Chinese bike-rental company Mobike will rebrand as Meituan Bike as it abandons its standalone app to be included in internet giant Meituan’s platform as an in-app feature.
The Chinese bike-rental firm will also become a distinct business group within the lifestyle services company. Wang Huiwen, Meituan’s senior vice president and co-founder, made the announcement in an internal memo to employees on Wednesday morning. A company spokesperson later confirmed the news to TechNode.
Chinese internet services giant Meituan Dianping bought Mobike in April 2018 for $2.7 billion. Since then, most of the members of the founding team have left the company. Most recently, founder Hu Weiwei stepped down as the company CEO, declaring that her mission had been “fulfilled.”
Meituan’s app will be “the only access” to Mobike’s bike-sharing services in China. The company gave no indication when the change would take place.
Wang said in the letter that he would lead the new group. Meituan upgraded its app on Jan. 16 to include a “Ride a bike” button to access Mobike’s services as an in-app feature, an apparent first step toward full integration.
Earlier this month, WeChat removed Mobike’s services from within its app following “the expiry of a partnership” between Mobike and Tencent, a Mobike spokesperson told TechNode at the time.
The bike-rental unit will also be part of Meituan’s location-based services platform, its cross-business unit technology-infrastructure service set up to improve its capabilities in providing location-based services. Also included are ride-hailing and unmanned delivery, according to a restructuring plan released by the company in October.
The organizational upgrade came following Meituan Dianping’s listing publicly in Hong Kong in September. The company seeks to build a one-stop super platform, which covers multiple on-demand life services including food delivery, hotel reservations, and public mobility.