Baidu to sell meal delivery business to ele.me

Bai Yaxin China Plus Published: 2017-08-21 16:03:23
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Chinese Internet giant Baidu will reportedly sell its meal ordering and delivery services, Baidu Waimai, to rival ele.me. The deal is expected to be announced by ele.me as soon as this week, reports China Business News. Baidu Waimai will continue to operate as an independent entity for a year, according to the report.

Caricatures of the top three meal delivery services in the domestic online food delivery market: ele.me, Meituan and Baidu Waimai, from left to right respectively [Photo: VCG]

Caricatures of the top three meal delivery services in the domestic online food delivery market: ele.me, Meituan and Baidu Waimai, from left to right respectively [Photo: VCG]

This follows the failure of Baidu to ink a deal for its meal delivery service with Meituan and SF Express.

Baidu Waimai had reportedly been in merger talks with Meituan since September, 2016, which failed to materialize.

Baidu Waimai then reportedly tried to engage in a deal with SF Express to operate its food delivery business. However, reports suggest the two sides could not reach a consensus on price and conditions, and negotiations broke down, according to the China Daily.

Meanwhile, according to reports, e-commerce giant Alibaba is negotiating for a full takeover of ele.me through a new share purchase agreement. Alibaba currently controls about 28 percent of ele.me after an investment worth over 1.2 billion US dollars in 2016.

Alibaba and Ant Financial Services Group have been searching for a new round of financing for ele.me worth at least 1 billion US dollars, reports Bloomberg.

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