Chinese Internet giant Baidu will reportedly sell its meal ordering and delivery services, Baidu Waimai, to rival ele.me.

 

据报道，中国互联网巨头百度将旗下订餐和送货服务百度外卖出售给对手饿了么。

 

The deal is expected to be announced by ele.me as soon as this week, reports China Business News. Baidu Waimai will continue to operate as an independent entity¹ for a year, according to the report.

 

This follows the failure of Baidu to ink a deal for its meal delivery service with Meituan and SF Express.

 

Baidu Waimai had reportedly been in merger² talks with Meituan since September, 2016, which failed to materialize.

 

Baidu Waimai then reportedly tried to engage in a deal with SF Express to operate its food delivery business. However, reports suggest the two sides could not reach a consensus³ on price and conditions, and negotiations⁴ broke down, according to the China Daily.

 

Meanwhile, according to reports, e-commerce giant Alibaba is negotiating for a full takeover of ele.me through a new share purchase agreement. Alibaba currently controls about 28 percent of ele.me after an investment worth over 1.2 billion US dollars in 2016.

 

Alibaba and Ant Financial Services Group have been searching for a new round of financing for ele.me worth at least 1 billion US dollars, reports Bloomberg.

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