All figures below are for the Tesco financial years, which run for 52- or 53-week periods to late February. The chain collapsed into bankruptcy the following week, the second in two years. The deal included Tesco loaning the venture £80m and retaining an option to buy back a stake in the business if Yucaipa succeeded in turning around the group's performance. In September 2013, the company announced that they would sell the chain and 150 of its stores to private equity firm Yucaipa Companies. The company established its U.S. headquarters in El Segundo, California. In November 2003, Tesco announced its entry into the Turkish market by purchasing a stake in the Kipa supermarket chain for £75/£80 million. In March 2020, Tesco announced that it would sell Tesco Lotus back to Charoen Pokphand for US$10.6bn, including debt, in a deal that included Tesco's Malaysian operations.

In January 2022, Tesco shut down its Jack's stores, with stores either being closed or converted to Tesco Superstores. In June 2016, Tesco sold the company to a group of investors led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital for £217 million. The company continued to trade under its own brand, from its own head office in Melville, near Edinburgh. In May 2021, Tesco retired the brand, as only 31% of customers were using the stores for larger shops. They were mainly located in town centres and other urban locations and were designed to accommodate larger weekly shops as well as top-up shopping. Tesco closed six Homeplus shops in March 2015, and the remaining six shops closed in June 2015.

In 2012 it was reported that Tesco was looking to close the business to focus on groceries. The shops offered all of Tesco's ranges except food in warehouse-style units in retail parks. Although Tesco continued to stock non-food items the stand-alone shops were closed and the name was no longer in use when Tesco Extra was launched. Support company called The PC Guys in 2007, and were able to launch Tesco Tech Support in December 2008. Its broadband service was launched in August 2004 to complement its existing internet service provider business, providing an ADSL-based service delivered via BT phone lines.

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By 2009, Tesco Lotus operated 380 stores, claiming to serve 20 million customers every month and that 97% of its goods were sourced from Thailand. Renamed to Tesco Lotus Supercenter and later simply Tesco Lotus, The two companies operated Tesco Lotus under a joint-venture known as Ek-Chai Distribution. Both companies stated that they would focus their efforts on countries with strong market positions. The chain struggled to survive a saturated market led by other supermarket chains. At the height of its operations in Poland the company operated from over 450 various format stores as well as an online shopping service.

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The Tesco supermarket chain is involved in litigation such as the Ward v Tesco Stores Ltd and Tesco Supermarkets Ltd v Nattrass cases. In September 2025, an RTÉ investigation found that Tesco was selling products supplied by factories linked to a forced labour programme. Employees reported working up to 99 hours a week, receiving wages significantly below the Thai legal minimum, and having their immigration documents retained by the factory management. In December 2022, a The Guardian investigation revealed that Burmese migrant workers at the VK Garment Factory in Thailand, which produced F&F clothing for Tesco between 2017 and 2020, were subjected to forced labour conditions. In November 2020, a BBC investigation uncovered allegations of routine exploitation in southern Indian garment factories supplying several major British retailers, including Tesco.

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Searchlight found another 106 titles by British-based publisher Steven Books which it describes as "so extreme that even the British National Party does not sell them". Titles offered for sale included The Hitler We Loved and Why, The International Jew, and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Prime Minister David Cameron called this "unacceptable", with products showing 29.1% horse meat in the "Value" range burger, which were supposed to be beef. Such schemes came to light after HMRC litigated against Debenhams over the scheme in 2005. This scheme was still in operation in June 2008update and was estimated to be costing the UK exchequer up to £20 million a year in corporation tax.

Tesco Extra shops are larger, mainly out-of-town hypermarkets that stock nearly all of Tesco's product ranges, although some are in the heart of town centres and inner-city locations. In February 2024, Barclays announced the acquisition of most of Tesco's banking operations for £600 million, along with the signing of a 10-year partnership between the two companies. The joint venture, created in 2014, had taken over all of Tesco’s stores in China. In February 2020, Tesco announced the sale of its 20% stake in its Chinese joint venture with China Resources for £257 million. Key reductions included over a quarter of its employees in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, and the closure of the call centre in Cardiff.

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