Pinduoduo net loss narrows to 1.38b yuan in quarter

Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo Inc reported a 146 percent surge in quarterly revenue on Wednesday, thanks to online shoppers, Reuters reports.

Net loss narrowed to 1.38 billion yuan from 1.75 billion yuan a year earlier in the December quarter.

Pinduoduo allows buyers to get greater discounts when shopping with more people - something that seems to have attracted consumers who have less spendable income due to the impact of the coronavirus disease pandemic.

The Shanghai-based company's annual active users jumped during the pandemic-hit year, helping it overtake larger rival Alibaba Group to become China's largest e-commerce platform by consumers.

Pinduoduo reported 788.4 million active buyers in 2020, while Alibaba had recorded 779 million active buyers during the same period.

Total revenues grew to 26.55 billion yuan (US$4.08 billion) in the fourth quarter ended December 31, topping analysts' estimates of 19.22 billion yuan, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.