Apple Gives Up Didi Board Seat, Snap Announces Major Pullback, Gauging Snap as an M&A Target (Daily Update)

Hello everyone. We will begin today’s news with a Didi update. It’s been a number of years since we last talked about the ridesharing company in China. The discussion will then turn to Snap.

Let’s jump right in.


Apple Gives Up Didi Board Seat

Over at Bloomberg, here are Lisa Du and Mark Gurman:

“An Apple Inc. executive has left the board of Didi Global Inc., as the Chinese ride-hailing company struggles to regain ground it lost during Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s internet sector.

Adrian Perica, Apple’s vice president of corporate development, has resigned from Didi’s board, according to a one-sentence release posted on Didi’s website this month. Didi didn’t respond to requests for comment. Apple declined to comment.

The departure of Perica, who also heads Apple’s mergers and acquisitions strategy, follows a tumultuous year for Didi. Since the company went ahead with a US initial public offering against Beijing’s wishes in June last year, Didi’s app has been pulled from China’s mobile stores, preventing meaningful growth and erasing more than 80% of its market value.”

Here’s a screenshot of what may be the shortest press release I’ve come across to date:

It took nearly a month for a U.S. publication to notice the resignation.

Perica joined Didi’s board in 2016 as part of Apple’s $1B investment in the company at a $26B valuation.

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