- "[T]here is the possibility that Uber China, which is a separate entity, could at some point in the future list on the Chinese stock market," UBER spokeswoman Nairi Hourdajian tells Bloomberg.
- She qualifies her remarks by noting CEO Travis Kalanick prefers to stay private as long as possible. Pressure from investors can motivate a company to go public, as can a wish to give current/future employees a chance to monetize their options.
- The remarks come as Uber gets set to invest $1B+ in its Chinese unit to help it expand into smaller cities and better compete with local ride-hailing leader Didi Kuaidi (also aggressively raising funds). Bloomberg has reported Uber is looking to raise $1B for its Chinese unit at a $7B-$8B valuation.
- Meanwhile, in Russia, local search leader Yandex (YNDX +0.2%) maintains a lead over Uber in the Russian ride-hailing space. Moscow's Chamber of Commerce estimates Yandex has over 15K taxis connected to its platform, compared with roughly 3K for Uber. Another rival known as Gett has over 10K cars.
- Yandex plans to provide ride-hailing services in 25 Russian cities by year's end. ZAO Raiffeisenbank estimates taxis using Yandex's platform could see 2015 revenue of more than 10B rubles ($155M). Uber has been offering Russian users free ice cream and movie tickets in an attempt to gain ground.
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Two weeks ago: Uber closes funding round at $51B valuation; Microsoft reportedly invests.