????中國官方媒體中央人民廣播電臺率先報道百度即將投資Uber的消息。目前還不清楚具體投資規(guī)模，但據(jù)路透社（Reuters）報道稱，百度將于12月17日舉行記者招待會，宣布其對“一家美國初創(chuàng)型公司”的投資事宜。

????這將為Uber帶來一位強大的中國合作伙伴。目前在中國，Uber的業(yè)務(wù)仍局限于高端市場，集中在北京、上海和廣州等幾個超大城市。

????最近幾周Uber麻煩不斷, 法院對它頒布的一系列禁令，其乘客安全性受到質(zhì)疑，還有幾起公關(guān)危機。而在全球最大經(jīng)濟體找到一個強大的新伙伴對它來說將是個利好消息。

????對百度而言，與Uber合作將擴大其業(yè)務(wù)范圍。而對于把數(shù)億中國智能手機用戶作為賺錢目標的公司來說，推出打車軟件是它們的首選之一。

????百度在國內(nèi)的兩大對手——阿里巴巴和騰訊都有自己的打車軟件合作伙伴。阿里巴巴的是快的打車，騰訊的是滴滴打車。今年上半年，兩款軟件因大打價格戰(zhàn)付出了沉重代價，目前基本上各占中國市場的半壁江山。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????News of the Uber investment was first reported by Chinese state media China National Radio. There are so far no details about the size of the investment, but Baidu has scheduled a press conference to announce an investment ‘in a U.S.-based startup’ on Dec. 17, according to Reuters.

????The move could provide the company with a powerful partner in China, a market where its presence is so far limited to the top end of the market in a handful of megacities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

????Getting a strong new partner in the world’s largest economy would be a welcome fillip for the company that has been beset by a spate of court-ordered restrictions, allegations of poor passenger safety and PR disasters in recent weeks.

????For Baidu, a partnership with Uber would increase the range of services it can offer, and ride-booking apps are high on the list of priorities for companies looking to tap the pockets of hundreds of millions of smartphone-wielding Chinese.

????Two of Baidu’s biggest rivals in China, Alibaba Group Holdings BABA 0.13% and Tencent Holdings Ltd. TCEHY -1.20% both have their own partnerships with taxi-hailing apps. Kuadi Dache, backed by Alibaba, and Didi Dache, backed by Tencent, each claim around half of the Chinese market, after a bitter and expensive price war with each other in the first half of this year.