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Uber's Chinese rival acquiring company's China operations

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bf5aad0bd473458b9b4545262360ef83/ubers-chinese-rival-acquiring-companys-china-operations

Uber's Chinese rival acquiring company's China operations
[image: China Uber]

BEIJING (AP) — Uber Technology Ltd. and its main Chinese competitor are
combining their ride-hailing operations in China, ending a costly battle to
attract riders.

The announcement Monday marks the latest foreign technology brand to tie up
with a local partner in the face of intense competition in China. Yahoo,
eBay and others have turned over Internet operations to Chinese partners or
withdrawn.

Didi Chuxing said it would acquire Uber China and operate it as a separate
brand. In exchange, Uber said it will receive a 20 percent stake in Didi
Chuxing that will make the American company its biggest shareholder. Uber
founder Travis Kalanick will join the Chinese company's board while Didi
Chuxing founder Cheng Wei joins the Uber board.

No financial details were released. The Chinese business magazine Caixin,
citing unidentified sources, said the deal valued the combined company at
$35 billion. That would make Uber's share worth $7 billion.

"This agreement with Uber will set the mobile transportation industry on a
healthier, more sustainable path of growth at a higher level," Cheng said
in a statement.

Ride-hailing services in China have grown rapidly but suffered heavy
losses. Kalanick told the Canadian technology platform BetaKit in February
the company was losing $1 billion a year in China.

"Didi has been a fierce competitor and I respect all that Didi and their
team have accomplished," Kalanick said on his Facebook page. He said the
merger "frees up substantial resources" for other Uber initiatives
including food delivery and self-driving cars.

Foreign technology brands have struggled in China's populous but intensely
competitive market. In June, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sold its Chinese online
operation to JD.com <http://jd.com> Inc., the country's No. 2 e-commerce
service.

Didi was formed by the February 2015 merger of competing ride-hailing
services launched by Chinese Internet giants Tencent Holdings Ltd. and
Alibaba Group following a similar battle for customers.

Monday's announcement came after the Chinese government on Thursday
announced its first rules for the ride-hailing industry, confirming its
legal status after repeated run-ins with regulators.

Uber, headquartered in San Francisco, operates in more than 60 Chinese
cities and plans to increase to more than 100 by the end of 2016.

Didi Chuxing, previously Didi Kuaidi, operates in some 400 Chinese cities.
It said the company completed 1.4 billion rides in 2015.

The company said in June it raised $7.3 billion from investors in what it
described as one of the world's largest private equity funding rounds.

That included $1 billion from Apple Inc., which became a strategic investor
alongside Tencent and Alibaba.

Last September, Didi Chuxing and Lyft of the United States agreed to link
their services to allow travelers to use them in each other's markets. In
December, their alliance added India's Ola and Southeast Asia's GrabTaxi.

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Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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