Pursuits
Meituan, Dianping Merger Creates Chinese Group-Buying Leader
- Startups backed by Alibaba, Tencent to pool resources
- Current CEOs Wang, Zhang to share leadership of new company
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Two Chinese startups separately backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. will merge to create a dominant player in the nation’s booming market for local services from restaurant deals to movie bookings.
Meituan.com and Dianping.com will pool resources and cease a margin-eroding price war. Under their agreement, Wang Xing, chief executive officer of Alibaba-backed Meituan, and his counterpart at Tencent-backed Dianping Zhang Tao will run the new company as co-chairmen and co-CEOs.