SoftBank-backed Didi Chuxing says its ride-sharing orders recover to pre-pandemic levels

China’s biggest ride-hailing firm's peak daily orders crossed 30 million, chief executive says

Didi Chuxing headquarters in Beijing. China's biggest ride-hailing firm said its ride sharing orders in June climbed to pre-pandemic levels. Reuters

Didi Chuxing, China’s biggest ride-hailing company, which counts SoftBank as a backer, said its ride-sharing orders in China this month recovered to levels achieved over the same period a year earlier.

Didi’s peak daily ride-sharing orders passed 30 million, its founder and chief executive Cheng Wei said on Saturday. The daily orders at the company’s bike-sharing business, Didi Bike, reached 10 million, he said.

The recovery in orders comes as most of China has reopened for business after the coronavirus outbreak. The country, where first global coronavirus cases emerged late last year, has posted a sharp fall in cases since March.

Didi, which has operations in eight overseas countries – Japan, Australia and six Latin America countries – has more than 10,000 employees, including 2,000 overseas, Mr Cheng said.

He said in April that the company wanted to achieve 100 million daily orders and collect 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022.

That same month, a senior Didi executive told Reuters that its overseas orders were recovering from mid-March lows.