Staff of Reuters 3 Minutes to Read BEIJING, June 30 (Reuters) – China’s economy is expected to grow at a faster pace than the rest of the world Didi Global, the Chinese ride-hailing giant, is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday following an initial public offering that raised $4.4 billion, valuing the company at $67.5 billion, according to sources. It is the largest share sale by a Chinese company in the United States in seven years. In 2016, Didi acquired Uber’s China operations. In China, where Uber is the main operator, it averaged 25 million trips per day in the first three months of the year, retaining a 12.8 percent share in the company. Here are some crucial statistics about the company and its global rival, Uber Technologies Inc, which is based in the United States and has a market capitalization of $95 billion: Didi was created in Beijing in 2012 by Chief Executive Will Cheng, who previously worked at Alibaba. Jean Liu, co-founder and president, joined the company in 2014. – Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick created Uber in 2009. It went public in May of this year. DIDI’S BUSINESS PROFILE- Didi’s core business in China is ride-hailing. South America, Japan, Australia, Russia, and South Africa are among the 15 international markets in which it operates. Food delivery, community group buying, and logistics are among the services it offers. – Uber’s core business is ride-hailing, which it does in around 70 countries, and restaurant food delivery, which it does in 34 countries under the Uber Eats name. The majority of the company’s revenue comes from the United States and Canada. DRIVERS- For the year ending March 2021, Didi had 15 million active drivers worldwide. – In February 2020, Uber said that it has 5 million drivers worldwide. Didi was a loss-making company from 2018 to 2020, but it achieved a $30 million profit in the first quarter of this year. – Uber continues to lose money, but has guaranteed investors that by the end of the year, it would be profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis. Automobiles- Many Didi drivers use fleet firms to rent cars. Toyota, BYD, and Nissan are among the carmakers with whom Didi has fleet management agreements. – Uber drivers in most of the company’s markets are self-employed individuals who drive their own cars. Uber’s own vehicle rental program ended in 2018, although drivers can still sign up with other companies for short-term rentals. TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT- Didi is putting its autonomous driving technology to the test with a fleet of over 100 vehicles. – Uber’s autonomous driving section, Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), was sold to self-driving car company Aurora in December. – Didi and China’s BYD unveiled a purpose-built vehicle for ride-hailing, and the two companies are collaborating on a future model with autonomous driving capabilities alongside GAC, a Chinese automaker. – Uber stated that it is collaborating with Arrival, a British electric van and bus manufacturer, to build a ride-hailing-specific model that will go into production in 2023. Yilei Sun and Tina Bellon contributed reporting. Tony Munroe and Louise Heavens edited the piece. Continue reading