This article only represents the author's own views.
Let’s say you have three sons. The first two are capable breadwinners and doing quite well. But then there’s the spendthrift third son. Others may see him as the black sheep of the family, but is that really the case?
That’s how things look within the house of Meituan (3690.HK), China’s leading online-to-offline services platform whose business portfolio includes a wide range of food, consumer and entertainment offerings. The company’s latest annual report, released last week, shows its total revenue grew by 56% last year to 179.1 billion yuan ($28 million). But it’s still losing money.The company’s two core businesses brought in an impressive 20.3 billion yuan in operating profit last year. But that was more than offset by its newer group-buying and grocery businesses launched in 2020, which cost it 38.4 billion yuan in losses. Adding in another 5 billion yuan in losses for other items, it reported a total operating loss of more than 23.1 billion yuan last year.