The largest delivery company in China attributes the result to expansion into new markets; company debuted in Brazil in October
The Chinese food delivery giant reported a staggering net loss of 23.4 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in 2025, reversing the previous year’s profit, as a fierce domestic price war and aggressive international expansion negatively impacted its performance.
The results highlight the rising cost of defending market share in China’s crowded delivery sector and the risks Chinese internet companies face as they seek growth in new markets.
Revenue rose 8.1% to 364.9 billion yuan ($52.8 billion), a sharp slowdown from growth of 25.8% and 22% in the previous 2 years. Meituan’s main segment, local commerce, which includes food delivery and supermarkets, posted an operating loss of 6.9 billion yuan ($1 billion), compared with an operating profit of 52.4 billion yuan ($7.6 billion) in 2024.
China’s delivery sector has been embroiled in a dispute over subsidies since February 2025, when China formally entered the market. Competition intensified in July after Meituan announced it would invest 50 billion yuan ($7.2 billion) in subsidies for its Taobao instant retail business, prompting Meituan to respond to protect its market share.
CEO Wang Xing classified the price war as “irrational” on an earnings call and stated that Meituan would cooperate with regulators’ investigations while reducing low-quality orders.
Meituan stated that it maintains more than 60% market share in gross transaction value and that its average order value remains higher than that of its competitors.
Regulatory scrutiny has increased. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation issued antitrust compliance guidelines for internet platforms in February, warning dominant companies against using cross-subsidies or below-cost pricing to restrict competition.
The regulator also cited 7 major technology companies, including Alibaba, JD.com and Meituan, and urged them to curb what it described as unreasonable competition.
Meituan’s new initiatives segment, which includes international operations, widened its operating loss to 10.1 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in 2025 from 7.3 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) the previous year, reflecting higher overseas spending. In Q4, its delivery brand Keeta incurred upfront costs as it expanded into Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil.
Meituan said Keeta achieved positive unit profitability in Hong Kong by the end of 2025. In Saudi Arabia, the company has already become profitable in some cities and expects to achieve positive unit profitability nationwide by the end of the year.
Wang said the company remains committed to Brazil, but will focus on improving its model in São Paulo before expanding further, after postponing the launch in Rio de Janeiro due to strong competition.
In the domestic market, Meituan is expanding its grocery retail business. The company said it agreed in February 2026 to buy almost all of Dingdong (Cayman)’s operations in China for US$717 million to strengthen its position in the east of the country.
Meituan also said it is integrating artificial intelligence into its platform, including AI assistants to connect users with local merchants.
The shares closed down 3.7%, at HK$86.7 (US$11), on Thursday (26.Mar.2026). The stock has fallen more than 40% since the start of the dispute over subsidies, leaving Meituan with a market capitalization of HK$535.3 billion (US$68.3 billion).
This was originally published in English by Caixin Global on March 27, 2026. It was translated and republished by Poder360 under mutual content sharing agreement.
