Chinese bike-sharing services provider Bluegogo has gone bankrupt, media reports said, while its major supplier has said the company has been struggling with financial difficulties for months.
The company recently announced it will dismiss its employees and will pay their salaries until February 2018, an unnamed employee from Bluegogo said in a post published on social media platforms on Wednesday.
The company has been receiving a large number of complaints from its users concerning deposit refunds, Bluegogo said in a post published on its Weibo account on October 20.
A senior executive from Bluegogo told the Global Times on Wednesday that he has already resigned from the company.
The company's PR representative said he has also left Bluegogo.
Chen Anqiao, a bike supplier for Bluegogo, said the company suspended its orders in April due to financial problems. "They could not raise any funds from investors," he said, noting this dilemma has also caused troubles for bike manufacturers and suppliers.
"We have been entangled in debts, which amounted to over 10 million yuan ($1.51 million)," Chen complained.
In spite of the rapid development of the shared economy, other Chinese bike-sharing firms have also gone bust in 2017. The Beijing-based company 3Vbike closed operations in July after most of its bicycles went missing, presumed stolen, a month after Wukong Bicycle in Chongqing also ended its services.
In August, another bike-sharing firm Dingding ended its services, according to media reports.
Bluegogo had also been actively exploring the overseas market earlier this year. However, after it launched its services in San Francisco in January, it was criticized by local officials for "dumping" tens of thousands of bikes that would clutter public sidewalks and fall into disrepair, according to the Mercury News based in San Jose, California.
