When BAT becomes ATM

Many of you would have already noticed that the term BAT is now rarely used. An acronym for Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent – BAT was used to denote the biggest internet companies in China that dominated the country’s tech market.

Instead, ATM is now trendy. M means Meituan-Dianping, the company whose market cap is now HK$510.4 billion (US$65 billion), far ahead of Baidu’s US$36.5 billion at closing last Friday.

It seems Meituan not only squarely beat Baidu in food delivery – but now has completely overtaken the former champion, who is struggling with its AI initiatives.

We have written a number of blog posts about Meituan: 

Former Meituan COO shares how to build a good sales team

Are Meituan and co responsible for China’s demographic crisis?

IPO and overseas expansion: nightmare for Groupon but a start for Meituan

Why Fave will never match up to Meituan

How Meituan survived the war against 1000 competitors?

Meituan vs. Didi: China’s ride-hailing war II

And Baidu: 

Baidu loses its search boss, what’s next?

Baidu’s lost decade in international markets

Baidu exits Brazil?

Was Lu Qi purged from Baidu? We find this theory interesting

Baidu shakes further, which is good news for AI startups

Why Baidu fell behind Alibaba & Tencent (and what can be done about it)

Not end of the story

Last year, people used MDT to denote rising stars – Meituan, Didi & Toutiao. Didi is now struggling after a few incidents last year, while Toutiao has morphed into ByteDance, last valued at US$75 billion.

The owner of Tik Tok and Lark, ByteDance is often seen as a serious threat to Tencent’s dominance over social, gaming and entertainment in China.

Just when you think the game is over, the market always surprises you.

Good that BAT Capital, a Southeast Asia focused fund, has since morphed into ATM Capital, well in anticipation of the tectonic shift.