As\u00a0expected since February, Alibaba will buy all outstanding shares of Ele.me that it doesn\u2019t already own. Best-known for food deliveries,\u00a0Ele.me\u00a0\u00a0claims to be China\u2019s biggest online delivery and local services platform. In an announcement, Alibaba said the deal values Ele.me at $9.5 billion. Alibaba, which\u00a0first invested in Ele.me two years ago, and its affiliate Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group currently hold about 43% of the company\u2019s outstanding voting shares.<\/p>\n
This is the latest in a string of investments and acquisitions by Alibaba to expand its physical retail presence as part of its so-called \u201cnew retail\u201d strategy to combine e-commerce and offline retail. The company\u2019s goal is to make it easier for users to move (and spend money) between brick-and-mortar stores and Alibaba businesses like Tmall and Taobao. For example, they\u00a0may view products at pop-up stores and then order them on their smartphones\u00a0for almost-immediate home delivery.<\/p>\n
Ele.me, which will continue to operate under its own brand, is at its heart a logistics technology company. Founded in 2008, it utilizes its logistics system to provide services like\u00a0Fengniao, an express courier for local deliveries. After the deal is finalized, Alibaba said that founder and chief executive officer Zhang Zhuhao (also known as Mark Zhang) will become chairman of Ele.me and special advisor to Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang on its new retail strategy. Wang Lei, currently vice president of\u00a0Alibaba Group,\u00a0\u00a0will take over as Ele.me\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n
In a press release, Zhang said \u201cUnder the leadership of its founder and management team, Ele.me has achieved leading market share in China\u2019s online food delivery and local services sector. Our shared belief that New Retail will create more value for customers and merchants has brought us together. Looking forward, Ele.me can leverage Alibaba\u2019s infrastructure in commerce and
\nfind new synergies with Alibaba\u2019s diverse businesses to add further momentum to the New Retail initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bloomberg\u00a0reported at the end of February\u00a0that Alibaba planned to buy the rest of Ele.me\u2019s shares from its other investors, including Baidu.<\/p>\n
The deal deepens Alibaba\u2019s competition with Tencent, in particular its own local services and delivery platform, Meituan Dianping, which was\u00a0formed by a merger in 2015. Alibaba previously owned shares in Meituan Dianping, thanks to its investment in Meituan, but\u00a0began offloading them\u00a0soon after the merger with Dianping.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Alibaba said Ele.me complements its affiliate Koubei, a platform that gives restaurants and stores a way to go online and reach more local customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy combining Ele.me\u2019s online home delivery services with Koubei\u2019s consumer acquisition and engagement capability for a range of restaurants and service establishments, Alibaba will be able to offer an integrated\u00a0experiences to customers both online and offline,\u201d said the company.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: TechCrunch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As\u00a0expected since February, Alibaba will buy all outstanding shares of Ele.me that it doesn\u2019t already own. Best-known for food deliveries,\u00a0Ele.me\u00a0\u00a0claims to be China\u2019s biggest online delivery and local services platform. In an announcement, Alibaba said the deal values Ele.me at $9.5 billion. Alibaba, which\u00a0first invested in Ele.me two years ago, and its affiliate Ant Small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":414940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[106],"tags":[3496],"yoast_head":"\n