AI full-chain application, reduction in food delivery losses! JD.com's new business faces key changes

On March 5, JD Group released its unaudited financial report for the fourth quarter of 2025 and for the full year. The financial report shows that the company achieved double-digit growth in revenue for the full year, but there was a net loss in the fourth quarter. Investment in new business strategy became the main reason for the profit decline. At the same time, the company announced it would distribute an annual cash dividend and continue to advance its share repurchase program.

The financial report shows that JD Group’s net profit for the full year of 2025 under non-U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (Non-GAAP) was 27 billion yuan. JD Retail’s operating profit for 2025 achieved double-digit year-over-year growth, and the operating profit margin was 4.6%. JD Group CEO Xu Ran revealed in the earnings call that new business is being advanced according to its strategic plan, and AI has been fully applied to internal operations.

Revenue grows steadily, with profit under pressure; prices of electronic products will see fluctuations

For the full year of 2025, JD Group’s total revenue reached 1.3091 trillion yuan (approximately $187.2 billion), up 13.0% year over year. Specifically, the market for powered products maintained a year-long 7.1% year-over-year revenue growth, supported by the high base effect. The daily necessities and department store categories recorded consecutive five quarters of double-digit growth; full-year revenue increased 15.3% year over year, accounting for more than 40% of merchandise revenue and reaching a new annual high. The supermarket categories have achieved double-digit growth for eight consecutive quarters. Service revenue grew 23.6% year over year, and its share of total revenue reached 21.8%, also a new annual high.

However, on the profit side performance was under relatively greater pressure. For the full year of 2025, net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was 19.6 billion yuan (approximately $2.8 billion), down 52.7% year over year. Net profit under non-U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles was 27 billion yuan (approximately $3.9 billion), down 43.5% year over year.

JD Retail business remains the core revenue pillar. The financial report shows that for 2025, operating profit was 51.4 billion yuan (approximately $7.4 billion), up 25.1% year over year, and the operating profit margin increased from 4.0% to 4.6%. Operating profit in the fourth quarter was 9.8 billion yuan (approximately $1.4 billion). Although this was slightly lower than 10 billion yuan in the same period last year, the operating profit margin remained stable at 3.2%.

Data source: JD Group financial report | Chart: Cheng Zijiao, reporter, New Beijing News Shell Finance

In the earnings call, Xu Ran said that due to the high base effect, the electronic categories in 2026 will face phased pressure in the first half, but that pressure will ease compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, and growth will gradually recover in the second half. Affected by the continuous rise in the cost of storage chips, prices of electronic products will fluctuate, which will have some impact on sales.

The financial report also reveals that JD Group’s offline expansion has continued to advance. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, JD MALL had 26 stores nationwide. JD Appliances city flagship stores exceeded 110. Offline 3C digital stores surpassed 4,500. In the instant retail business “JD Fashion Instant Delivery,” more than 1,000 merchants had onboarded, and the number of stores achieved triple-digit year-over-year growth.

On the expense side, all categories of spending showed an upward trend. In 2025, marketing expenses increased 75.1% year over year to 84 billion yuan; research and development spending grew 30.5% to 22.2 billion yuan; fulfillment expenses grew 25.2% to 88.2 billion yuan. These were mainly used for new business promotion, technology R&D, and optimization of fulfillment capabilities.

New business keeps expanding; executives say total delivery investment is expected to decrease

By the end of 2025, the total number of employees within the JD ecosystem exceeded 900,000. In 2025, total human resources expenditure within the JD ecosystem reached 157.2 billion yuan, an increase of 33.7 billion yuan compared with 2024. Xu Ran revealed in the earnings call that with competition in the industry being intense, new businesses will be advanced according to strategic plans. As of now, the takeaway/delivery scale has been expanding steadily, losses have narrowed quarter by quarter, and AI has been fully applied to internal operations.

The financial report shows that in terms of new businesses, JD takeaway/delivery orders have increased steadily, and the order structure in the catering segment has continued to be optimized. In the fourth quarter, the total investment scale narrowed quarter over quarter, and the synergy effect with JD Retail has been gradually released. In Beijing, Seven Fresh Kitchen has opened 30 stores. Overseas expansion has accelerated. Joybuy, JD’s European online retail business, has launched trial operations in six countries including 英, 德, 法, and others, and it plans to go live officially in March 2026. However, new businesses are still in the investment phase. For the full year of 2025, the operating loss from new businesses reached 46.641 billion yuan, becoming the main factor dragging down the company’s overall profit.

In the earnings call, Xu Ran said that in 2025, JD takeaway/delivery had completed major adjustments at the R&D level, and in 2026 it will continue to strengthen core capability building. The total investment for JD takeaway/delivery in 2026 is expected to be lower than in 2025. JD takeaway/delivery will continue to improve the efficiency of subsidies, implement refined subsidy strategies for different regions, and at the same time build innovative, differentiated business models that are deeply integrated with the JD ecosystem.

The financial report shows that AI technology is being applied in depth across JD’s entire value chain. By the end of the fourth quarter, more than 50,000 merchants were using the digital human JoyStreamer service; the number of internal intelligent agents exceeded 50,000; and sales of ecosystem products equipped with JoyInside smart branding increased by more than 20 times during the “11.11” promotion period compared with the “6.18” promotion period.

The financial report shows that JD Group has announced its approval of the 2025 cash dividend plan. For each common share, the company will pay 0.5 dollars, or 1.0 dollars per American Depositary Share (each American Depositary Share represents two A-class common shares). The total dividend amount is expected to be approximately 1.4 billion dollars.

The share repurchase plan is also being advanced at the same time. In 2025, based on the $5 billion repurchase plan adopted in August 2024, the company cumulatively repurchased 183.2 million A-class common shares (equivalent to 91.6 million American Depositary Shares), for a total amount of approximately $3 billion. The repurchased shares accounted for 6.3% of the common shares outstanding at the end of 2024. All repurchased shares have been fully cancelled. As of December 31, 2025, the remaining amount under this repurchase plan was 2 billion dollars.