Uber and Didi Announce Massive Merger in China
The bitter rivalry between Uber and Didi Chuxing is finally coming to an end, with Bloomberg reporting a merger between the two companies in China.
According to Bloomberg, Uber will sell its China operations to its mainland archrival for a combined business valuation of USD35 billion. Uber will continue to operate its app in China for the time being.
The deal comes on the heels of China legalizing ride-sharing apps just last week.
Uber first began its China operations in 2014 but has yet to turn a profit, and announced in February that it was losing USD1 billion per year in China. Didi remains the market leader, having recently earned backing from Tencent, Baidu and Apple. Earlier this year, it was reportedly also in talks with Uber's US-based competitor, Lyft.
Uber has seen its fair share of setbacks in China — from being deemed "illegal" in Beijing, to raids and crackdowns, to having its WeChat account shut down.
[Image via IEObserve]
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