Bike-sharing company Ofo is reportedly close to a takeover by Didi Chuxing, according to 36kr, our parent company, on Monday (link in Chinese).
The two companies have reportedly restarted a new round of acquisition talks in July this year, almost two months after DAI Wei, co-founder and chief exec, rejected an olive branch extended by Didi co-founder CHENG Wei in early April, according to an account by South China Morning Post.
DAI Wei had insisted on keeping the company independent at that time, leading to the breakdown in talks.
Ofo declined to comment when asked by KrASIA on the new round of negotiation on Monday.
Beijing-based Ofo, in the wake of rounds of reports on its cash flow issues , has pulled out of the US, Germany, Australia and Israel among other countries recently in an attempt to focus on its so-called key markets.
A decreasing price tag
Didi restarted the acquisition talks earlier this month with a price tag of close to US$3 billion, a source familiar with the matter told 36Kr/KrASIA, and there have been few rounds of talks. Another source also told us that Didi was coming back with a lower price for every negotiation.
Both Alibaba and Ant Financial are also reportedly in talks to buy over Ofo, although the prices proposed are lower than Didi’s.
Ofo’s potential price of US$3 billion would put it close to rival Mobike’s US$2.7 billion acquisition by O2O giant Meituan Dianping in April this year. Since last year, Chinese bike-sharing companies have been facing growth and cash-flow related issues. The third largest bike-sharing company then, Bluegogo, went bankrupt late last year and was acquired by Didi earlier this year.
Editor: Ben Jiang