Meituan ’s quarterly losses shrank after repeated warnings from Beijing helped cool the red-hot competition that hammered margins in China’s online commerce arena. The company reported an operating loss of 6.5 billion yuan ($961 million) for the three months ended March, better than the average analyst projection for about 9 billion yuan. Revenue grew 5.6% to 91 billion yuan, about in line with pr...
Meituan ’s quarterly losses shrank after repeated warnings from Beijing helped cool the red-hot competition that hammered margins in China’s online commerce arena. The company reported an operating loss of 6.5 billion yuan ($961 million) for the three months ended March, better than the average analyst projection for about 9 billion yuan. Revenue grew 5.6% to 91 billion yuan, about in line with projections. While the results were better than feared, Meituan remains locked in a costly battle with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. to defend its market share in food delivery. The trio have spent billions on subsidies and marketing in the past year. Meituan reported its first net loss in almost three years for the quarter ended September. Founder and CEO Wang Xing said in March that losses per order have started narrowing, after Chinese authorities acted to rein in an intense competition that’s squeezed profits for platforms, merchants as well as drivers. The antitrust watchdog in January opened a probe into competition practices in the food delivery sector, and started a new round of investigations into e-commerce recently. China’s market regulator also fined Meituan and rivals including Alibaba and JD a total of 3.6 billion yuan for failing to filter out unqualified merchants. The penalty came after a series of probes into “ghost deliveries,” in which merchants registered with online marketplaces with fake locations and falsified documents. Facing fierce competition and scrutiny domestically, Meituan has been expanding overseas. Its first international operation, branded Keeta, turned a profit in Hong Kong last year. The Chinese company also operates in Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. Wang said overall losses from new initiatives will narrow this year compared to 2025, and the company will focus on current markets in overseas expansion. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Meituan’s core local-commerce declines will likely persist for a third str...
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images News SoftBank ( SFTBY ) is now Japan's most valuable company as the AI-driven rally pushed its market capitalization past Toyota's ( TM ) for the first time in over two decades. The Masayoshi Son-led company's market cap reached ¥48.78T (~$305.9B) on Monday, eclipsing Toyota's ( TM ) ¥45.89T (~$287.8B). SoftBank, whose Tokyo-listed shares ended 14% higher on Monday, an...
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images News SoftBank ( SFTBY ) is now Japan's most valuable company as the AI-driven rally pushed its market capitalization past Toyota's ( TM ) for the first time in over two decades. The Masayoshi Son-led company's market cap reached ¥48.78T (~$305.9B) on Monday, eclipsing Toyota's ( TM ) ¥45.89T (~$287.8B). SoftBank, whose Tokyo-listed shares ended 14% higher on Monday, announced over the weekend that it would invest up to €75B to build AI data centers in France. The company is aggressively spending on AI and is one of OpenAI's ( OPENAI ) top shareholders, after investing over $30B in the AI startup. While SoftBank's shares in Tokyo gained 85% this year, Toyota's stock declined about 15%. "SoftBank has concentrated its management resources on AI-related businesses and has successfully ridden the broader global tech rally," Tomo Kinoshita, global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management Japan, told Bloomberg News . "Toyota, meanwhile, has been hit by rising oil prices stemming from the Iran war, which raises the cost of operating vehicles and weighs on global auto demand," he added. Kinoshita said the valuation gap could reverse if crude prices decline and support automotive demand, but the long-term trajectory favors tech. More on SoftBank, Toyota Motor SoftBank (SFTB:CA) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Toyota Motor (TM) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript SoftBank to build AI data center network in France with $52B investment Toyota increases production mix of EVs, hybrids amid high gas prices
Pakistan’s inflation accelerated to the highest in two years as the war in the Middle East pushed up energy import costs. The consumer prices index rose 11.7% in May from a year earlier, data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. The reading is lower than the median estimate of 12.2% in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Inflation climbed 10.9% in April. The conflict in the Middle E...
Pakistan’s inflation accelerated to the highest in two years as the war in the Middle East pushed up energy import costs. The consumer prices index rose 11.7% in May from a year earlier, data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. The reading is lower than the median estimate of 12.2% in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Inflation climbed 10.9% in April. The conflict in the Middle East has heightened risks for fuel-importing economies across Asia, where rising energy prices are worsening inflation and straining external balances. That is forcing policymakers to take emergency measures to stabilize currencies and contain economic fallout. Pakistan’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in almost three years in April. The monetary authority will hold its next rate review meeting on June 15. Since the war began, authorities have mostly raised fuel prices several times. Petrol and diesel prices remain 48% and 38% higher, respectively, than their pre-war levels, according to government data.