Baidu Inc., Chinese Internet giant, officially sealed the deal on an investment to U.S.-based car online service Uber.
Despite the controversies concerning Uber, China's largest search engine confirmed that they are investing to Uber and signed the deal Wednesday morning at Baidu Headquarters in Beijing,China.
The deal was first reported in Bloomberg where it states that China National Radio cited that an investment of Baidu to Uber may be worth as much as $600 million. This move by Baidu will give a boost to expand Uber's operation in China. The online car service company will receive cash and non-cash assets that include Baidu's online resources.
According to Forbes, Baidu Chairman Robin Li announced that he will buy a stake in Uber though, neither the exact amount paid nor how big the stake he's buying was not disclosed.
Baidu is just one of the big names that decided to invest in the popular transportation company, joining the likes of Google Inc and Goldman Sachs, CNBC reports.
It is said that the partnership between these giants will benefit both as Baidu will be able to integrate its Baidu Maps to Uber while Uber will be able to compete with Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a statement that, "This collaboration marks a milestone for Uber. We're currently in 250 cities around the world, and the Asia-Pacific region has been a key area of growth for us. Our partnership with Baidu-a premier global brand-reflects our commitment to the region and the growing community of Uber riders and driver-partners here."
With the big names joining forces with Uber, the company is indeed an unstoppable force.