Didi to buy Uber China operations in deal valuing combined firm at US$35b: media

[BENGALURU] China's dominant ride hailing firm Didi Chuxing will buy Uber Technologies Inc's operations in China in a deal that will end bruising competition between the two firms, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The deal between the pair - which have been spending heavily to gain market share, increasing new funding needs - could be announced as early as Monday, the paper said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Bloomberg separately reported that the combined company would be valued at US$35 billion and that investors in Uber China, owned by San Francisco-based Uber, Baidu Inc and others, would receive a 20 per cent stake in the combined company.

Uber and Didi could not be immediately reached for comment.

The deal, if confirmed, would come after China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber.

Didi itself was created last year from the merger of two companies backed separately by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and social network firm Tencent Holdings Ltd.

REUTERS