Ofo on verge of bankruptcy
Business & Technology
Ofo, one of two companies that came out on top of the bike-sharing gold rush of 2017, is now on the verge of bankruptcy, the Financial Times reports (paywall):
- “I’ve thought countless times…of even dissolving the company and applying for bankruptcy…in order to keep the company running we have to turn every renminbi [Chinese yuan] into three,” the company founder, Dài Wēi 戴威, wrote in a letter to employees.
- “More than 10 million users…have requested deposit refunds, with the company possibly owing in excess of RMB 1 billion ($145 million) to its riders,” TechNode says. That’s twice as many people as the Ofo app showed in a virtual line for refunds yesterday, Manya Koetse tweeted.
- Yesterday, “more than 100 people lined up outside ofo’s office. They were instructed to leave their personal information, including banking details, and promised refunds within three days.”
- For more, read “How Ofo spun out of control: An ex-employee’s account” on Tech in Asia, or an essay (in Chinese) titled “The debacle of bike sharing: The craziest mistake in the history of Chinese entrepreneurship,” recommended in Jiayun Feng’s Chinese Corner earlier this month.
