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00:00BLOOPERS -- UBER'S LARGEST COMPETITOR IN CHINA. ABOUT 40 MILLION DRIVERS AND 11 MILLION RIDES A DAY. BY COMPARISON, UBER TRAILS FAR BEHIND, ONLY IN ABOUT 50 CHINESE CITIES, WITH A PLAN TO EXPAND TO 100 BY THE END OF THE YEAR. THEY HAVE PARTNERED WITH LYFT FOR MORE GLOBAL EXPANSION. I MET WITH THE PRESIDENT OF DIDI CHUXING, TO ASK WHY THEY WANTED TO REBRAND THE COMPANY. JEAN: IT IS A MUCH MORE BROADER CONCEPT, CHOOSING THESE TRAVEL COMMUTES, SO WE ARE SERVING THE 800 PEOPLE TO COMMUTE, THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED THAT BY DEFINITION. EMILY: HERE IN THE UNITED STATES, YOU ARE REFERRED TO AS THE UBER OF CHINA, OR THE UBER NEMESIS. HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF? JEAN: WE ARE THE 800 MILLION PEOPLE WITH A VARIETY OF PRODUCTS. WE ALSO DO TAXI. AND ABOUT 2 MILLION OF THE 11 MILLION COME FROM TAXI. A LOT OF VERY CHINA-SPECIFIC PRODUCTS. EMILY: SO YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN 400 CITIES IN CHINA? WHAT IS THE NEXT PHASE OF EXPANSION? JEAN: THE NEXT PHASE IS TO INVEST MORE IN INTELLIGENCE AND MISSION LEARNING, BASED ON THE 11 MILLION RIDE SCALE. IT SHOULD BE MACHINES MAKING THE DECISION, TO GET THE SYSTEM SMARTER AND SMARTER EVERYDAY BY ITSELF. WHAT WE ARE FACING NOW IS A SHORTAGE IN CHINA IN GENERAL. LET'S SAY IN BLOOMBERG, IF THERE ARE 50 REQUEST GOING OUT, AND EVERYONE WANTS TO GO IN FIVE MINUTES, YOU WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO MATCH IT. FORGET IT, RIGHT? WE WANT IT TO BECOME SMARTER SO IT CAN PREDICT THE DEMAND FROM THE BLOOMBERG BUILDING. BEFORE, THE PASSENGERS SENT OUT A REQUEST. WHEN YOU HAVE A DEMAND WE CAN MATCH IMMEDIATELY. BASED ON THE NETWORK , WE WILL GRADUALLY LEARNED FOR EACH PARTICULAR AREA HOW MANY REQUESTS ARE COMING OUT AND HOW TO MOVE THE DRIVERS IN TIME TO MATCH THE REQUEST. EMILY: HOW ABOUT EXPANDING OUTSIDE OF CHINA? JEAN: CHINA IS A HUGE MARKET, 800 MILLION. WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 1% RIDE PENETRATION. IF WE GET TO 5.5%, -- 1.5%, IT IS A HUGE MARKET ALREADY. FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, HOW CAN WE HELP CHINESE TRAVELERS GO ABROAD MORE EASILY? THAT IS WHY WE ARE LAUNCHING A DIDI INTERNATIONAL PRODUCT. A LOT OF TRAVELERS TURN ON THE APP AND GET ACCESS TO A LIFT TO SERVICE RIGHT NOW. IT IS VERY EXCITING. SO THAT IS OUR PERSPECTIVE. SO PEOPLE CAN USE OUR SERVICE OVERSEAS. EMILY: WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH REGULATORS IN CHINA? JEAN: THAT IS A GREAT QUESTION. FIRST, THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN MORE AND MORE OPEN TO US. IT IS A TOP ISSUE FOR CHINA IN GENERAL. THE GOVERNMENT UNDERSTANDS WE NEED TO UTILIZE EXISTING RESOURCES TO PUT IN TO THE IMMUNE SYSTEM SO PEOPLE CAN TRAVEL AROUND. RIGHT NOW, THERE IS A LACK OF AN EXISTING SYSTEM, SO WE'RE SOLVING A BASIC ISSUE. NUMBER TWO, ON OUR PLATFORM THERE ARE 4 MILLION JOBS -- OPPORTUNITIES CREATED, ON A MONTHLY BASIS. THERE IS A LOT OF RESTRUCTURING GOING ON, PEOPLE WILL LOSE JOBS. SO 4 MILLION JOBS MEANS A LOT, AND IT IS GROWING RAPIDLY. THIRD, THE ENVIRONMENT DURING WHEN WE DO CARPOOL WE ARE PUTTING MORE PEOPLE INTO ONE CAR. THAT ALLOWS US GOOD AT TALKING POINTS WITH THE GOVERNMENT. EMILY: WHAT ARE THE FINANCIALS? HOW MUCH MONEY IS DIDI LOSING? JEAN: WE ARE CLOSER TO PROFITABILITY THAN EVER, THANKS TO THE IMPROVED SCALE. WE HAVE ACHIEVED EFFICIENCY. WHAT I CAN SHARE WITH YOU, AT THE END OF LAUGHTER, WE STILL HAD $3 BILLION ON OUR CASH BALANCE, AND WE ARE CLOSER TO COME WE ARE FINISHING THE CLOSING OF THE SECOND ROUND AT THIS TIME. SO WE WILL HAVE ABUNDANT CASH ON OUR BALANCE SHEET. EMILY: WHAT YOU THINK OF THE FUTURE OF THE RIDE SHARING MARKET? IS THIS A TWO PLAYER MARKET, A ONE PLAYER MARKET, OR A MULTIPLAYER MARKET? JEAN: WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE ARE PROVIDING A UNIQUE SERVICE TO OUR USERS, OUR PASSENGERS. I KNOW A LOT OF QUESTIONS WILL BE ON COMPETITION. BUT FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE, THIS IS LIKE HURDLE LIFTING. YOU DON'T GO ASIDE, YOU WILL FALL. YOU DON'T RUN A LIKE THIS, YOU RUN WITH A FOCUSED TARGET. EMILY: WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO INVEST? JEAN: LYFT CARES A LOT ABOUT COMMUNITY. THEIR PRODUCT IS VERY INNOVATIVE, THEY ARE THE FIRST TO DO RIDESHARING HERE, AND THEY HAVE BEEN GROWING MAGNIFICENTLY RECENTLY. THEY HAVE ALMOST DOUBLED THEIR MARKET SHARES. I KNOW IN SAN FRANCISCO HERE THEY HAVE REACHED MARKET SHARES OF 50%. THE LAST QUARTER THEY GREW 50% AS WELL. WE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH THAT. EMILY: ANY ESTIMATE OF HOW MANY OF YOUR AMERICAN USERS HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE PARTNERSHIP WITH LYFT? JEAN: IT HAS JUST BEEN THREE DAYS, SO I CANNOT SAY. BUT IT IS VERY PROMISING. EMILY: I DID TRY

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Didi Chuxing: Meet Uber's Biggest Threat in China

Didi Chuxing president Jean Liu discusses why the company is rebranding and teaming up with Lyft with Emily Chang on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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