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Combined business reportedly worth $35 billion.
Car-sharing app maker Uber has agreed to sell its Chinese operation to local rival Didi Chuxing, creating a US$35 billion (€31.3 billion) company, it emerged on Monday.
This is according to sources cited by Bloomberg, who said that Uber China’s owners, U.S.-based Uber and Chinese search giant Baidu, will receive a 20% stake in Didi Chuxing. Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber.
While there has been no official comment from Uber, Bloomberg obtained a blog post from Uber CEO Travis Kalanick that confirmed the transaction.
"Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China, and both companies have yet to turn a profit there," he wrote.
Uber launched in China in 2014.
"Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term," Kalanick said. "I have no doubt that Uber China and Didi Chuxing will be stronger together."
Uber has faced aggressive competition from Didi Chuxing, which was formed from the 2015 merger between Tencent-backed Didi Dache and Alibaba’s Kuaidi Dache.
The company hit the headlines in May when Apple invested $1 billion in it.
