China’s Didi Considers $6B SoftBank Investment, Apple May Participate

Tim Cook Beijing Didi Chuxing

Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing has one major problem that could cause sleepless nights for its execs: Do they really want access to a pot of $6 billion? Of course, the amount of “cash” sounds appealing, but the problem is that it comes as an investment from SoftBank-backed Vision Fund. Accepting it would dilute existing backers such as Apple, according to people familiar with the matter speaking with Bloomberg.

Investments in Didi totaled $10 billion last year and included Apple’s $1 billion bet on the Chinese ride-sharing service’s growth. But the $6 billion funding would be the largest on record for a Chinese technology startup, Bloomberg notes.

Didi already boasts 100 investors, including SoftBank, Alibaba and China’s sovereign wealth fund, according to Bloomberg’s sources, and after learning about the SoftBank-backed Vision Fund’s $6 billion investment plan, Apple and Chinese social media giant Tencent are considering whether to join the investment on a pro-rata basis to avoid dilution of their shares, according to people familiar with the matter. And another thing: It is still an open question as to whether the $6 billion comes from SoftBank or its $100 billion Vision Fund.

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