appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Ben Jiang

On-demand delivery giant Meituan swung back to profitability in the second quarter as China’s price war in food delivery cooled, allowing the company to scale back subsidies and target higher-value customers.
Beijing-based Meituan posted an adjusted net profit of 2.5 billion yuan (US$372 million) for the June quarter, snapping a three-quarter losing streak according to its earnings report on Friday. The figure beat average analyst forecasts of 340 million yuan compiled by Bloomberg.
Revenue rose 14.4 per cent year on year to 105 billion yuan, beating the consensus estimate of 101 billion yuan.
Revenue and adjusted net loss for the first half came in at 196 billion yuan and 2.4 billion yuan, respectively.
Meituan’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed flat at HK$77.50 on Friday ahead of the earnings announcement.
The latest results come amid Meituan’s effort to curb promotional spending following a year of intense competition with rivals including JD.com and Alibaba Group Holding, which had used aggressive subsidies to capture market share. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
As market subsidies receded, Meituan had been paring back support for low-value orders to redirect resources towards high-value users and larger orders, Huatai Securities said in a recent research note.

The company’s local commerce division – its main revenue generator spanning domestic food delivery and in-store services – recorded an operating profit of 5.7 billion yuan for the quarter, a 52.3 per cent growth year-on-year buoyed by an optimised subsidy strategy and spending on higher-value orders, according to Huatai Securities.
The performance serves as a litmus test of whether Meituan can leverage a calmer competitive environment to drive sustained profitability while financing new growth engines.
While rivalry in China’s food delivery sector appeared to be levelling off, Douyin – the Chinese sibling of TikTok – was emerging as a potent challenge to Meituan’s in-store business, according to Li Chengdong, founder and chief analyst at e-commerce consultancy Dolphin.
The in-store business generates revenue by selling customer vouchers for dining, tourist attractions, entertainment and other local services.
Douyin posed a “structural, long-term threat” to Meituan’s operations by leveraging its organic and high-frequency user engagement to siphon traffic away from Meituan’s transaction platform, Li said.
Douyin remains one of China’s most engaging digital platforms, counting over 1 billion monthly active users as of March, according to April data from traffic analytics firm QuestMobile.
By using short-video algorithms and live streaming sessions to convert online viewers into offline customers, Douyin is aggressively courting restaurant chains and offering heavily discounted meals, posing a significant challenge to Meituan on both the merchant acquisition and consumer retention fronts, Li said.
On the post-earnings call on Thursday, Meituan chief financial officer Chen Shaohui acknowledged the increased rivalry in the in-store business, but said the competitive landscape had evolved and the market was much bigger.
He explained that the company’s authentic customer reviews accumulated over the years, as well as a strategy of not going after subsidy-driven and low-quality orders, would help it fend off rivals.
To offset domestic headwinds, Meituan is expanding overseas and scaling up its artificial intelligence footprint.
Global expansion through its Keeta platform, paired with AI investments, could provide room for long-term valuation growth, Guotai Haitong Securities analysts wrote in a research note last month.
The brokerage expected Meituan to enter more international markets, while its work on proprietary AI models, autonomous delivery and embodied robotics could pivot the firm from a transaction platform into a tech-driven services company.
Meituan founder and chief executive Wang Xing said on the call that the company’s AI mindset was less about competing on model capabilities and more about leveraging AI to reshape the company and strengthen its core businesses.
Separately, specialised AI agents were rolled out across restaurants, hotels and in sectors such as retail, medical, health and travel to help merchants with their daily operations, according to Wang.
“We aim to become a digital co-pilot for merchants on our platform,” he said.
Meituan’s research and development expenses increased by 22.5 per cent to 7.7 billion yuan in the second quarter, primarily driven by higher corporate-level investments in AI, according to the company.


Xi to get presidential airport welcome from Trump during US visit starting Wednesday

China’s collection of stock stamp duty jumps more than 80% as AI frenzy boosts trading

China tests first practical submarine solar power plant at 10 metres depth in the open sea

What Hong Kong educators can learn from Yidan Prize winners

China

Meituan snaps losing streak with profitable June quarter though Douyin threat looms

Meituan food delivery riders take a break in Chongqing, China, November 21, 2025. Photo: Getty Images

A Meituan food delivery drone takes off from a campus near Shenzhen Bay Park on January 17, 2026. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

JD.com’s second-quarter profit climbs 15% as food-delivery losses narrow

The results underscore the impact of JD.com’s expansion into food delivery, logistics and international operations over the past year. Photo: Xinhua

Alibaba pushes into South America’s AI market with launch of Brazil data centres

Alibaba Group Holding has pledged to invest US$56 billion to build AI infrastructure. Photo: Handout

Tech

Big Tech

Revenue for the quarter rose 14.4 per cent year on year to 105 billion yuan, beating the consensus estimate of 101 billion yuan


Revenue for the quarter rose 14.4 per cent year on year to 105 billion yuan, beating the consensus estimate of 101 billion yuan.


Douyin

JD.com

Meituan

Meituan snaps losing streak with profitable June quarter though Douyin threat looms

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Revenue for the quarter rose 14.4 per cent year on year to 105 billion yuan, beating the consensus estimate of 101 billion yuan

Revenue for the quarter rose 14.4 per cent year on year to 105 billion yuan, beating the consensus estimate of 101 billion yuan