Meituan reports third consecutive quarterly loss as rivalry in food delivery hits margins
Meituan posted a third straight quarterly loss as delivery competition and local service rivalry kept pressure on margins.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
Meituan’s first-quarter revenue rose, but the company still logged a loss as food-delivery subsidies and broader competition weighed on profits. CEO Wang Xing pointed to overseas expansion and AI efforts, especially Keeta’s progress in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern markets.
Meituan is a huge app that helps people order food and other things. It made more money than before, but it still lost money because it had to spend a lot to compete with rivals.
Think of it like a race where one runner keeps handing out free water to get more fans. That can help win customers, but it also costs a lot.
The company says it is getting better at running its overseas delivery business and is also working on AI ideas. Still, its main business is under pressure until the fighting with rivals calms down.
Analysis
What happened
Meituan said first-quarter revenue rose 5.6% year on year to 91 billion yuan, but the company still posted an adjusted net loss of 4.97 billion yuan. That was its third consecutive quarterly loss, though the result was narrower than the 15 billion yuan loss reported in the previous quarter.
Why margins improved, but not enough
The company said the smaller loss came partly from lower spending on food-delivery subsidies and better operating efficiency. The article says competition in China’s food delivery market appears to be easing, but rivalry across the broader local services sector is still weighing on margins.
Overseas growth and AI
On the earnings call, co-founder and CEO Wang Xing highlighted Meituan’s overseas push and AI plans. He said Keeta, the company’s food-delivery business, achieved "meaningful efficiency gains" in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia during the quarter and grew in other Middle Eastern markets, though he did not name them. The article says Keeta has launched in five Middle Eastern markets: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Read-through for AI followers
This is not an AI-first product story, but it shows a large consumer platform treating AI as part of its broader strategy while it tries to stabilize earnings. The core business remains delivery and local services, so the immediate market signal is still about competition, subsidy discipline and operating efficiency rather than model breakthroughs.
Key points
- Meituan reported a third straight quarterly loss, with an adjusted net loss of 4.97 billion yuan.
- Revenue rose 5.6% year on year to 91 billion yuan in the quarter ended March 31.
- Lower food-delivery subsidies and better efficiency helped narrow the loss from the prior quarter.
- CEO Wang Xing highlighted overseas expansion and AI initiatives during the earnings call.
- Keeta has launched in five Middle Eastern markets, according to the company website.
If Meituan’s lower subsidy spending and efficiency gains hold up, its losses could keep narrowing. The company’s overseas delivery business also appears to be growing in parts of the Middle East, which could give it another source of momentum.
If rivalry across local services stays intense, margins may remain under pressure even as food-delivery competition eases. The company could keep taking losses if growth in overseas markets does not offset weakness in its core business.
