Chinese social commerce platform Pinduoduo booked an alarming 738% year-on-year surge in operating losses in the first quarter of 2019, the company’s latest unaudited quarterly financial results show.
Pinduoduo’s operating losses reached RMB 2.12 billion (USD 316 million) in the last quarter, up from RMB 253.1 million for the same period last year. Meanwhile, its total operating expenses jumped from RMB 1.22 billion in the first quarter in 2018 to RMB 5.79 billion in the first three months of 2019.
By contrast, Pinduoduo’s revenue growth was relatively tame. The Shanghai-based company booked RMB 4.55 billion in the first three months of this year, up from RMB 1.38 billion in the same period of 2018.
Its average monthly active users have increased from 166.2 million in the first quarter of 2018 to 289.7 million as of March 2019, registering 74% annual growth.