Meituan Q3 2025 Results: Core Local Commerce Operating Loss of ¥14.10 billion RMB ($1.96 billion USD); Annual Transacting Users Top 800 million

Meituan Q3 2025 results show a core local commerce operating loss of ¥14.10 billion RMB ($1.96 billion USD) and annual transacting users topping 800 million.

Key Points

Company: Meituan (Měituán 美团) — stock code: 3690.HK

Note on currency conversions: All RMB → USD conversions in this article use an exchange rate of ¥7.20 RMB = $1.00 USD (approximate, 2025-11-28).

Quarterly snapshot — Meituan Q3 2025 financials and highlights

• Revenue (Q3 2025): ¥95.50 billion RMB ($13.26 billion USD).
• Core local commerce operating loss (Q3 2025): ¥14.10 billion RMB ($1.96 billion USD).
• New business revenue (Q3 2025): ¥28.00 billion RMB ($3.89 billion USD).
• New business operating loss (Q3 2025): ¥1.30 billion RMB ($180.56 million USD).
• Adjusted net loss (Q3 2025): ¥16.00 billion RMB ($2.22 billion USD).
• R&D investment (Q3 2025): ¥6.90 billion RMB ($958.33 million USD).
• Annual transacting users (past 12 months): >800 million users.

Why results shifted negative — competition, subsidies, and strategy

Meituan (Měituán 美团) reported Q3 2025 revenue of ¥95.50 billion RMB ($13.26B USD), up 2% year-over-year.

Intensified sector competition and increased subsidy and service investments drove the core local commerce segment into operating loss territory.

The company cited stepped-up investments meant to improve service quality, expand supply and stimulate healthy industry development.

Quick takeaway: This is a deliberate trade-off between short-term profitability and longer-term market-share and product quality objectives.

User and engagement metrics — scale, retention, and signals for product-market fit

• DAU growth: Daily active users for the Meituan app grew more than 20% year-over-year.
• Annual transacting users: Over the past 12 months, Meituan exceeded 800 million annual transacting users.
• Platform reviews: Cumulative user reviews surpassed 25.0 billion, with 3.5 billion added in the last 12 months.
• Instant retail scale: Daily peak orders reached over 150 million in July, with an average delivery time reported at 34 minutes.
• Meituan Flash (instant retail): New-user growth and increased transaction frequency among core users were reported, with promotional “brand lightning warehouses” driving sizable uplifts during launch days before 11/11.

Investor signal: High DAU growth and 800M+ transacting users show platform reach and engagement that can support future monetization if unit economics improve.

Business segment performance — core local commerce vs. new businesses

Core local commerce

The core local commerce segment generated ¥67.40 billion RMB in revenue in Q3 2025.

To counteract irrational competition in the food-delivery market, Meituan increased direct subsidies for restaurants and implemented other merchant-support measures.

Those measures drove the segment to an operating loss of ¥14.10 billion RMB ($1.96B USD) for the quarter.

New businesses

New business revenue rose 15.9% year-over-year to ¥28.00 billion RMB ($3.89B USD).

The new-business segment narrowed its quarterly loss to ¥1.30 billion RMB ($180.56M USD) sequentially.

Growth was supported by grocery and other retail offerings and international rollout efforts for Keeta.

Keeta expanded operations in the Middle East (Qatar, Kuwait, UAE) and launched in Brazil at the end of October 2025.

What this means: New businesses are scaling and narrowing losses, but core local commerce remains the main driver of both top-line and short-term cash burn.

Supply-side innovation and product evolution

Meituan has accelerated offerings and logistics innovations to improve product quality, selection and fulfillment reliability.

Instant retail continues to scale, with users moving from lower-frequency categories to higher-frequency usage.

This migration increases customer stickiness and broadens consumption scenarios across the platform.

Rider protections, merchant support and ecosystem investment

Meituan expanded rider welfare and protections and said its rider pension insurance subsidies are now available nationwide.

The company has built a multi-layered benefits system — including major-illness care, education funds for riders’ children, work meals, medical checkups and travel subsidies.

Meituan reported these programs now reach over one million riders and their families.

The company announced pilots to provide rider apartment housing and rental subsidies in many regions.

To ease the negative effects of competitive discounting on merchants, Meituan upgraded its “Prosperity Plan” with an additional ¥2.80 billion RMB ($388.89M USD) in support.

• ¥2.00 billion RMB ($277.78M USD) in direct merchant support funds.
• ¥300 million RMB ($41.67M USD) for store-format and model innovation.
• ¥500 million RMB ($69.44M USD) to accelerate “bright kitchen” infrastructure and related programs.

Meituan also introduced merchant-facing initiatives such as an updated rating system, the “Market Street Flavor” rankings, and free access to full-scenario AI operating tools to help merchants stabilize and grow operations.

For food-safety transparency, Meituan has promoted the “bright kitchen” (Míngchú Liàngzào 明厨亮灶) program with hardware subsidies and cash incentives to encourage kitchens to open live feeds.

By mid-September 2025, about 300,000 merchants, over 3,000 chain brands and roughly 60,000 chain stores had joined the program.

Practical impact: These programs aim to defend merchant economics and improve consumer trust — both critical levers to restore healthy unit economics long-term.

Technology and AI — continued investment and productization

Meituan increased R&D spending to ¥6.90 billion RMB ($958.33M USD) in the quarter, up 31% year-over-year.

The company highlighted progress in AI research and productization, including the release of the LongCat-Flash family of open-source models and iterative merchant tools such as “Kangaroo Advisor” and “Smart Shopkeeper.”

A consumer-facing smart assistant (“XiaoMei”) entered scaled testing during the quarter.

Meituan also reported expanded commercial drone delivery services.

The Hong Kong drone delivery service was upgraded with the territory’s first wind- and water-resistant intelligent drone ‘airport’ and multi-drone synchronous operations.

Night-time drone delivery trials launched on multiple Shenzhen routes — the first application of drones for night-time instant retail delivery in China.

By the end of September 2025, Meituan said drone commercial orders exceeded 670,000.

Why this matters: Heavy R&D spend and AI tooling can improve fulfillment efficiency and merchant productivity, which are key to reversing the current operating losses without sacrificing service quality.

Management commentary — strategic posture

Wang Xing (Wáng Xìng 王兴), CEO of Meituan, said the company is strengthening core capabilities amid changing competition.

He said Meituan will continue to execute its “retail + tech” strategy to iterate product and service offerings and lead sustainable industry growth.

Chen Shaohui (Chén Shàohuī 陈少晖), CFO of Meituan, emphasized the company’s confidence in long-term growth across businesses.

He reiterated continued strategic investment in service quality, ecosystem construction and technology innovation to create greater value for ecosystem partners.

What this means for the market — trade-offs and what to watch

Meituan’s Q3 shows trade-offs between short-term profitability and market-share/service investments.

The company is accepting sizable operating losses in its core local commerce business to boost user engagement and merchant/fulfillment quality.

Investors and industry participants will watch whether increased user engagement and merchant-health programs translate into sustainable margin recovery in coming quarters.

Signals to monitor:

• User monetization: Does higher DAU and 800M+ transacting users translate to higher ARPU and better take-rates?
• Unit economics: Can subsidies be dialed back as logistics and AI efficiencies improve?
• New business scale: Will Keeta and grocery expansion continue to narrow losses and become profit contributors?
• Merchant health: Are the Prosperity Plan and “bright kitchen” initiatives improving merchant retention and order values?

Key metrics recap (Q3 2025)

• Revenue: ¥95.50 billion RMB ($13.26B USD).
• Core local commerce revenue: ¥67.40 billion RMB.
• Core local commerce operating loss: ¥14.10 billion RMB ($1.96B USD).
• New business revenue: ¥28.00 billion RMB ($3.89B USD).
• New business operating loss: ¥1.30 billion RMB ($180.56M USD).
• Adjusted net loss: ¥16.00 billion RMB ($2.22B USD).
• R&D spend: ¥6.90 billion RMB ($958.33M USD).
• Annual transacting users: >800 million.
• Instant retail daily peak orders: >150 million.
• Platform cumulative user reviews: >25.0 billion.

Important disclaimers

This article is a translation and synthesis of publicly reported financial results and related reporting for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.

Readers should verify numbers and disclosures directly from company filings and official releases before making investment decisions.

References

• Meituan Announces Q3 2025 Results – Meituan
• Meituan Q3 2025 Financial Report — Eastmoney (source: 中国基金报)

Meituan Q3 2025 results show a core local commerce operating loss of ¥14.10 billion RMB ($1.96 billion USD) and annual transacting users topping 800 million.