Black taxi drivers in London rally against Uber. (Photo : Getty Images)
Uber announced their surrender to the taxi magnate days after the government restricted ride subsidies.
CEO Travis Kalanick said on Monday, "We were a young American business entering a country where most U.S. Internet companies had failed to crack the code."
Analysts believe that many foreign companies like Uber face unfair treatment given to them by the Chinese government. President Xi Jinping's drive for nationalism made the discrimination stronger.
The American Chamber of Commerce released a report in 2015 stating that many of its members feared that they will be subject to regulatory restrictions in China.
The report stated, "Numerous service industries in China face an uneven playing field due to government support for state-owned enterprises and designated oligopolies within their sectors."
The Chamber believed that the government's bias against foreign and domestic enterprises will cripple operations.
Uber also lost its fight in Budapest. The Hungarian government required Uber to follow licensing procedures and fare rules as practiced by local taxi companies.
Robbie Khazzam, Uber's regional manager for central Eastern Europe said in a statement, "Our operation in Budapest has been one of our brightest in Europe."
He added, "But at this time we and our nearly 1,200 Hungarian partners are unable to provide services under new regulations which prohibit innovation and entrepreneurship,"
In China, Didi's CEO Jean Liu implied that Uber's marketing strategy in China was flawed. She said, "I find it quite cute because I've never seen a company put their competitor's brand on their own homepage."
"Have you seen in other places market leaders buy market share?" Liu said. She was referring to Uber's attempts to sell rides below cost and the CEO implied that players which do this provide worse service.
