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Alibaba to Buy Out Baidu in China’s Top Food Takeout App

  • Alibaba is said to want Ele.me’s last-mile delivery network
  • Ele.me had acquired Baidu’s food delivery business in August
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Bloomberg’s Lulu Chen reports on Alibaba’s plan to buy out Baidu and other investors in Ele.me,(Source: Bloomberg)
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to buy out Baidu Inc. and other investors in Chinese startup Ele.me to shore up its delivery network, a person familiar with the matter said, placing its biggest bet yet in online food and local services.

An acquisition would hand Alibaba the biggest chunk of Chinese online food delivery and pit it directly against Meituan Dianping, backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. Ele.me -- which means “hungry yet?” -- runs an army of delivery people on motorbikes across the country that could enhance Alibaba’s last-mile ability to get parcels to customers’ doorsteps and complement its Koubei neighborhood services business.