China’s Didi Kuaidi hires Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang as senior adviser as battle with rival Uber rages on
China’s market-leading car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi, which is backed by local internet giants Tencent and Alibaba, has appointed Jerry Yang,, one of the co-founders of Yahoo!, , as a senior advisor as it continues its battle against US rival Uber for market share in China.
Both companies have stepped up their plans to expand in China recently, signalling tougher competition in the years ahead.
Yang, an independent director at Alibaba Group Holding, will also serve as an observer on Didi Kuaidi’s board, the company said in an emailed statement.
“Jerry is a visionary, a pioneer and an investment leader in the internet technology industry. His experience and insights on the global and Asian technology sector will greatly benefit Didi’s long-term strategy to build a leading mobile internet platform of global scale,” Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of Didi Kuaidi, said at a statement Tuesday.
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“Didi has proven to be a technology and market leader in China’s mobile internet sector. I am excited with this opportunity to help [co-founder] Cheng Wei, [president] Jean Liu and their great team to continue to innovate and develop the emerging online and offline transportation ecosystem in China,” Yang said.