Bike-Share Pioneer Ofo Flirted With Bankruptcy as Cash Dried Up
- Ofo CEO tells staff that startup mis-read the environment
- The bike wars drove home the excess of Chinese startup culture
Fallen Ofo Inc. bicycles lie on the sidewalk in Shanghai, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Ofo Inc., a pioneer of China’s bike-sharing boom, considered throwing in the towel and filing for bankruptcy in what would have been the country’s biggest startup failure in years.
Chief Executive Officer Dai Wei laid out the company’s challenges in an impassioned letter to employees Wednesday, from customers seeking deposit refunds to suppliers demanding unpaid bills. While the 28-year-old weighed bankruptcy after mis-reading the market environment, he suggested such a move was no longer an option.