Meituan and Alibaba's Business Feud | Generated by AI
Prompt:
Why Meituan Wangxing has feud with Alibaba?
Answer:
The feud between Wang Xing, founder and CEO of Meituan (China’s leading food delivery and on-demand services platform), and Alibaba stems from a mix of intense business rivalry, historical investment disputes, and public spats that have escalated over more than a decade. At its core, it’s a battle for dominance in China’s hyper-competitive tech landscape, particularly in e-commerce, food delivery, and instant commerce. Below, I’ll break down the key reasons based on documented events and statements.
1. Historical Investment Conflicts and the 2015 Merger Drama
- Meituan’s early days were marked by aggressive competition in the group-buying and food delivery sectors. Alibaba initially invested in Meituan but withdrew support during its 2015 merger with Dianping (forming Meituan-Dianping), viewing it as a potential monopoly similar to the failed Didi-Kuaidi consolidation.
- Alibaba refused further funding unless Meituan integrated its app with Alibaba’s ecosystem, which Wang rejected to maintain independence. Instead, Alibaba sold its Meituan shares and pivoted to backing rival Ele.me (which it later fully acquired).
- Wang turned to Tencent for $1 billion in funding, solidifying an alliance that positioned Tencent-backed Meituan against Alibaba. In interviews, Wang has described Alibaba’s tactics as lacking a “bottom line,” accusing them of stooping low and even calling Jack Ma a “liar” for Taobao’s early reliance on counterfeit goods.
2. Ongoing Price Wars and Market Encroachment
- The rivalry intensified as Alibaba’s Ele.me expanded into food delivery and instant commerce (quick deliveries within an hour), directly challenging Meituan’s core business. By 2025, this evolved into a “brutal subsidy war,” with Alibaba, Meituan, and JD.com burning through billions in yuan quarterly on discounts for milk tea, lunchboxes, and zero-cost orders to lure users.
- Meituan reported deep losses (e.g., a 97% profit drop in Q2 2025) and a $1.1 billion hit to Wang’s personal wealth from share plunges, forcing “substantial” spending to defend its 150 million daily orders. Wang has vowed to “do whatever it takes to win,” while criticizing the subsidies as “low-quality, vicious competition.”
- Regulators intervened in May 2025, summoning executives from all three companies over unfair practices, wiping $13 billion off Meituan and JD’s market caps amid mutual accusations.
3. Public Jabs and Personal Animosity
- Wang has openly targeted Alibaba multiple times. In 2019, he criticized Jack Ma’s strategies and Alibaba’s ethics. The feud peaked in May 2021 when Wang posted a 1,300-year-old Tang dynasty poem on social media, interpreted as a veiled warning to complacent giants like Alibaba: “Those who scheme great things… often fail in the details.”
- This triggered a massive backlash—$40 billion erased from Meituan’s value in days—amid China’s tech crackdown, with fines for Meituan echoing Alibaba’s $2.8 billion antitrust penalty. Analysts saw it as Wang positioning Meituan as the agile disruptor against Alibaba’s “monopoly” mindset.
Broader Context
This isn’t just personal; it’s emblematic of China’s “borderless competition” among BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) ecosystems. Meituan, backed by Tencent, views Alibaba as an existential threat, while Alibaba sees Meituan as a upstart eroding its e-commerce moat. Wang’s combative style—rooted in surviving 13 failed startups—has earned him respect as a “copycat innovator” but also regulatory scrutiny. As of late 2025, the war rages on, with Meituan expanding overseas (e.g., to Brazil) to offset domestic losses.
In short, it’s a classic tale of ambition clashing with empire-building in a market where winners take all.
References
- Meituan’s Wang Xing Suffers $1.1 Billion Wealth Dip Due To Subsidy War
- Wang Xing’s Meituan, Jack Ma’s Alibaba in Great Chinese Rivalry
- Meituan exec calls food delivery boom “mostly a bubble” amid subsidy battle with Alibaba
- Beijing summons JD.com, Meituan, Alibaba’s Ele.me as food delivery feud heats up
- Meituan loses billions in value over thousand-year-old poem
- Meituan CEO talked about relationships with BAT
- Beijing orders Meituan, like Alibaba, to shape up—or else
- Meituan’s CEO Wang Xing at 40, Without Doubts