PDD Holdings shares plunged by more than 10 per cent in pre-market trading, despite a 44 per cent rise in third-quarter revenue, as concerns around China’s economic slowdown and fierce e-commerce competition weigh on investor sentiment.
The owner of the budget-focused shopping app Pinduoduo and its overseas sibling Temu on Thursday reported 99.35 billion yuan (US$13.7 billion) in revenue in the three months through September. Net income jumped 66 per cent year on year to 24.98 billion yuan.
Chen Lei, company chairman and co-CEO, said PDD is focused on “driving the high-quality development” of its platforms and will keep “investing consistently and patiently” in the platform ecosystem.
Intense price competition has emerged in China’s e-commerce market amid weak consumer spending and a challenging macro environment in the world’s second-largest economy.
Rivals Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com each reported roughly 5 per cent revenue growth for the quarter. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The battle for consumers’ wallets has led to a price war in the e-commerce industry. Some see Pinduoduo, which has long focused on cut-to-the-bone pricing to attract consumers, as exacerbating the problem.
