Pinduoduo Pledges $1.5 Billion in Profit to Chinese Farmers

(Bloomberg) — Pinduoduo Inc. posted its first-ever quarterly net profit as a public company, pledging Tuesday to donate those and future earnings toward the development of agriculture till it's given away a total of 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). China's largest online retailer by consumers reported sales jumped a less-than-expected 89% to 23 billion yuan in the June quarter, compared with the 26.7 billion yuan average of analyst estimates. Net income was 2.4 billion yuan, compared with net loss of 899 million yuan a year earlier. The company said the philanthropic initiative — already approved by the board of directors…