金融时报:优步CEO称滴滴快的补贴过多、负担过重

所属教程:金融时报原文阅读

浏览:

2021年10月19日

手机版

扫描二维码方便学习和分享

优步CEO称滴滴快的补贴过多、负担过重

优步(Uber)CEO特拉维斯·卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)昨日为该公司在中国的霸主之争发起最新攻势，坚称优步可以比本土对手滴滴快的(Didi Kuaidi)坚持更久，因为优步拥有庞大的资产负债表，而且在支出上效率更高。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

salvo齐射，齐鸣['sælvəʊ]

balance sheets资产负债表

feud争执[fjuːd]

lucrative有利可图的['luːkrətɪv]

logistics物流，后勤[lə'dʒɪstɪks]

winner-take-all赢者通吃

Uber chief executive dismisses Chinese rival Didi over subsidies （453words）

By Charles Clover in Beijing

Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick launched the latest salvo in his company's battle with for supremacy in China on Monday, insisting that the ride-hailing company could outlast local rival Didi Kuaidi because of its huge balance sheets and more efficient spending practices.

Mr Kalanick accused Didi Kuaidi of being overburdened with lossmaking subsidies to the tune of $70m-80m per week, which would represent about $4bn over the course of a year. “It's not how much you spend, it's how efficiently you spend,” he said, arguing that Uber spent less on driver subsidies per ride than Didi because of a more efficient structure.

Didi rejected Mr Kalanick's figures, saying that Uber “is being wildly creative about our numbers”, insisting that it was more efficient than its US competitor because it had more riders and drivers. “Didi holds over 80 per cent of the market, which means our competitor has to bleed subsidies to make up for inadequate numbers of riders and drivers,” the Chinese group said.

Mr Kalanick's broadside is the latest in a long-running feud between the two companies, which have been bitter competitors since Didi was created out of a merger of China's two largest ride-hailing apps last February. Uber launched in China in 2013 and says it has a market share of 30-35 per cent, and that this is growing rapidly.

Investors continue to plough money into taxi app companies. Uber China, which operates as a separate entity, was valued at $7bn last September before it raised a further $1.2bn. Didi said it was worth more than $16bn after its most recent funding round.

Both companies have spent heavily in the past year on subsidies in an effort to lock up China's most lucrative cities as markets. Uber has been reported to spend up to three times the fare on driver subsidies in an effort to get more operators on the road.

Neither Uber nor Didi disclosed how much they spent subsidising drivers and riders. But both companies have invested about $1bn in the past year in China, much of which has been for that purpose. Mr Kalanick, who was in Beijing to sign a partnership with travel and logistics giant HNA Group, which owns Hainan Airlines, said Uber would invest more in China.

“We have lots of cities around the world that are profitable and look forward to investing those profits in China,” he said.

While both companies have a winner-take-all approach to the market, experts say there may be room for both to coexist.

Brian Viard, a professor of economics at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, conducted a study that identified 24 Chinese cities with economies large enough market to sustain two or more ride-hailing app companies.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.What is the key point of Travis Kalanick's speech about subsidies?

A.mongey-loser

B.confidence

C.efficiency

D.supporter

答案(1)

2.What is “more efficient” meaning by Didi's response?

A.more efficient spending practices

B.more riders and drivers

C.better consumption patterns

D.good policy