(Yicai) Dec. 11 -- Echoing Jack Ma, who last month said Alibaba will change, JD.Com’s founder Richard Liu has promised the same at the Chinese e-commerce firm whose stock has more than halved in value this year, saying he takes responsibility for its failings.

“What went wrong was because of my bad management,” Liu said in response to staff comments on the Beijing-based firm’s internal network, employees told Yicai. 

Liu, who set up JD 25 years ago, said the organization was bloated and inefficient and it will take time to change. JD has stuck to the principle of customers first, but in its work, it puts itself first, according to Liu. Many in the company call for innovation but instead plagiarize and copy others, he pointed out. 

But he assured staff that “I will absolutely not lie flat and do nothing, and I hope that my colleagues won't either.” JD’s foundations are still strong, and the company will rise from the bottom, he said.

Two weeks ago, Jack Ma said Alibaba Group Holding will also change, faced as it and JD are by the rapid rise of group-buying discount site Pinduoduo. The market capitalization of Pinduoduo's listed arm PDD Holdings [NASDAQ: PDD] reached USD184.6 billion on Dec. 8, surpassing Alibaba’s [NYSE: BABA] USD183.5 billion.

JD’s stock has tumbled 55 percent in Hong Kong [HKG: 9618] and 53 percent in New York [NASDAQ: JD] this year, cutting its market cap in those markets to HKD312.4 billion (USD40 billion) and USD41.5 billion, respectively.

JD has lost its low-price advantage, Liu said in an internal company letter around China's Double 11 Shopping festival last year. JD piloted a CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) subsidy campaign during the event to compete with Pinduoduo, adjusted its scheme for limited-time offers, and simplified its promotion mechanism, an employee told Yicai earlier.

Net income at JD jumped 33 percent to CNY7.9 billion (USD1.1 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30 on a 1.7 percent rise in revenue to CNY247.7 billion (USD34 billion), its earnings report showed last month.

Editor: Martin Kadiev