China Roundup: Meituan sets up Amazon-like special team, and more

Meituan sets up Amazon-like special team for retail unit

• The special team consists of five members: Wang Xing, Meituan’s CEO; Wang Puzhong, Daojia Business Group’s president; Chen Liang, Youxuan division’s general manager; Guo Wanhui, Kuailv Division’s general manager; and Li Shubin, Meituan app’s general manager.
• Meituan has also integrated its Youxuan, Kuailv, and grocery shopping businesses for an efficient allocation of resources.
• The special team is similar to Amazon’s D-Team that was created in 2008 to help the ecommerce giant discover new digital opportunities.

Luckin Coffee reaches US$175 million settlement

• U.S. District Judge in Manhattan approved the preliminary settlement on Tuesday and scheduled a hearing to consider final approval on January 31, 2022.
• The company was accused of fraudulently inflating its share price by falsifying revenue. In February, Luckin Coffee’s shareholders sued the coffee retailer.
• The US market regulator said that Luckin raised over US$864 million through equity and debt investors while the fraud was allegedly taking place.

Tesla battery supplier doubles profit in Q3

• Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a major electric vehicle battery maker that counts Tesla as its clients, doubled is net income to 3.27 billion yuan (around US$512 million) net income in the third quarter.
• CATL’s revenue also doubled from a year ago to 29.3 billion yuan (around US$4.5 billion) during the same period.
• The company recently agreed to acquire Canada-based Millennial Lithium Corp to secure mineral resources that are critical for battery production.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = 6.39 yuan