Didi boss Jean Liu says core business profitable, as China’s ride-hailing market recovers from Covid-19

Didi’s ride volume in China has reached 60 to 70 per cent of pre-coronavirus levels and is five times its February low, president Jean Liu Qing says
The global ride-hailing industry has been hit by lockdowns and travel restrictions since the start of the pandemic, but China’s market may be recovering

Didi Chuxing

Sarah Daiin Beijing

Published: 12:37pm, 7 May 2020

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Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing’s core business has been profitable, president Jean Liu Qing said for the first time, as ride orders in its domestic market recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a rare interview, Liu told the CNBC that Didi’s core business has been profitable, without providing specific figures or explaining how or when the company had measured its profitability. The company has no plans for job cuts or raising capital, Liu said in the interview that aired on Thursday, details of which the Post has verified with Didi.

The company’s ride volume in China has reached 60 to 70 per cent of pre-coronavirus levels and is five times its February low, she added.

It was the first time the private-owned firm has said its core business was profitable, with the ride-hailing sector appearing to be bouncing back in China in contrast to other markets. Global competitor Uber is said to be mulling job cuts of as much as 20 per cent with business hit hard by shelter-in-place orders and a virtual standstill in global transport since the start of the pandemic.

As the public health crisis eases in China and travel restrictions start to lift, the number of monthly active users on ride-hailing platforms in the country picked up by 17 per cent month-over-month in March, according to data from research firm Analysys. Top-tier Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Beijing showed faster signs of recovery compared with lower-tier cities, with more users opting for private cars instead of public transport, the data also showed.

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Didi, China’s largest ride-hailing platform, started a nationwide programme in February to install protective dividers between driver and passenger seats in cars, addressing safety fears after reports of multiple drivers being diagnosed with the coronavirus.

It also resumed all of its mobility services in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei where the virus was first detected, soon after the city reopened last month following 10 weeks of lockdown.

Having driven Uber out of the country in 2016 in exchange for a minority stake, Didi has counted Apple, Softbank Group, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings among its biggest shareholders. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

With operations globally including in Japan, Australia and Latin America, the Beijing-based company is on track to hit its targets of processing 100 million orders per day worldwide and reaching 800 million monthly active users within three years, Didi chief executive Cheng Wei said in an internal meeting in April.

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