British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has ended talks with Chinese retailer JD.com over the sale of its general merchandise business, Argos, in a statement on 14 September.
The collapse of the sale talks come just a day after they began.
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On 13 September, the UK group had confirmed the sale talks, saying a potential deal could “accelerate Argos’s transformation”, through the addition of JD.com’s retail, technology and logistics expertise.
Sainsbury’s said: “JD.com has communicated that it would now only be prepared to engage on a materially revised set of terms and commitments which are not in the best interests of Sainsbury’s shareholders, colleagues and broader stakeholders.”
Sainsbury’s had acquired Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos, for over £1bn ($1.35bn) in 2016.
Argos is ranked as the UK’s second-largest general merchandise retailer. Its website is the third most visited in the country, with more than 1,100 collection points.
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By GlobalDataHowever, growth has been tempered at Argos for the fiscal year 2024/25 (FY24/25), with its sales falling by 2.7% year-on-year to £4.9bn.
Sainsbury’s latest accounts value Argos at £344m, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, JD.com previously withdrew from a deal to acquire UK retailer Curry’s.
In addition, Sainsbury’s launched a live facial recognition technology pilot earlier this month at its Sydenham superstore in London and its Oldfield Park Local store in Bath.
The trial will run for eight weeks and upon successful completion, the retailer plans to roll out the system nationwide.
The technology developed by Facewatch integrates with CCTV cameras to automatically scan customers’ faces, matching them against a watchlist database provided by Facewatch.
