AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/13 Report--

Recently, financial data for 2018 were released inside DiDi. The data show that DiDi lost as much as 10.9 billion yuan in 2018, of which 11.3 billion yuan was invested in driver subsidies. The authorities have yet to respond to the news.

2018 has been a tough year for DiDi. Competition in the domestic ride-hailing market has entered a white-hot stage. Before Meituan, Volkswagen and other car-hailing companies entered the domestic ride-hailing market. The 2018 ride-hailing market is a war of "burning money". It is a year of losses for most enterprises that enter the ride-hailing market.

Since its establishment in 2012, according to incomplete statistics, Didi has completed 17 rounds of financing, raising more than $24 billion, but the ultra-low gross profit margin has also made it impossible for Didi to make a profit. Cheng Wei has previously said that "profit is by no means the most concerned goal of Didi, and Didi is not a company that makes money above all else."

As early as last September, Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of DiDi, issued a statement saying that we had not made a profit in six years. Cheng Wei also showed a gross profit margin, excluding the money returned to drivers and passengers, the gross profit margin of each order was only 1.6%.

DiDi had many scandals in 2018, the most famous of which were the "Zhengzhou stewardess case" and the "Yueqing case". As an important profitable business of Didi, Hitchhiking was also rectified by the state. Didi lost a lot of money during the Spring Festival outage.

Against the backdrop of DiDi's losses, at the beginning of 2019, there was frequent news that DiDi would cut 25% of his staff, involving a large number of jobs. Some insiders conservatively estimate that 3000 employees will be laid off, which may last until March this year.

Of course, DiDi's loss is also related to the unreasonable allocation of business resources after a loss of 39 billion yuan over the past six years. In April 2018, Didi announced that it would enter the takeout market. In view of the fierce competition in domestic and foreign markets, new business also needs to invest a certain amount of resources.

DiDi's loss is also expected under the influence of internal and external factors. As to when DiDi will make a profit, Cheng Wei also responded in an earlier interview, saying that "A lot of money will eventually be returned to car owners and passengers or invested in long-term development, and Didi will maintain a very low gross profit for a long time."

However, the outside world said it was incredible for DiDi to lose money. Netizens said one after another that it was the management's problem. How could they lose money when taking a taxi is even more expensive than a taxi? Recently, it was exposed on the Internet that the "bill" of a Didi driver, a five-star Didi driver, received an average of 5000 yuan a month. Although DiDi claims to heavily subsidize drivers, Didi drivers complain that "high profits" give them pitifully small fees, raising doubts about Didi's claim that it is not profitable. Perhaps the Didi driver's income is only an isolated case, but judging from DiDi's annual subsidy of 11.3 billion to drivers, Didi relies entirely on subsidies to maintain the existing market share of ride-hailing. If Didi maintains this state for a long time, it will be in debt for a long time for Didi, which has been unprofitable for six years, and the outcome can be imagined.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat