China’s bike-sharing sector, after a good few years of frenzy, is slowly pedalling into a new period, with Ofo’s current deposit conundrum and Mobike CEO’s sudden resignation.
Hu WeiWei, co-founder of Meituan-acquired bike-sharing unicorn Mobike, issued an internal letter announcing her departure due to personal reasons.
In the letter, Hu stated that she had completed a milestone for the company since the Meituan acquisition, and it is time for her to pass the baton to current Chairman Liu Yu, who will take over as chief executive. Liu Yu used to be Alibaba’s employee and Mobike’s advisor before his role as Meituan’s Chairman.
On the other hand, Ofo, Mobike’s biggest competitor, is facing a liquidity crisis as now 12 million users are lining up online for a deposit refund. Amid the recent negative news on bike-sharing, Hu insisted on the potential on bike-sharing and believed that Mobike would have more synergies with Meituan in future. Over the past 8 months, Mobike has reduced operational costs and significantly increased its usage. Hu also emphasized that her resignation is not related to internal discords or organizational conflicts.
Three-year-old Mobike got acquired by Meituan for US$2.7 billion in April. In response to Hu’s decision, Meituan’s CEO Wang Xing expressed his gratitude towards Hu, who not only built an exceptional company, but also a great team and business model.
Editor: Ben Jiang