Meituan/Dianping Holdings $15 billion merger

Overview:

• Two of China's biggest tech startups, Meituan and Dianping, have merged to create the country's biggest online-to-offline provider of services ranging from movie ticket purchases to restaurant bookings. 
• Meituan.com is an e-commerce platform connecting consumers and merchants, backed by Alibaba Group. It is widely known as 'China's Groupon.com.'
• Dianping is a restaurant reviewing application and a marketing platform for restaurants and other local businesses in China, backed by another Chinese Internet giant Tencent. 
• This deal follows a precedent of $6 billion merger of two rival taxi services of China (Didi and Kuaidi), which were respectively backed by Alibaba and Tencent as well.
• This $15 billion merger of China's biggest tech startups that are backed by the largest Internet giants of the country poses a threat to Baidu.com.

Hanna Rae Choi - Researcher