At age 21, Zhang Hongchao started peddling shaved ice treats. A quarter of a century later, he and his younger brother Hongfu have made a fortune selling soft-serve ice cream, coffee drinks and its super popular bubble tea and lemonade.
Although the 44-year-old entrepreneur still boasts a net worth of $9.3 billion, Meituan's shares have witnessed a staggering 50% drop since January, including a sharp 12% decline on Wednesday.
The US$10bil (RM41.17bil) raised will more than double Meituan’s cash, giving it the biggest war chest after Alibaba’s, to invest in new technologies like autonomous delivery and build infrastructure for online groceries. Reuters
The competition between Wang Xing’s Meituan and fellow tech billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is turning into one of the great rivalries in Chinese business.
While Alibaba is the dominant force in e-commerce with a global reputation, Wang, a generation younger, has built Meituan into a fearsome rival, the world’s largest delivery empire with ambitions to encroach on Alibaba’s home turf. There’s also years of bad blood between the two companies after an early alliance broke down.
Meituan CEO who beat Jack Ma gets $10B for next fight
Coco Liu and Shiyin Chen, Bloomberg News Wang Xing , Bloomberg News
The competition between Wang Xingâs Meituan and fellow tech billionaire Jack Maâs Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is turning into one of the great rivalries in Chinese business.
While Alibaba is the dominant force in e-commerce with a global reputation, Wang, a generation younger, has built Meituan into a fearsome rival, the worldâs largest delivery empire with ambitions to encroach on Alibabaâs home turf. Thereâs also years of bad blood between the two companies after an early alliance broke down.