For a company that demands its employees travel in economy class, Pinduoduo is decidedly profligate when it comes to wooing customers, spending $1.50 for every dollar of sales in the last quarter of 2018.
Start-ups lose money the world over, not least in China. But Shanghai-based Pinduoduo, which allows shoppers to team up with friends to save a few renminbi on toilet rolls and groceries, has taken spending to new levels.
Hailed as the fastest growing company in the history of China when it listed in September, Pinduoduo secured a valuation of $20bn and handed Colin Huang, its founder and former Google engineer, a paper worth of almost $10bn.