Tencent, Alibaba take Chinese rivalry abroad; find new ways to defend turf

In India, the last large open global market, both have used the investment route to build their own camps

If the billions of dollars being pumped into India wasn’t indicative enough of the intense competition in e-commerce, a clause in Walmart’s filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month revealed more ways in which global players are trying to defend their turf.

The Walmart filing revealed that Chinese internet giant Tencent will have the first right to purchase shares from any other stakeholder in Flipkart in case they plan to sell it to rival Alibaba. Shareholders would be able to sell to Alibaba only if they alert Tencent five working days prior to the sale and