Luckin Coffee’s Outlets in China Top Starbucks

What’s new: Luckin Coffee Inc. disclosed sharply higher sales and a narrower loss in its first earnings report since the disgraced Chinese startup paid $180 million to settle fraud charges in the U.S. last month. Luckin also passed Starbucks in the number of Chinese outlets.

The Starbucks China challenger said Thursday its revenue in the fourth quarter increased 80.7% year-on-year to 2.4 billion yuan ($381.7 million) while the operating loss narrowed to 120.8 million yuan from 488.9 million yuan in the same period in 2020.