JD.com reported second-quarter results on Thursday morning. Net revenues of RMB346.4 billion (US$51.1 billion), down 2.9% from RMB356.7 billion a year earlier. Income from operations of RMB4.5 billion, against a loss of RMB859 million in the same quarter of 2025 — a 1.3% operating margin where there had been negative 0.2%. Non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of RMB8.9 billion, up from RMB7.4 billion.
The headline reads as a profit inflection. Read the segment table instead. New Businesses — the bucket that holds JD Food Delivery, Jingxi, Joybuy and JD Property — posted revenue of RMB7.26 billion against RMB13.85 billion a year earlier. That is a 47.6% decline. Its operating loss narrowed to RMB9.85 billion from RMB14.78 billion. Nearly RMB5 billion of loss reduction came alongside nearly RMB6.6 billion of vanished revenue.
JD did not fix the food-delivery war. It stopped fighting it at last year’s intensity, and the P&L rewarded the retreat instantly. That is a legitimate management decision. It is not the same thing as an inflection.
Our take: The most revealing line in the release is JD Retail’s. Operating income there was RMB13.5 billion, down from RMB13.9 billion. Operating margin was 4.6%, up from 4.5%. Both are true because the denominator shrank faster than the numerator. CFO Ian Su Shan called it “a record high for peak promotional seasons” — and it is, on the ratio. But a margin record built on a falling revenue base is a different asset than a margin record built on operating leverage, and investors who model the first as the second will be wrong in about two quarters. Watch the absolute yuan, not the percentage.
The half-year number nobody quoted
Q2 non-GAAP net income rose 20.8%. First-half non-GAAP net income fell: RMB16.3 billion against RMB20.2 billion in the first half of 2025, a decline of roughly 19%. Q2 2026 is a recovery from a brutal Q1, not a return to the earnings power JD had before it went to war on delivery. Anyone anchoring on the quarterly growth rate is anchoring on the shape of last year’s losses.
The core retail business, meanwhile, has a demand problem the delivery story has been masking. Electronics and home appliances revenue — still JD’s largest category by a wide margin — fell 11.8% to RMB157.9 billion from RMB179.0 billion. Product revenue overall was down 5.4%; service revenue, the higher-margin marketplace and marketing line, grew 6.8%. Mix is doing real work on profitability. Volume is not.
Spending is going up, not down
Research and development expenses rose 37.7% to RMB7.3 billion, or 2.1% of revenue against 1.5% a year ago. JD is cutting subsidy spend and raising technology spend at the same time — the classic 2026 corporate posture, visible everywhere from Airbnb to the hyperscalers. It also repurchased approximately 2.5% of its ordinary shares in the first half, with US$1.0 billion left under the programme as of June 30.
So: shrinking top line, rising R&D, shrinking share count, expanding margin. Three of those four are choices management can keep making. Only one of them is a business.
What to watch
- New Businesses revenue in Q3. If it falls again, the loss narrows again and the profit “growth” is still subtraction. If it stabilises, the loss stops shrinking.
- Electronics and home appliances. Down 11.8% in Q2 and 10.3% across the half. China’s trade-in subsidy comparisons get no easier from here.
- JD Retail operating income in yuan. RMB13.5 billion this quarter. Two consecutive declines would break the margin narrative outright.
- R&D as a share of revenue. 2.1% and climbing. If revenue keeps falling, that ratio rises without a single extra hire.
The comparison worth holding: DoorDash spent this quarter explaining which of its growth was bought. JD spent this quarter explaining which of its profit was un-bought. Same disclosure discipline, opposite direction.