BIDU Baidu Inc

HONG KONG—China's largest ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing Technology Co., is profitable in more than half of the 400 cities in which it operates, the company's Senior Director of International Strategy Zijian Li said Friday.

The almost four-year-old company will be profitable overall "very soon," he said at the Converge technology conference, hosted by The Wall Street Journal and f.ounders.

Didi gained a powerful backer in its battle against Uber Technologies Inc. last month when Apple Inc. announced a $1 billion investment in the Chinese startup. Didi's other investors include Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. while China's third major internet company, Baidu Inc., backs Uber.

Mr. Li said the investment from Apple will help Didi advance its big-data and machine-learning technology, the key focus for Didi in the near term.

"Now we have the ability [in some cities] to precisely predict 15 minutes in advance of the supply and demand mismatch in a certain area," he said.

Beijing-based Didi has its roots as a service to help Chinese commuters book traditional taxis, but it has become the largest private ride-hailing player in China after entering the sector two years ago to compete with Uber.

Mr. Li said Didi doesn't plan to expand directly to other countries, but its partnerships with Lyft and other overseas ride-hailing services will help it provide convenient rides for Chinese travelers when they go overseas. There were five million travelers between the U.S. and China last year, and this number is growing 15% to 20% annually, he said.

One big variable for the sector is a coming Chinese national ride-hailing regulation expected to come out later this year. A draft version of the rules last year would have required companies such as Didi to seek local licenses for their drivers and take other steps that would make them more like traditional taxi companies. It is unclear what the rules will look like in their final form.

Mr. Li said Didi's chief executive, Cheng Wei, has met multiple times with senior Chinese leaders in the past few months, as the government sees increasing value in the sharing economy.

Private ride-sharing businesses are technically still illegal in China, as they are in a number of other countries.

China's government is getting "more and more open" to sharing economy businesses such as Didi as the country seeks to shift its economy toward higher-value technology sectors, he said.

Write to Eva Dou at eva.dou@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 03, 2016 02:05 ET (06:05 GMT)

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024