WASHINGTON – McDonald’s is weighing the sale of part of digital start-up Dynamic Yield, which it bought two years ago in a bid to boost drive-through and in-restaurant kiosk orders, the two companies confirmed yesterday.
McDonald’s originally looked to the artificial intelligence business to provide personalised digital promotions to consumers, which would vary depending on the time of day, weather, and wait times.
A potential partial sale of the company had “been discussed from the outset, and now feels like the right time to explore that possibility”, said Dynamic Yield founder and CEO Liad Agmon in a statement to AFP confirming an earlier report in The Wall Street Journal.
“We don’t have a set timeline for the potential sale,” added the firm.
In its own statement to AFP, McDonald’s said it has put Dynamic Yield’s technology to use in a number of markets around the world, and will continue to do so.
It said it will continue to test “new approaches” in order to better serve clients’ changing needs.
The 2019 purchase of Dynamic Yield by McDonald’s for more than US$300 million (RM1.2 billion) represented the United States-based group’s largest buy in years.
Company executives portrayed it as a key element of McDonald’s digital strategy. – AFP, February 28, 2021
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