Sainsbury's ends talks with JD.com on Argos sale

Sainsbury's said on Sunday that it has terminated talks with Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com over a potential sale of Argos, just 24 hours after confirming discussions aimed at accelerating the troubled retailer's turnaround. The UK supermarket group said JD.com had indicated it would only engage on a materially revised set of terms and commitments that Sainsbury's judged were not in the best interests of its shareholders, colleagues and broader stakeholders.

Sainsbury's had announced on Saturday that it was in discussions about a sale of Argos Retail Group to JD.com, saying the transaction could speed up its More Argos, more often transformation strategy by bringing "world class retail, technology and logistics expertise" and additional investment. The supermarket group stressed at the time that no deal had been struck and there was no certainty that a transaction would proceed. On Sunday it confirmed those negotiations were over.

Argos is one of the United Kingdom's largest general merchandise retailers. Sainsbury's described it as the second largest in its sector, with the third most visited retail website in the country, more than 1,100 collection points and almost 200...