Meituan slides into loss in ‘milk tea’ subsidy war with instant commerce rival Alibaba

China’s food-delivery giant Meituan swung to a deep quarterly loss, as a costly battle with Alibaba Group Holding’s instant commerce business eroded margins and kept revenue growth modest. The Beijing-based company on Friday reported revenue of 95.5 billion yuan (US$13.3 billion) for the three months to September, up 2 per cent year on year, missing analysts' estimates of 97.5 billion yuan. However, it booked an operating loss of 19.8 billion yuan, compared with a 13.7 billion yuan operating...