“Apple Inc’s $1 billion investment in car-hailing app Didi Chuxing in May helped accelerate Uber’s decision to agree a halt to a costly two-year battle with its rival in China, people close to the companies and analysts said,” Heather Somerville and Elzio Barreto report for Reuters.
“Didi Chuxing Technology Co and Uber Technologies Inc raised billions of dollars in funding and spent heavily on discounted rides as they slugged it out for drivers, passengers and market share in the world’s second-biggest economy,” Somerville and Barreto report. “Uber finally ceded this week, realizing it was no match for a cash-rich rival with the backing of three of the world’s largest technology giants. It agreed to give up its independence in return for a nearly one-fifth stake in a bigger Didi.”
“Apple’s support for the Chinese firm made it clear it would be difficult to beat Didi just through funding,” Somerville and Barreto report. “‘The Apple investment is one of the factors that influenced the decision,’ said a person close to the companies, who couldn’t be named because the discussions were private. ‘Both sides raised enormous amounts of capital. They were probably thinking this was going to escalate to nuclear warfare, which raised the question: do we really want to assure mutual destruction?'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Now the possibilities are more open for Apple to work with both Didi and Uber on new ventures.
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