Pinduoduo buys a building in Shanghai's Lujiazui — its second major real estate purchase in a month

Pinduoduo is on a real estate buying spree. The Chinese e-commerce giant has acquired the DBS Bank Tower in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district, according to a Caixin report on Thursday.

The building stands in the heart of Pudong’s Lujiazui area, just minutes from Lujiazui metro station on Line 2 and surrounded by high-end shopping centers including Shanghai IFC and Super Brand Mall. Completed in 2009, the 19-story tower spans about 46,000 square meters of total floor space, with 2,600 square meters per standard floor.

The purchase follows a similar move in June, when Pinduoduo bought property in Xiong’an through a direct acquisition deal with PowerChina’s Zhihui City project. That signing placed the company in the Xiong’an Digital New Consumer E-commerce Industrial Park, a specialized zone within the larger PowerChina development.

PowerChina’s Zhihui City complex in Xiong’an is massive — 1.67 million square meters across 102 buildings, blending office space, retail, apartments, hotels, residential units, and cultural facilities.

The back-to-back acquisitions signal that Pinduoduo, best known internationally for its budget marketplace Temu and its dominant position in China’s group-buying e-commerce sector, is investing heavily in physical infrastructure. The company has grown rapidly over the past five years, challenging Alibaba’s long-held dominance in Chinese e-commerce and posting strong revenue growth despite a tougher regulatory environment.

Neither purchase price was disclosed in the reports. The DBS Bank Tower is currently occupied by multiple tenants, so it’s unclear whether Pinduoduo plans to occupy the building fully or operate it as an investment property.