After some speculation, it looks like Uber’s China operations are soon to merge with those of Yidao Yongche under the guidance of Baidu.
Uber set up an entity in China into which Baidu invested $600 million for their strategic partnership, announced in December. In addition to using Baidu Maps in China, it looks like Baidu is also lending a hand by advising on how to navigate the Chinese market and locating this local partner.
The rumors gained some momentum when Yidao CEO Hang Zhouyi posted a picture of two planes flying together on his WeChat as well as a Travis Kalanick spotting in Beijing.
The taxi app market has seen a couple frenzied years. The two leading apps Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache finally merged after crushing themselves with subsidies in order to gain market share.
The two companies still operate independently but aren’t hemorrhaging so much capital now that they’ve decided to not go directly at each other. Tencent funded Didi Dache while Alibaba funded Kuaidi Dache. The two internet giants compete across multiple industries.
The details of the merger haven’t been announced yet but are expected next Wednesday at a press conference in Shanghai.
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