Chinese food and on-demand delivery giant Meituan reported its third consecutive quarterly loss as competition in the country’s food delivery market appears to be easing but broader rivalry across the local service sector continues to weigh on margins.Meituan’s revenue in the three months ended March rose 5.6 per cent year on year to 91 billion yuan (US$13.45 billion), the company said in an earnings release on Monday.The company reported an adjusted net loss of 4.97 billion yuan for the first quarter, although it was narrower than last quarter’s 15 billion yuan loss, due in part to lower spending on food delivery subsidies and improved operating efficiency.While competitive pressure in the food delivery market appears to be easing, Meituan was facing growing challenges in its in-store services business, according to a Citic Securities research note published last month.Competition in the in-store services sector is likely to remain heated, especially following TikTok parent ByteDance’s renewed push into the business since late last year.ByteDance is looking to turn its mega-popular short video app Douyin into a hub for local services, a lucrative market that was estimated by consultancy iiMedia to have reached 35.3 trillion yuan in value last year.
Meituan reports third consecutive quarterly loss amid rivalry in food delivery
Meituan’s revenue in the three months ended March rose 5.6 per cent year on year to US$13.45 billion, according to its earnings release.
TL;DRAI
Meituan posted its third consecutive quarterly loss of 4.97B yuan in Q1 2026, on revenues up 5.6% YoY to 91B yuan, with narrowing losses thanks to reduced food delivery subsidies. The real pressure is now on in-store services, where ByteDance/Douyin is aggressively expanding into a 35T yuan local services market — a signal that platform consolidation in China's super-app economy is far from over.
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