優步在中國不再堅持 與滴滴合併

Uber has agreed to sell its Chinese operations to rival Didi Chuxing, throwing in the towel on its costly battle for the Chinese ride-hailing market.

優步(Uber)已同意將旗下中國業務出售給競爭對手滴滴出行(Didi Chuxing)，在爭奪中國叫車應用市場的成本高昂的戰鬥中低頭服輸。

Under the terms of the deal, set to be announced in coming days, Didi will acquire all of Uber China’s operations and investors in Uber China will get a 20 per cent stake in Didi, according to two people close to the transaction..

據兩名知情人透露，該交易將於幾天後公佈，根據協議條款，滴滴將收購優步中國全部業務，優步中國的投資者將得到滴滴20%的股份。

Didi, which is China’s largest ride-hailing company, will also invest $1bn in an equity stake in Uber’s global business, in a deal that brokers a truce between the two of the most fiercely competitive car-hailing companies in the world.

作爲中國最大的打車應用企業，滴滴將投入10億美元入股優步全球業務，該交易將讓這兩家全球競爭最激烈的打車應用企業停止爭奪。

The new alliance will draw an end to a fight that had seen the companies pour billions of dollars into subsidies for passengers and drivers as each sought to gain market share. China legalised ride-hailing just last week, clearing the way for the market to expand further.

爲奪取市場份額，兩家公司已投入數十億美元補貼乘客和司機，新的合併協議將結束這場補貼大戰。就在上週，中國將網約車合法化，爲該市場進一步擴大掃清了道路。

The idea of a tie-up was first aired by Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick more than two years ago when he met Cheng Wei, the founder of Didi, in Beijing. Both Uber and Didi have been on a fundraising spree in recent months, with Didi raising more than $7bn in debt and equity in June. Uber raised $3.5bn from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund around the same time. Even as both companies prepared to spend their war chests to fight for market share in China, the unprecedented scale of the fundraising also made clear to both sides how costly it would be to continue the battle.

優步首席執行官特拉維斯•卡蘭尼克(Travis Kalanick)於兩年前在北京與滴滴創始人程維會面時，首次提出了合併的想法。近幾個月來，優步和滴滴都經歷了融資狂歡，滴滴通過債券融資和股權融資籌款超過70億美元，同一時間優步從沙特主權財富基金籌得35億美元。雖然兩家公司都準備好將它們的彈藥箱投入到這場中國市場份額爭奪戰裏，但此輪籌資的空前規模也令雙方明白，繼續戰鬥將造成怎樣的損失。

Discussions about a deal only got serious during the past few weeks, after the fundraisings were complete, according to a person close to the transaction.

據這筆交易的一位知情人介紹，合併談判在過去幾周才嚴肅起來，就在此輪融資結束後。

However Didi’s new alliance with Uber could prove awkward for Lyft, Uber’s main rival in the US. Didi is an investor in Lyft, and the two companies have linked their apps so that Didi’s Chinese can summon a Lyft car while travelling in the US.

不過滴滴與優步的合併可能令Lyft——優步在美國的主要競爭對手——陷入尷尬境地。滴滴是Lyft的投資者之一，兩家公司的應用已進行關聯，中國用戶在美國旅行時可使用滴滴應用叫來Lyft汽車。

News of the deal was first reported by Bloomberg News. Rumours of a transaction were widespread on Chinese social media over the weekend, as an alleged draft blog post by Mr Kalanick about the deal circulated online.

該交易的消息最早由彭博新聞(Bloomberg News)報道。上週末中國社交媒體上充斥這關於這筆交易的傳聞，一篇所謂卡蘭尼克撰寫的關於交易的博客在網絡上流傳開來。

Uber declined to comment. Didi did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

優步方面不予置評，滴滴也沒有迴應多個置評請求。