"China's Largest Delivery Platform 'Meituan' May Face Large Antitrust Fines"

Mention of Possible Fines in Quarterly Earnings Report
Chinese Authorities Have Conducted Antitrust Investigation Since April
Fines Could Exceed 1 Trillion Won

Chinese platform company Meituan (美團) recently relaunched a dedicated car-sharing service application (center). [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Meituan, China's largest delivery platform ranked 8th in market capitalization on the Chinese stock market, is expected to face a massive antitrust fine.

According to major foreign media on the 30th, Meituan stated in its earnings report released that day, "We are actively cooperating with the investigation by the State Administration for Market Regulation," and added, "We may be required to change our business practices and could be subject to a substantial fine."

The State Administration for Market Regulation is China's antitrust regulatory agency. It has been investigating Meituan since April. Meituan is the second company to be investigated for antitrust issues after Alibaba.

Meituan is suspected of monopolistic practices by demanding high commissions from the food service industry and imposing additional fees or disadvantages if merchants register on other platforms.

Earlier, in April, the Market Supervision Administration imposed an antitrust fine of 18.228 billion yuan (approximately 3.1 trillion KRW) on Alibaba for forcing merchants on its e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall to choose exclusively between them. This fine amounted to 4% of Alibaba's annual revenue in China. The US Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 5th that Meituan's fine could reach 1 billion USD (approximately 1.2 trillion KRW).

Meanwhile, Meituan announced that it recorded a loss of 2.21 billion yuan (approximately 400 billion KRW) from April to June, marking its third consecutive quarter of losses. The company explained that the losses were due to costs associated with expanding into various business areas. Meituan operates millions of restaurants and related online markets, and has expanded its services to include food delivery, hotel reservations, and grocery sales.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.