Didi: No tie-up plan with Uber

A Chinese mobile phone user uses the taxi-hailing and car-service app Didi Chuxing on his Apple iPhone smartphone in Jinan city, east China's Shandong province, Feb 22, 2015.[Photo/IC]

Didi Chuxing clarified on Thursday that it has no plan to partner with Uber Technologies Inc in response to market speculation that the two ride-hailing giants are negotiating a tie-up in China.

Didi said in a statement to China Daily that it has no such plan （of merging with Uber's China business）and it doesn't want to comment more on the rumor.

A Bloomberg story reported earlier claimed that several institutional investors are pushing the two companies to forge a partnership in the country as they want to put an end to their cash-burning fight over a dominant position in the country.

Uber China didn't immediately respond to China Daily's inquiry on Thursday.

Both Didi and Uber have spent heavily on incentives and free rides to passengers in order to gain bigger share in the market. Uber has said that it is spending at least $1 billion a year to expand its business in the country.