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Morning Report: Google and China鈥檚 e-commerce platform JD.com have struck a $550 million partnership.

Early on Monday morning, Google that it will in . The China-based e-commerce company operates as a business-to-consumer platform which competes with China鈥檚 e-commerce giant Alibaba鈥檚 Tmall.

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Google will receive just over 27.1 million newly-issued JD.com Class A shares at an issue price of $20.29 per share. According to the , this is equivalent to $40.58 per share of JD鈥檚 publicly-traded stock, based on its weighted average over the past ten trading sessions.

The two companies expect to collaborate on 鈥渁 range of strategic initiatives,鈥� which combine Google鈥檚 technology advantages with JD鈥檚 depth of experience in supply chain and logistics.

JD.com was launched in 2004 and raised nearly $1 billion in funding before listing on the NASDAQ in May 2014. The company has entered into various strategic partnerships with Chinese and U.S. companies, alike. Notably, the company first with Walmart in June 2016, as it bought Walmart鈥檚 e-commerce division in China, Yihaodian, giving Walmart a 5 percent stake in JD.com.

Adding another layer to the story, in March 2014, purchased in JD.com. The integration of JD.com with Tencent鈥檚 WeChat allowed both companies an advantage in their competition with Alibaba, particularly in China鈥檚 mobile e-commerce space.

Reuters that the investment is indicative of Google鈥檚 broader ambition to increase investments in Asia. According to Crunchbase, Google and various branches of its parent organization, Alphabet, have invested in numerous Asia-based companies in 2018 alone, including India鈥檚 online-to-offline fashion startup , China鈥檚 streaming platform , and Indonesia鈥檚 .

Google鈥檚 investment in JD.com gives JD a strong U.S.-based partnership to leverage in its global competition with Alibaba.

From The聽:

• Google is investing $550 million in Chinese e-commerce giant聽. The two tech companies also plan a broader partnership including promoting items on Google鈥檚 shopping channels and working to expand JD鈥檚 international footprint.

• Microsoft is acquiring聽, the developer of a popular video discussion platform used by educators and students, for an undisclosed sum. Minneapolis-based Flipgrid previously raised about $17 million in venture funding.

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