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Meituan-Dianping, one of the world’s most valuable startups, is pushing into mobility-related services as it expands its offerings for its 320 million annual active buyers. An earlier report said that Meituan is buying 100% of loss-making Mobike for USD 2.7 billion, according to a person briefed on the terms. In an internal message released on April 4, Meituan CEO Wang Xing said : “As a new member of the Meituan family, Mobike will continue to maintain independent brand and operation, and the management team of Mobike will stay unchanged with Mr. Xiaofeng Wang serving as CEO, Ms. Weiwei Hu as President, Mr. Yiping Xia as CTO, and I will serve as the Chairman of Mobike.” A consortium which includes Ctrip, Huazhu Hotels (China Lodging Group), Tencent and Warburg Pincus invested in Mobike's $215 million D round funding in January 2017. The deal comes amid the further consolidation of the bicycle-sharing industry in China and Meituan’s ramped up effort to expand into the country’s transportation-on-demand sector. The purchase of Mobike will add bicycle-sharing to Meituan’s suite of services for its 320 million annual active buyers. Both Meituan and Mobike are backed by Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings, whose CEO Pony Ma is said to have brokered the deal. Read Original Article |
