Alibaba is in talks to acquire Ele.me in a deal that could value the online food delivery start-up at up to $9.5bn as China's tech titans battle it out for dominance of the sector¹.

阿里巴巴正在洽谈收购“饿了么”，对这家在线送餐初创企业的估值可能高达95亿美元。目前中国的科技巨头们都在争夺该行业的主导地位。

Alibaba and rival Tencent, each with an equity² value of more than $500bn, have kicked off the year with aggressive buying sprees as they take each other on in ecommerce, payments, food delivery and other services.

进入2018年以来，阿里巴巴和竞争对手腾讯大张旗鼓地掀起收购热潮。这两家股权价值均超过5000亿美元的巨头已经在电子商务、支付、外卖和其他服务方面相互角力。

While they began life with clearly defined turfs — Alibaba in ecommerce and Tencent in social media — both are evolving into tech conglomerates³ dominating many aspects of life, some of which have been ceded⁴ by traditional companies.

尽管它们在起步阶段都有明确定位（阿里巴巴开展电子商务，腾讯经营社交媒体），但两家公司都在演变为科技综合企业集团，主宰人们生活的众多方面，其中一些方面是传统企业让出的。

Food delivery is a case in point. China's food delivery market was valued at Rmb204.6bn ($32.5bn) in 2017, according to the China Cuisine⁵ Association, an industry group.

外卖就是一个典型的例子。根据中国烹饪协会的数据显示，2017年中国在线外卖市场规模为2046亿元人民币（合325亿美元）。

Alibaba and its payments affiliate⁶ Ant Financial already own 40 per cent of Ele.me but are looking to buy the remaining 60 per cent from existing investors⁷ including Baidu, according to people familiar with the matter.

据知情人士透露，阿里巴巴及其支付关联公司蚂蚁金服已经拥有饿了么40%股份，但正在寻求从百度等现有投资者手中买下其余的60%股份。

Recent Chinese media reports have suggested a deal could value the food delivery app at up to $9.5bn. Ele.me was valued at $5.5bn at its last funding round in August 2015, according to CBInsights.

中国媒体近日的报道指出，该交易对这款送餐应用的估值可能达到95亿美元。CBInsights的数据显示，饿了么在2015年8月进行的上一轮融资中的估值为55亿美元。

Ele.me currently accounts for 48.8 per cent of the online food delivery market in China, closely followed by Meituan with 43.1 per cent, according to Analysys International.

根据易观国际的数据，饿了么目前占据中国在线外卖市场的48.8%，紧随其后的是美团，占43.1%。

Should the deal go through, Alibaba would become one of the country's largest players in food delivery, rivalled only by online-to-offline services platform Meituan-Dianping, which is backed by Tencent. Meituan-Dianping was valued at $30bn in its latest funding round last year.

如果这笔交易完成，阿里巴巴将成为中国外卖行业最大的提供商之一，只有腾讯支持的线上到线下服务平台美团点评能与其争锋。美团点评在去年进行的最新一轮融资中估值达到300亿美元。

Alibaba and Baidu declined to comment on the negotiations⁸.

阿里巴巴和百度拒绝对相关谈判置评。