One could be forgiven for thinking that after purchasing Uber’s China operations, Didi Chuxing—which now boasts over 300 million users and over 80% of China’s market—would be on easy street. But things are never that simple in the Chinese market. Figures have shown Didi is losing users and drivers. Under strict Chinese local governments’ new policies, Didi may face bigger challenges than Uber China. Meanwhile more people cast doubts over its business model. Boasting a sharing economy model, car-pooling, the company now relies more on providing car-hailing services with prices lower than taxis to maintain its scale. Once the subsidies withdrew, users walk away.
Uber-Didi Merger Ends a Fierce Rivalry for Market Share
The battle for car hailing market share has ended with Uber merging its Chinese business with local rival Didi Chuxing. The merger deal gave Didi a market share of nearly 90%. There are many worries and questions following the deal: will government consider it to be an absolute monopoly? Will passengers pay more and drivers being paid less? How will Didi manage to operate Uber China afterwards? To answer those questions we need to understand the history of Didi Chuxing—how it operated in ‘grey area’ and managed to beat so many other local competitors before it merged with Uber China—find the answer in our article.
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