Apple Is Investing One Billion Dollars in Didi Chuxing

The US IT&C group, Apple Inc. announced on Thursday evening that they are investing one billion dollars in Didi Chuxing, the Chinese equivalent of the Uber transport application, writes Reuters. This investment comes on the same day that when the Apple stock ticker fell to its lowest level in two years, so Alphabet, the parent company of Google has become the company with the highest market capitalization in the world. 

Apple shares ended the session down with 2.35% at $ 90.34, which gives the group a total value of 494.8 billion dollars, while Alphabet has a market value of 499.9 billion dollars. The Apple director, Tim Cook, declared that Apple is making this strategic investment for several reasons, including the chance to learn more about certain segments of the Chinese market.

Didi Chuxing, known previously as Didi Kuaidi, controls 87% of the transport services by car-hailing market in China. The company claims to have 300 million users who had carried over 11 million passengers through its platform.

Analysts believe that this investment offers a clue on how Apple could diversify business given the fact that iPhone sales are stagnating. Apple wants to increase revenues from services like Apple Music and Apple Pay, a strategy was confirmed by an investment in a ride-sharing company, as Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy believes.

More, Apple has employed a wide range of automotive experts and a number of sources said that the group considering building an autonomous car. Recently, General Motors bought a technology company in the automotive sector.

 

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