Low prices and rapid expansion costs have ground down China’s coffee shops’ profitability

Cotti Coffee had 6,570 stores on the Chinese mainland as of March, up from just six in October 2022 when it was launched by Luckin’s disgraced co-founders

Upstart Cotti is trying to beat the Chinese leader at its own game by adopting a low-price, subsidy-driven strategy to conquer the affordable segment of the market

China now has the most branded coffee shops in the world at nearly 50,000, overtaking the U.S, for the time

Beverage with a taste of Kweichow Moutai’s baijiu generates sales of 5.42 million cups on first day and tops discussions on social media

The Xiamen-headquartered fast-coffee chain will likely target places popular with Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, a source says

Court document shows Chinese coffee chain reached profitability in August 2020, a year later than it initially claimed; Luckin now sees annual revenue of 3.8-4.2 billion yuan this year

Market regulation administration penalizes 2 Luckin units and 3 related entities the maximum $300,000 each for their roles in $304 million financial reporting fraud

Authority hits two companies owned by Luckin and 43 others with a total of $9 million in fines for violating the country’s fair competition law

In boardroom fight over scandal-ridden coffee chain, Centurium Capital moves to reinstate a director and weaken ousted Chairman Charles Lu Zhengyao’s grip

Finance Ministry confirms fabricated sales results while market regulation agency finds unfair competition, though neither specifies planned penalties

Deal worth $245 million brokered by authorities ends month-long battle between China’s two biggest automakers as Lu Zhenyao’s empire teeters

Jinyi Guo, who stepped up as acting CEO in May, was given the job permanently, along with the chair position

Independent internal investigation’s findings lead to six more firings as board calls special meeting to consider ousting founder and Chairman Lu Zhengyao

Exchange cites blown deadline for issuing annual report after China’s Starbucks challenger disclosed $310 million financial reporting fraud in April

Company will replace half of its board, including chairman Lu Zhengyao, as insider says move could be aimed at lowering heat on Lu from company’s own internal investigation

Lu Zhengyao’s resignation as chairman of rental car specialist Car Inc. comes two weeks after announcement that he would sever financial ties with the company

Chinese authorities have seen emails in which Lu told colleagues to commit fraud, source says

Scandal-plagued former Starbucks challenger has a number of chances to contest Nasdaq’s plan to delist the company, but is likely to ultimately fail, observers say