Goodbye, Mobike!
6 Minutes Read
• Chinese bike-sharing app Mobike ceased operations middle of December following a full integration into its parent company, Meituan.
• All user data – including credits and monthly passes – from the Mobike app have been transferred to the Meituan app.
• Today, most of those early start-ups are defunct or bought out by larger companies, but bike-sharing itself lives on. The major players are Meituan Bike, Didi Qingju, and Hellobike.
"Thank you for your support"
The mobile applications of Mobike, one of China's earliest and largest bike-sharing providers, went offline middle of December 2020 after an acquisition by takeout and online deals giant Meituan almost three years ago.
The Mobike app and the related WeChat Mini-Program ceased operations, though users can switch to Meituan to continue booking bikes with their restored account balances.
All user data – including credits and monthly passes – from the Mobike app have been transferred to the Meituan app, the notice said. Users are able to log into the app with their original Mobike account.
“Thank you for your support over the years. Meituan Bikes and E-bikes will continue to accompany you on every trip. See you at Meituan,” it added.
Image: Farewell note on the Mobike App
2018: 200+ million users, acquired for USD2.7 billion
Founded in 2015, Mobike was acquired by Meituan for USD2.7 billion in April 2018. In January 2019, Wang Huiwen, co-founder and senior vice president of Meituan, said in an internal letter to employees that Mobike will be renamed Meituan Bike and that the firm will become a unit of the new parent's location-based service department.
In September, Mobike started swiftly replacing its fleet with Meituan-branded yellow bicycles. Now it is rare to see an orange Mobike on the streets.
Mobike had more than 232 million registered users and 6.2 million bicycles in 200 cities around the world as of April 30, 2018, according to the prospectus submitted by Beijing-based Meituan to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Bike-sharing Market: Competition
China’s once-booming bike-sharing market took a hit in 2018 as firms fought to dominate key cities. Today, most of those early start-ups are defunct or bought out by larger companies, but bike-sharing itself lives on. The major players are Meituan Bike, Didi Qingju, and Hellobike.
Tencent-backed Meituan incurred a net loss of 28.8 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) in the first half of that year, mainly due to Mobike’s acquisition costs. In December 2018, co-founder and CEO Hu Weiwei resigned due to “personal reasons”, declaring that her mission had been “fulfilled.” Four months later, Mobike confirmed its exit from most overseas markets after a period of aggressive growth.
Its rival, Ofo, which is backed by Alibaba, had reportedly run into “immense” cash flow problems in late 2018. Founder and CEO Dai Wei said in a letter to employees that he had considered disbanding the company and applying for bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, a new challenger, Hellobike, entered the market in 2016, with financial and user acquisition support from Alibaba’s Ant Financial. It’s blue-and-white bikes first popped up in China’s less-populated, smaller cities, and the strategy pushed the firm to become one of the largest bike-sharing service providers in the country.
Source: Yicai Global, KrAsia, Pandaily
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