CHINA TOPIX

11/02/2024 09:25:54 am

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Apple Gets a Didi Chuxing Board Seat Following $1B Investment: Report

Apple

(Photo : Getty Images) An Apple logo is seen on screen from the stage ahead of a special event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California.

Apple took a board seat on China's Uber Didi Chuxing weeks after the iPhone maker invested $1 billion in the ride-hailing company, according to a regulatory finding learned by The Information.

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While news initially suggested that Apple did not received a board seat as part of the agreement, regulatory findings revealed that a board appointment happened late in June.

The board appointment shows how serious Apple is on its investment in Didi. The Chinese ride-hailing service provider famously drove Uber out of China, forcing the American firm to sell its local operations late in July. Although the Apple investment was not a deciding factor, sources reveal that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was disappointed.

Apple's mergers and acquisitions chief Adrian Perica will be taking the seat on Didi's board, alongside Martin Lau, Tencent's president; Lucy Peng, an Alibaba executive; Jean Liu, Didi's president' and Cheng Wei, Didi's CEO. Kalanick, on the other hand, will serve as an "observer" of the board but has no voting power, The Verge reported.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said back in May that Apple's investment to Didi will help the company better understand how the local Chinese market works. Speculations also suggest that Apple could be forming a strategic alliance with the Chinese company for its rumored car project, ZDNet noted.

Didi, which is valued at around $35 billion, admitted that Apple's $1 billion investment was its first single largest.

Meanwhile, Didi is also looking to expand its choices with its recent investment in Chinese bike-sharing startup called ofo. Although no official details have been revealed yet, the company allegedly invested at least $100 million from global equity companies in a round that valued the company at half a billion dollars.

Didi's latest investment emphasizes its increasing interest of going beyond the automobile market.

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