By George Glover
China's food-delivery war could be about to end. That's bad news for hungry shoppers, but good news for the country's e-commerce giants.
Food delivery platform operator Meituan's Hong Kong-listed shares closed 14% higher on Wednesday. American depositary receipts for online retailers Alibaba and JD.com jumped 2.6% and 4.3%, respectively, early Wednesday.
The rally came after China's State Administration for Market Regulation reposted a column by state-run newspaper Economic Daily that called for an end to the price war between food-delivery operators.
Investors saw that as a sign that the regulator may soon step in to end the battle.
Economic Daily said there had been a "severe shock to the pricing system of the catering industry," adding that this had resulted in lower quality and weaker profits.
Alibaba, JD.com, and Meituan have been locked in a brutal price war, particularly in food delivery, in a bid to boost sales volumes at a time when consumer spending in China has stagnated.
Alibaba's December-quarter earnings summed up how the battle is weighing on companies' bottom lines. Revenue rose 2%, narrowly below consensus forecasts but the company's net profit slumped 66% from a year ago to 15.63 billion yuan ($2.24 billion).
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
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March 25, 2026 09:58 ET (13:58 GMT)
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