BEIJING, March 5, 2026, 19:25 (GMT+8)
- JD.com posted a 1.5% bump in fourth-quarter revenue, missing what analysts had been looking for; the company ended up reporting a net loss.
- Service revenue jumped 20.1%. Product revenue, though, dropped 2.8%—spending on new initiatives surged.
- JD.com signed off on an annual cash dividend and stuck with its update on the share repurchase plan.
JD.com came in below analysts’ revenue forecasts for the quarter and reported a loss on Thursday, a sign of intensifying competition and waning government subsidies tightening the screws on China’s e-commerce sector. Shares traded in the U.S. barely budged ahead of the open. 1
Results dropped just as investors hunt for any signal that consumer demand might be leveling out in the world’s second-largest economy. For online retailers, margins are taking a direct hit—discounting is the first move now, and once competitors jump in, pulling back isn’t easy.
Chinese consumers remain wary, after years of feeling the pinch from a drawn-out property slump, job market worries, and geopolitical strains dragging on sentiment and curbing discretionary outlays. JD.com, the nation’s biggest home appliance retailer, is also up against a tougher backdrop now that subsidy-fueled buying has faded.
For the quarter ending December, revenue climbed 1.5% to 352.3 billion yuan ($51.12 billion), just under the 353.86 billion yuan average analyst forecast from LSEG data cited by Reuters. The company posted a net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders of 2.7 billion yuan, a sharp turnaround from the 9.9 billion yuan profit recorded in the same period last year.
The company reported a continued shift in its revenue mix toward services, notched by a 20.1% jump in net service revenues this quarter. Net product revenues declined 2.8%. Revenue from electronics and home appliances dropped 12%, but general merchandise sales climbed 12.1%, according to JD.com’s statement.
JD.com’s costs surged, fueled by expansion into fresh business lines. Marketing spend jumped 50.6% for the quarter. Fulfillment ate up a bigger slice of revenue, too. The company swung to an operating loss, blaming the drop on “increased strategic investment in new business initiatives.” 2
Chief executive Sandy Xu pointed to “robust user growth” and more frequent shopping, describing the core JD Retail operation as “resilient” even as competition stays fierce. Food delivery, she noted, has been expanding—“while narrowing sequential losses every quarter since its launch.”
Chief financial officer Ian Su Shan took a more measured approach, describing the revenue mix as “increasingly diversified” and highlighting growth in advertising and other higher-margin segments. “Despite some short-term fluctuations in the fourth quarter, our financial position remains solid,” he said.
JD.com turned to shareholder payouts to cushion the impact after profit took a hit this quarter. The board signed off on an annual cash dividend of $0.5 per ordinary share, or $1 for each American depositary share (ADS)—the U.S.-listed version of the stock—totaling an anticipated $1.4 billion in dividends.
The company disclosed it bought back around 183.2 million Class A shares in 2025, spending about $3.0 billion—roughly 6.3% of its outstanding shares—which have now been cancelled. After these moves, $2.0 billion remains on its current buyback authorisation.
Competition remains fierce. Alibaba and PDD Holdings keep turning up the heat on discounts for their China-facing platforms, while sector-wide price wars are squeezing margins. Promotions keep coming, and everyone’s still going after volume.
The move into the red underlines the risk when spending outpaces demand for too long. With Chinese consumers still holding back and subsidies on the wane, JD.com faces pressure from swelling marketing and fulfillment expenses—just as it’s pushing ahead with new ventures. Margins could stay squeezed.
JD.com booked 1.31 trillion yuan in net revenues for all of 2025, a 13% rise. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders, on the other hand, dropped to 19.6 billion yuan from last year’s 41.4 billion yuan, the company said in its statement.
