The Chinese will take over MediaMarkt and Saturn. However, the EC sets conditions

The Chinese from JD.com submitted an offer to take over the owner of MediaMarkt in July 2025 for the amount of EUR 2.2 billion. The European Commission examined this transaction in terms of potential distortion of competitiveness on the EU common market.

The proceedings were conducted on the basis of the regulation on foreign subsidies in force in the EU from 2023. It allows the EC to check takeovers made by companies that received at least EUR 50 million in support from third-country governments in the three years preceding the concentration.

Due to the risk of distorting competition on the common EU market, the EC may block the concentration or agree to it under certain conditions.

According to the EC, the JD.com platform received support from the Chinese government in the form of preferential loans, tax breaks and subsidies.

Therefore, the EC agreed to take over the German concern on the condition that remedial measures are implemented and complied with for 10 years.

Both parties agreed to conduct fair settlements between themselves, which means that JD.com will not be able to provide support to Ceconomy, building an unfair advantage of this concern over its competitors on the EU market.

The EC also obliged both parties to provide warehousing, logistics and technological services to third parties on the same terms and conditions as those provided to Ceconomy.

In this way, the EC wants to ensure that JD.com, which has a powerful infrastructure, will not favor the acquired company at the expense of other companies, offering them the same prices for the services provided.