How Meituan’s US$1b bets on AI, robotics outshine quarterly loss

Meituan is set to reap a sizeable financial windfall from its investments in frontier tech – including in fast-rising artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI – offering the Chinese food-delivery giant a timely boost after consecutive loss-making quarters.

On Monday, Meituan posted an adjusted net loss of 4.97 billion yuan (US$735 million) for the three months ended March 31, marking its third consecutive losing quarter. At the same time, the company disclosed that its investments in firms like Zhipu generated a 7.6 billion yuan gain.

The windfall was recorded as fair value through “other comprehensive income”, meaning it was excluded from Meituan’s operational profit-and-loss accounting.

According to its earnings release, Meituan held a 3.86 per cent stake in Zhipu, known internationally as Z.ai. Based on Zhipu’s market capitalisation of 629.5 billion yuan on Tuesday, Meituan’s equity interest translates to 24.3 billion yuan in financial gains.

Meituan’s shares jumped more than 9 per cent to HK$85.50 on Tuesday.

The cushion arrives at a critical time, as Meituan’s core food delivery margins remain under intense pressure amid a fierce three-way battle with Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Meituan also owns a 7.61 per cent stake in Unitree Robotics, a darling of the Chinese robotics sector famous for its dancing and backflipping humanoid robots.

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