PDD Holdings, the parent company of bargain-hunter e-commerce platforms Pingduoduo and Temu, posted revenue of 39.8 billion yuan (US$5.8 billion) in Q4 last year, up 46 percent year on year but short of the 42-billion-yuan market expectation. Over the full year, the revenue of 130 billion yuan was up 39 percent compared with 2021.
PDD’s US-listed shares fell as much as 15 percent in premarket trading.
Two years ago, PDD shifted its focus from marketing to R&D and spent 2.4 billion yuan on research last year, up 19 percent. The company spent more on recruitment and renting servers. PDD spent 17.7 billion yuan on advertising and marketing in Q4, a significant 56 percent rise from the same period a year ago.
CHEN Lei, president and CEO of PDD said the company doubled down on discounts last year.
“We are glad to do our part to help consumer confidence recover,” he said. “We will continue offering bargains while maintaining the quality of products.”
PDD’s net profit last year reached 31.5 billion yuan, more than tripled compared to the 7.77 billion yuan in 2021.
