饿了么否认与口碑网合并 称原20名高管仍正常汇报工作 – 证券日报
What happened: Ele.me denied the rumored merger with Koubei and said no Ele.me executives have left. Rumors started on Wednesday, August 8 that Alibaba, the holding company of Ele.me and Koubei, would merge these two companies and seek to raise $3 billion. Japan’s SoftBank was said to lead the investment.
Why it’s important: Despite Ele.me’s denial, there is evidence that the management level Ele.me has been marginalized after being bought by Alibaba in April 2018 for $9.5 billion. Currently, Ele.me and Meituan have been dominating the food delivery market and Baidu has exited. However, Zhang Xuhao, founder of Ele.me, was appointed chief executive officer of Baidu Delivery, which had been bought by Ele.me in August 2017, before Alibaba’s buyout.