After abandoning its overseas operations, Ofo just refuses to die.
After a Tianjin court ruled that Ofo is unable to repay RMB 250 million (USD 36 million) in debt to a bike manufacturer, revealing that the company has “no assets” to clear its accounts with creditors and users, the company told local newspaper Beijing Business Today that it respects the ruling and that it is still going all out to generate revenue and return users’ deposits.
This means that Ofo, which was once valued at north of USD 2 billion, has no property or land usage rights, no investments that can be liquidated, and no vehicles. The court added that Ofo’s bank accounts were either already frozen by other courts or didn’t have a positive balance.
In China, around 15 million of the platform’s users are still owed their deposits—either RMB 99 or RMB 199 apiece.
Ofo also told Beijing Business Today that it is confident that it will be able to reverse its fortunes, specifically indicating that its e-commerce site is operational and that its current business model of outsourcing bike maintenance in smaller cities has been feasible.
However, the company spokesperson did not answer the Chinese newspaper’s question on whether it has run out of capital. Instead, Ofo asked for “time and patience.”