Observed Signal · Mar 31, 2026 · Regulation · Source: Hello China Tech · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Meituan Loses Billions After China Delivery Subsidy War
Meituan swung from an adjusted net profit of Rmb 43.8 billion in 2024 to an adjusted net loss of Rmb 18.6 billion in 2025 after an intense subsidy battle with JD.com and Alibaba’s Ele.me. The three platforms spent an estimated Rmb 80–100 billion in direct consumer subsidies over roughly six months, while Meituan’s promotion and advertising costs nearly doubled year‑on‑year. Surveys and macro data show the war raised order volume slightly but reduced merchant revenues and pushed down food prices, affecting China’s CPI. By late 2025 the platforms began retrenching — mergers, team scale‑backs and narrowed losses — and regulatory pressure in early 2026 (meetings by the State Administration for Market Regulation and an Economic Daily commentary urging an end) coincided with sharp stock rebounds for the listed players.
Major Chinese platforms (Meituan, Alibaba, JD) incurred large profit impacts and regulators signalled intervention that appears to end the subsidy war; this shifts competitive, promotional and pricing dynamics across China’s delivery and commerce ecosystem.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Meituan reported adjusted net profit of Rmb 43.8 billion in 2024 and an adjusted net loss of Rmb 18.6 billion in 2025.
- JD.com launched its own food delivery service in early 2025, triggering a three‑way subsidy battle with Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me.
- The three platforms spent an estimated Rmb 80–100 billion in direct consumer subsidies over about six months.
- Meituan’s promotion and advertising expenses rose from Rmb 39.1 billion in 2024 to Rmb 74.5 billion in 2025.
- Regulators intervened in early 2026 (SAMR meetings and an Economic Daily commentary), after which share prices for Meituan (+13%), Alibaba (+4.6%) and JD (+~5%) rose.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mappedRelated Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Meituan's Shift to Retail Increases Debt Pressure
Meituan's Q1 2026 results (reported June 1, 2026) show an adjusted net loss narrowed to Rmb 5 billion, while the company restructured revenue reporting to merge commission and advertising into a single “merchant services” line and separately disclose a new “product sales” category. Product sales reached Rmb 21 billion in Q1 (up 46.6% year‑over‑year), with core local commerce revenue largely flat. Total revenue was Rmb 91 billion, and operating loss narrowed to Rmb 6.5 billion. The balance sheet reveals rising financing: non-current borrowings more than doubled to Rmb 42.7 billion from Rmb 18.8 billion at year‑end 2025. The changes signal a strategic pivot from an asset‑light marketplace toward self‑operated retail and greater inventory/fulfillment control, financed by increased borrowing.
ByteDance Raises Local Services Fees, Pressuring Meituan Margins
ByteDance has implemented two pricing moves in four weeks that reshape China's in-store services market. In July 2026, its standalone group-buying app Dou Sheng Sheng raised commission rates by 2-5 percentage points over Douyin's main app, and Douyin ended strong promotional referrals to the standalone product. On August 10, Doubao, ByteDance's AI assistant, began charging an all-in fee of about 12% for hotel bookings (11.4% software service fee and 0.6% payment processing), exceeding Douyin's public 8% hotel rate. Meituan reported Q2 2026 revenue of Rmb 104.6bn, up 14.4%, with core local commerce operating margin of 7.9%, but in-store margin reached roughly 30%, above Nomura's 25% forecast. Meituan expects margin to decline in Q3 due to increased investment, indicating competitive normalization.
JD.com Reports Q2 Revenue Decline
Chinese e-commerce group JD.com reported lower revenue in the second quarter, generating about 346 billion renminbi (RMB), roughly €45 billion. The article notes that at least one of JD.com's business segments experienced a double-digit revenue decline. The report was published by Lebensmittelzeitung (Redaktion LZ) on 2026-08-14. The piece includes an image credit to IMAGO / ZUMA Wire and is hosted by DFV Mediengruppe's lebensmittelzeitung.net.
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