National Business Wire (Dec 19) -- Douyin, the mainland Chinese counterpart of TikTok, on Tuesday denied that it is currently in talks to acquire Alibaba's delivery platform Ele.me.

It came after a market news story circulating on Chinese social media platforms, which claimed that Douyin is currently in talks with Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) to acquire Ele.me.

A tipster quoted Bloomberg as saying, "It's now at the stage of talking about the price, and if the negotiations go well, it's likely to come to fruition after the spring."

There was also news that the acquisition price is probably more than 7 billion dollars.

In this regard, Ele.me insiders said that the cooperation between the two sides has been steadily progressing, but the so-called "acquisition" is completely nonsense.

Douyin insiders also replied that Bloomberg did not have this report, and the company does not have this plan.

In August 2022, Ele.me and Douyin announced that they had entered into a partnership to explore new scenarios for upgrading local life services.