Meituan acquires AI startup Light Year

Food-delivery giant Meituan has jumped onto the bandwagon of ChatGPT by acquiring its co-founder's artificial intelligence startup Light Year.

According to the company's stock exchange filing on Thursday, the total deal includes $233.7 million in cash, 366.9 million yuan ($50.66 million) worth of debt and a payment of $28 million to the AI firm's previous investor HongShan.

Meituan replied with no further comment on the issue.

Light Year was founded by Wang Huiwen, Meituan's co-founder and its former non-executive director, in February this year. Wang resigned as the non-executive director on Sunday due to health reasons.