Meituan merges with Dianping to create a mega O2O service platform

Meituan, a group buying service backed by Alibaba, said that it would join forces with Dianping, a consumer review website backed by Tencent, hoping to create an e-commerce juggernaut.

阿里巴巴投资的团购服务美团网宣布，它将与腾讯投资的消费者点评服务大众点评网合并，希望能携手打造一个电子商务巨头。

The two companies said that they would set up a new company that would help businesses sell goods and services online in China. They did not provide further details on how the new company would work. They said both Dianping and Meituan would keep their brands and management structures and operate independently.

这两家公司表示，他们将成立一家新公司，帮助企业在中国境内在线销售多种商品和服务。他们没有提供新公司运营的更多细节，但表示大众点评和美团两个品牌和现有业务将继续保持独立运营。

"We both recognize the enormous potential of China's O2O industry, and therefore this strategic cooperation was a shared and almost inevitable decision," Zhang Tao, the chief executive of Dianping, said in the release, referring to online-to-offline transactions.

"帮助1000万商家服务好10亿消费者，是两个团队共同的追求，合作是大势所趋，是两个团队的共同选择，"大众点评网首席执行官张涛在宣布消息时表示。

He added that the joint venture would allow "both companies to better leverage our respective advantages in order to accelerate product innovation, deepen service offerings and speed up industry expansion."

他还表示，"O2O行业前景无比巨大，合作后大家将会发挥各自优势，加快产品创新、深化服务和行业拓展的步伐。"O2O指的是线上线下融合服务。

The merger shows the power China's largest Internet companies wield over emerging start-ups. Though Meituan is one of the last survivors of a huge subsidies war between group buying sites over the past five years, the site has suffered as cash-rich companies like Baidu and Tencent have thrown more money at group buying through investments in rivals like Nuomi, Dianping and the food delivery service Ele.me.

这起合并显示了中国互联网巨头对新兴初创公司的影响力。美团虽然是过去五年中团购服务巨额补贴战的最后幸存者之一，但百度、腾讯等现金充裕的公司在糯米、大众点评网和外卖服务饿了么等竞争对手上投入了更多资金，令美团受到影响。

The competition has been tough on Meituan, which has gotten some investment but little other support from Alibaba, one of China's giants. This deal seeks to improve that, bringing one of China's last large independent e-commerce companies into the orbit of Tencent, and to a lesser extent Alibaba.

美团在竞争中步履维艰，尽管中国网络巨头阿里巴巴给它注入了一些资金，但却几乎没有提供其他支持，本次合并就旨在改善这种状况，而中国最后的大型独立电子商务公司之一也从此纳入腾讯的轨道，阿里巴巴对它的影响力则变得相对较小。

Mr. Tao will be co-chairman and co-chief executive with Meituan's chief executive, Wang Xing. Mr. Wang said the cooperation would enable "us to focus on better serving our consumers and merchants, and allows us to concentrate on developing new businesses and driving product innovation." Neither company would say how much the new joint operation would be worth.

张涛将与美团首席执行官王兴出任联席主席兼联席首席执行官。王兴表示，"合作后我们在产品创新、体验改进和新业务拓展上将可以投入更多精力和资源。"两家公司都没有谈到新公司的估值。

Since setting up in 2010, Meituan has expanded into businesses that include food delivery and seat bookings at movie theaters. Its $700 million fund-raising round in January valued it at $7 billion.

自2010年成立以来，美团已经拓展了包括外卖和观影订座在内的多种业务。在今年1月的融资轮中，该公司以70亿美元的估值筹措到7亿美元资金。

Dianping began as a consumer review and merchant information company, but it has expanded into group buying, food delivery and restaurant reservations. It raised $850 million in its last round of fund-raising in April, and media reports value the company at $4 billion.

大众点评网最初以消费者点评和商户信息为主，但现在已经拓展到团购、外卖、订餐领域。在今年4月的最新一轮融资中，它筹集到8.5亿美元资金，媒体报道其估值为40亿美元。