Since being acquired by Meituan in April for $2.7 billion the bike-sharing startup Mobike has been financially pressured. It was rumored that 15 full-time operations staff employed across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Australia were given notice, and the lay off is affecting third-party workers in the Aisa-Pacific region as well. Despite the denial from the company, it’s beyond doubt that cash flow is growing into a tremendous problem within the industry, given the fact that the once Alipay backed ofo is still stuck in the deposit refund scandal. Since Meituan is focusing on its intensifying penetration of the local market, it’s reasonable if the overseas service is targeted to be axed, which was originally deemed to be a follow-up strategy with the aim of catching up with the red-hot rival ofo’s international expansion last year.
