Baidu CEO Robin Li and CFO Jennifer Li expressed a positive outlook for its Uber partnership in its February 12 phone conference with analysts following its Q4 fiscal report.
Below are excerpts of the dialogue related to the Baidu-Uber partnership.
Citigroup analyst Thomas Chong: I’d like to ask about the integration of Baidu with Uber’s app. Can you tell us how the Baidu map will merge with Uber and what is the potential impact of the integration?
Robin Li: The details of our partnership with Uber are still being worked out, but we will definitely provide an application programming interface (API) to Uber. To our knowledge, Uber’s transactions in China are enjoying rapid growth and so we have a positive outlook for our partnership.
Jeffries & Co. analyst Cynthia Meng: In view of the relatively small market share of Baidu wallet, are you thinking of offering subsidies to Uber and other taxi service subsidiaries?
Robin Li: Baidu always provides subsidies for all kinds of transaction in its business ecosystem. The main services we directly manage include group buy, delivery and cinema tickets, and we occasionally support our partners too on a case-by-case basis. (Translation by David)
