Meituan is buying out Light Year, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up established by a co-founder and ex-director at the food delivery services giant, for a total consideration of $281 million, as Chinese Big Tech firms step up their interest in AI, reports the South China Morning Post. The deal involves $233.7 million in cash and RMB 336.9 million ($47 million) in assumed liabilities. Upon completion of the acquisition, the Beijing-based company will hold 100% of Light Year, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.
The buyout comes just days after Meituan announced that Wang Huiwen, the former executive who founded Light Year four months ago, had stepped down from his corporate roles at the company, citing “personal health reasons.”
Wang resigned as a non-executive director, a member of the Meituan board’s nomination committee and an authorised representative of the company, according to a filing by the firm to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Sunday.
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