Apple Gives Up Board Seat at Chinese Ride-Hailing Company Didi

Apple has given up its board seat at Didi Global as the Chinese ride-hailing company struggles to return to growth following crushing fines and restrictions imposed by Beijing's cyberspace regulator, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Tim Cook Beijing Didi Chuxing

Apple CEO Tim Cook with Didi Chuxing president Jean Liu in 2016

Adrian Perica, Apple's vice president of corporate development, resigned from the board earlier this month, according to a notice posted on Didi's website.

Perica, who heads Apple's mergers and acquisitions strategy, joined Didi's board in 2016 after Apple made a $1 billion investment in the the ride hailing app. The move was described by CEO ‌‌Tim Cook‌‌ at the time as a "strategic investment" that would help Apple better understand the Chinese market.

The problems started for Didi last year, when Apple was informed by China's internet regulator that it must remove the Didi Chuxing ride hailing app from the Chinese App Store, after Beijing raised concerns about the Uber rival's possible misuse of personal data.

Didi's removal from China's mobile app stores effectively hamstrung the company and the action erased more than 80% of its market value. Then last month, following a year-long investigation, Didi was fined $1.2 billion by the Chinese government for infractions that Beijing said compromised national security.

The decision followed broader moves by Beijing to curb the influence of China's largest internet corporations and tighten the ownership of the personal data of hundreds of millions of users held by the likes of Alibaba, Tencent, and others.

Apple's investments and acquisitions have dramatically slowed over the past two years, with the tech giant being more selective in the face of a shaky economy and heightened government scrutiny.

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Top Rated Comments

ponzicoinbro Avatar
41 months ago
Look at the stock price over 5 years of all ride sharing, food delivery, airbnb, wework businesses.

Retail investors deep in the red with big losses. VCs and founders ran off with the money already.

These type of businesses are parasite businesses. They just feast on the blood of the masses while adding costs everywhere.

Your rent is higher because of Airbnb property speculators.

Your pollution is higher because ride sharing clogs the streets and people get tempted to use that instead of public transport.

Zero sum game and zero benefit for the masses. Only a small number of rich people gain.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
himanshumodi Avatar
41 months ago
Looks like Apple did learn an expensive lesson about China's market.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Onexy Avatar
41 months ago
Data privacy is not the real reason for the fines. In China it never is.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Scipster Avatar
41 months ago
I'm confused. China requested the app be pulled over data privacy concerns? I thought data privacy was a joke under the all-seeing, all-knowing authoritarian state?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghanwani Avatar
41 months ago

I'm confused. China requested the app be pulled over data privacy concerns? I thought data privacy was a joke under the all-seeing, all-knowing authoritarian state?
There’s a difference between a company using user data and the state using it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
indychris Avatar
41 months ago

Looks like Apple did learn an expensive lesson about China's market.
It’d be awesome if Apple would learn a lesson about China period. Wishful thinking I s’pose. Few do.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)