大衆點評與美團合併 中國最大O2O企業誕生!

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

本週四，阿里巴巴投資的團購服務美團網宣佈，它將與騰訊投資的消費者點評服務大衆點評網合併，希望能攜手打造一個電子商務巨頭。

The two companies said in a news release 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.

這兩家公司在新聞稿中表示，他們將成立一家新公司，幫助企業在中國境內在線銷售多種商品和服務。他們沒有提供新公司運營的更多細節，但表示大衆點評和美團兩個品牌和現有業務將繼續保持獨立運營。

"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.

"幫助1000萬商家服務好10億消費者，是兩個團隊共同的追求，合作是大勢所趨，是兩個團隊的共同選擇，"大衆點評網首席執行官張濤在宣佈消息時表示。

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."

他還表示，"O2O行業前景無比巨大，合作後大家將會發揮各自優勢，加快產品創新、深化服務和行業拓展的步伐。"O2O指的是線上線下融合服務。

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 .

這起合併顯示了中國互聯網巨頭對新興初創公司的影響力。美團雖然是過去五年中團購服務鉅額補貼戰的最後倖存者之一，但百度、騰訊等現金充裕的公司在糯米、大衆點評網和外賣服務餓了麼等競爭對手上投入了更多資金，令美團受到影響。

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.

美團在競爭中步履維艱，儘管中國網絡巨頭阿里巴巴給它注入了一些資金，但卻幾乎沒有提供其他支持，本次合併就旨在改善這種狀況，而中國最後的大型獨立電子商務公司之一也從此納入騰訊的軌道，阿里巴巴對它的影響力則變得相對較小。

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.

張濤將與美團首席執行官王興出任聯席主席兼聯席首席執行官。王興表示，"合作後我們在產品創新、體驗改進和新業務拓展上將可以投入更多精力和資源。"兩家公司都沒有談到新公司的估值。

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年成立以來，美團已經拓展了包括外賣和觀影訂座在內的多種業務。在今年1月的融資輪中，該公司以70億美元的估值籌措到7億美元資金。

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.

大衆點評網最初以消費者點評和商戶信息爲主，但現在已經拓展到團購、外賣、訂餐領域。在今年4月的最新一輪融資中，它籌集到8.5億美元資金，媒體報道其估值爲40億美元。

Neither Dianping nor Meituan is publicly traded.

大衆點評網和美團都沒有上市。

The joint venture will compete directly with the Internet giant Baidu, whose stock closed down 3.4 percent on Wednesday after rumors of the deal were reported. In spite of this, Kaiser Kuo, the international communications director for Baidu, said, "We've got momentum in this space."

合併後的新公司將與中國互聯網巨頭百度開展直接競爭，媒體報道了交易傳聞後，百度的股票本週三收跌3.4%。儘管如此，百度國際媒體公關總監郭怡廣表示，"我們在這個領域勢頭不錯。"