logistics.

JD.com is also expanding internationally – but unlike the well-known online retailers Temu and Shein, which are well-known in Germany. While those rely on direct delivery, from manufacturer to customer, JD.com operates a high-tech, AI-powered logistics infrastructure with its own warehouses and delivery services, designed to guarantee fast and reliable deliveries. This also includes retail in physical stores – as is common with MediaMarktSaturn.

When the first 70,000-square-meter, seven-story JD Mall flagship store opened in Beijing in May 2025, the company's omnichannel strategy became clear: reaching customers through all channels, including offline. The online magazine Dao Insight describes JD Mall as a shopping and experience world: On the ground floor, consumer electronics and computers are available, complemented by interactive services such as an AR fitting room for smartwatches and an esports experience center. On the first floor, coffee culture is combined with cosmetics and body care products. There are furniture, home renovation offers, and a family zone with a bookstore and children's play area. Restaurants and snack bars are located on the lower level.

Will MediaMarktSaturn stores be remodeled according to this concept? Quite possibly. Sandy Ran Xu, CEO of JD.com since May 2023, says the company will push ahead with the restructuring of MediaMarktSaturn. In the European market, for example, JD.com has been operating in the Netherlands with the omnichannel platform Ochama since 2022, and a pilot project for the online marketplace Joybuy is underway in the UK. The platform is currently expanding into Germany.

The Handelsblatt newspaper commented with irritation: “The platform offers a crude mix of groceries and electronics – and in some cities, same-day delivery.” Perhaps the Chinese are – once again – ahead of European developments.

Ceconomy headquarters in Düsseldorf has pledged that the Media Markt and Saturn brands will remain after the takeover. According to CEO Kai-Ulrich Deissner, redundancies for operational reasons are excluded for three years, and collective bargaining agreements and co-determination will remain in place.

For Chinese high-tech manufacturers like Xiaomi, the acquisition opens up new sales channels – independent of German structures. They have products like smartphones that offer more than the competition. A sure sign of technological superiority: Xiaomi 's share price has grown by approximately 200 percent in the last twelve months. Products could reach German consumers more effectively in the future – not because the products no longer make their way to the US, but because Europeans freely choose the better device.