, Columnist
Meituan Shows What Really Matters in a Pandemic
Even as the economy craters, businesses are still paying to advertise.
Some things are still humming.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Meituan Dianping suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic in all the ways that investors would have expected: In-person activities got stung, food deliveries stayed relatively resilient and groceries thrived. As a result, revenue dropped and losses widened.
What’s surprising is the area where China’s leading delivery and bookings provider benefited most: advertising.