Uber’s headline-grabbing retreat from China this week was a big win for one of the top female power players in Asia: Jean Liu, the president of Didi Chuxing and a member of Fortune‘s 40 Under 40 list.
As Liu told employees in an email, the merger of Uber’s China division with market leader Didi marked the end of an “epic battle” between the rival ride-sharing services companies in China, the Financial Times reported. Liu, a former Goldman Sachs managing director and daughter of Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi, sounded an upbeat note about the deal. “We raged an earth-shaking war, and when we join hands, our love will last till the end of time,” she wrote in the email, according to the FT.
Not knowing Liu, I’m not sure if she was trying to be funny with that comment about love or not. But this much is clear: Didi has been on a tear in terms of fund raising. As Fortune reported, at a California conference in June, Liu noted that Didi has raised billions of dollars—even more than money magnet Uber. Back then, Liu characterized the ride-sharing industry as being “in a very early stage.” Given the news this week, it seems like she’s just getting started.
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