Bottom line: A Yidao Yongche merger with Uber China continues the rapid consolidation in China’s hired car services, which could be followed soon by a successful bid by Uber and Baidu for Nokia’s digital mapping division.
Yidao Yongche to merge with Uber China
Rapid consolidation is taking place in China’s hired car services market, with word that a new alliance is shaping up between major local player Yidao Yongche and an existing tie-up between global giant Uber and local Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). As a longtime Chinese Internet watcher, I’m quite surprised at the sudden and rapid speed of consolidation in this particular sector, since such consolidation in other areas tends to be a slow and painful process that often takes years.
A major factor behind this sudden and rapid consolidation could be the participation by all 3 of China’s top Internet players, including Baidu, alongside social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) and e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). Two of those companies are also involved in a related headline that is seeing Baidu and Tencent making separate bids for the digital mapping division being sold off by former cellphone giant Nokia (Helsinki: NOK1V). Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 21-23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Bacardi Challenges Baijiu With Tea-Based “Tang” Liquor Developed For China (Chinese article)
Yidao Welcomes Cooperation With Uber, Sees No Need For Merger (Chinese article)
Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sougou Eyes US IPO In 2nd Half 2015, Sees Value At $3 Bln (Chinese article)
Reuters (Toronto: TR) Websites Blocked In China (English article)
Bottom line: The Baidu-led union of Uber and Yidao in China looks like a smart move for all 3 parties, but could come under strain due to internal and external factors that could ultimately lead Baidu to buy out the venture.
Yidao, Uber to merge in China
China’s rapidly evolving paid car services realm is creating some strange marriages, bringing together e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) last month with a merger of their taxi app services. Now we’re getting word of another unusual marriage, this time as leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) steers domestic heavyweight Yidao into a union with global giant Uber.
This latest deal would come just 3 months after Baidu made a large investment in Uber, reportedly worth $600 million, and would give Baidu a solid foothold in the fast-growing market for Internet-based car hiring services. China’s other 2 Internet majors, Tencent and Alibaba, already had major Internet hired car assets through their strategic stakes in industry leaders Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, respectively, which surprised the industry when they announced a plan to merge last month. (previous post) Read Full Post…
