The first M&A case in 2016: Mogujie and Meilishuo join hands

On the first day of the New Year, news about the upcoming wedding of Mogujie and Meilishuo began to circulate in the Internet circle. According to the news, the two former rivals, Mogujie and Meilishuo, have shaken hands and are about to enter the "marriage hall". Yesterday, Feimao received confirmation from the top management of Meilishuo that Mogujie has officially acquired Meilishuo, and the merger agreement between the two parties is nearing completion and will be announced soon. At the same time, Feimao also confirmed that the merged Mogujie and Meilishuo will not have a joint CEO, and Mogujie CEO Chen Qi will lead the work of the entire team.

The merger of Mogujie and Meilishuo was actually rumored as early as the end of last year, saying that the two parties would sign a merger agreement at the end of December. However, as 2015 has come to an end, there has been no concrete action. In fact, the merger of the two is not surprising to many people who are familiar with them. "Mogujie and Meilishuo are like a pair of twin sisters." Meilishuo and Mogujie, founded in 2009 and 2011 respectively, both started out as shopping guide businesses based on Taobao. Both parties are invested by Hillhouse Capital.

In 2013, as Taobao tightened its policies on shopping guide platforms, Mogujie and Meilishuo also embarked on two different transformation paths. Mogujie focused on young girls, while Meilishuo targeted young women as its user base. However, the basic positioning of both is still vertical e-commerce platforms targeting young women. The similarity of user bases has also led to increasingly fierce competition between the two. In 2015, Mogujie took the lead in winning the "Internet celebrity" group to build momentum for the entire platform. In the same year, Meilishuo and Mogujie spent a lot of money to hire popular idols Lu Han and Li Yifeng as their spokespersons. Although neither party disclosed the endorsement fees of Lu Han and Li Yifeng, with their current strong popularity, there should be no suspense that the endorsement fees are over 10 million.

In terms of financing, according to public information, Meilishuo completed the fifth round of financing led by Hillhouse Capital in August last year; Mogujie just completed a $200 million D round of financing invested by Tiantu Capital, Ping An of China and others in November this year, which did not meet the initial expectations. In the top 500 Chinese primary market company valuation rankings released by 36Kr. Mogujie is valued at RMB 9.56 billion and Meilishuo is valued at RMB 5.98 billion, and the valuations of both companies have shrunk significantly. Now that the two sides have shaken hands and made peace, it is obvious that they want to keep each other warm. Hillhouse Capital, the common investor of both parties, is of course happy to see such a result. Although neither party has disclosed the specific details of the merger and acquisition, one thing is certain-after the merger, Mogujie CEO Chen Qi will lead the work of the entire team and will also adjust the business lines of the two companies.

As the largest merger and acquisition in the Internet circle in 2016, the merger of Mogujie and Meilishuo also confirmed that the merger wave in 2015 will continue in 2016. From the current situation, due to the continuous contraction of the capital market, the strategic needs of BAT giants and other factors, there will be more mergers in various fields of the Internet in the future. Which companies are most likely to become the next couple to enter the marriage hall? Before making a prediction, let's first review the past 2015 and summarize some rules from these mergers.

The first common point of these mergers in 2015 is "burning money". The merger of Didi and Kuaidi is a typical example. The money-burning model leads to a high dependence on capital. Once the capital cannot keep up, it is very likely to end the money-burning through mergers. In addition, the voice of investors will be strengthened. The profit-seeking nature of capital drives investors to match competitors to mergers.

In addition, a third strong competitor has emerged in the industry involved in the merger. It has begun to erode the existing markets of the two merging companies. It may even directly subvert the original companies. Uber, Renrenche, JD.com, Baidu Nuomi, Koubei, Lvmama, etc. are all new competitors. Thirdly, the models of the two merging companies are basically the same, which provides the most basic possibility for the merger.

Which companies are likely to enter the "marriage hall" in 2016?

According to these three summarized rules, Fei Mao predicts the Internet fields and companies that may enter the "marriage hall" together in 2016.

Cross-border e-commerce: Yangmatou, Miaya Baby, Beibei.com, etc. “Ants under the shadow of the elephant” is the best description of the survival status of companies in this field. However, the competition among these ants is intensifying. At the same time, giants such as JD.com, Amazon, and Tmall are all working hard on cross-border e-commerce. In order to get a share of the giants, it is not impossible for the ants to join forces. Moreover, Miaya Baby, Beibei.com, etc. have already obtained three or four rounds of financing, and investors may also put pressure on them.

Online video: Sohu Video and Tencent Video. Online video has become one of the most expensive Internet industries. The high copyright fees make it difficult for many video websites to bear. Tencent already holds nearly 40% of the shares of Sogou, a subsidiary of Sohu, so it is not impossible for the two to merge again. After Alibaba acquired Youku, the domestic video website industry has become more competitive, and it needs to be combined with strong forces to survive better.

Used car O2O platforms: Uxin Used Car, Renren Car, Chemao, etc. The used car market is a huge cake. But it is also a very expensive O2O field. In 2015, a large amount of capital poured into this field. Tencent even adopted a wide-ranging approach and invested in Renren Car and Uxin Used Car. Moreover, the merged 58.com also entered this field with Guazi Used Car. It can be predicted that in 2016, with the further contraction of capital, mergers are likely to occur.

Online recruitment: 51job and Zhaopin.com. The two are the few industry leaders that have not yet merged. In order to seize the market, the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. According to the financial report of ***, 51job's sales and marketing expenses increased by 14.9%, while Zhaopin.com increased by 28.4%. However, vertical websites such as Lagou.com and Liepin.com have also appeared in this market. The "2015 China Internet Recruitment Industry Report" shows that innovative vertical recruitment websites have begun to erode the market share of traditional recruitment websites. The big two join forces to resist new competitors. This plot is very familiar to us.