Meituan moet iets doen buiten China om het hoofd boven water te houden. Benieuwd of we hier straks na de overname van JET Chinese drones toestaan, die de maaltijd in de tuin droppen.
Technology
Meituan CEO Takes Over Overseas Business as China Sales Wane
Wang Xing also takes drone delivery operation under his wing
Meituan looking to drive abroad, shave costs as growth slows
Wang Xing
Wang Xing Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
By Sarah Zheng
2 februari 2024 at 06:51 CET
Updated on 2 februari 2024 at 07:06 CET
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Meituan Chief Executive Officer Wang Xing is taking direct control of the meal delivery leader’s overseas businesses, part of a sweeping overhaul intended to counter a slowdown and intense competition at home.
The billionaire founder told staffers on Friday he will now directly helm the company’s drone delivery and overseas businesses. He also plans to integrate business lines that once operated relatively independently, such as research and in-store services, with the main Meituan platform. The units will jointly report to Senior Vice President Wang Puzhong after the consolidation, Wang said in an internal memo verified by a company spokesperson.
Wang’s decision elevates the importance of Meituan’s international ambitions, while suggesting it’s looking to shave costs where possible. Meituan’s main food delivery business has slowed in recent months, as Chinese consumption has waned after three years of strict Covid controls. The Beijing-based company has been relying on its familiar subsidy-heavy strategy to draw in merchants and users despite the economic malaise, while making its first foray beyond mainland China with the “Keeta” service in Hong Kong.
“There are currently many challenges both internally and externally,” Wang Xing wrote in the letter to employees. “At the same time, this is also an opportunity for the company to grow further.”
In the short term, the company’s unlikely to make significant changes to its international business, as that would likely worsen cash flow, said Kai Wang, a senior equity analyst for Morningstar Asia. The integration of the core commerce units can be seen as an effort toward greater efficiency, “kind of like a coach changing the starting lineup to see better results,” he said.
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A Meituan Dianping delivery rider waits to pick up an order in Shanghai.Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
“Long-term competitive threats are still there, compounded with long-term margin pressure that limits the upside of the company,” Wang said.
Meituan has ramped up investments in past years in newer initiatives such as grocery retailing, group-buying and live-streaming to fend off rivalry from upstarts such as ByteDance Ltd.’s Douyin. Wang’s move may streamline its operations and pool investment resources, lowering costs.
The Beijing-based internet firm’s last major organizational restructuring was in 2017, when Meituan established its in-store business group under Zhang Chuan. Zhang will now lead Dianping, the company’s Yelp-like restaurant app, as well as its software-as-a-service operation, shared bicycles, and mobile power bank rental businesses, according to the memo.
(Updates with analyst comment)