Lyft, the great competitor Uber, wants to sell – Le Figaro

The US service VTC Lyft have canvassed Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and General Motors to be redeemed. In vain.

Rude battle in the market for VTC. So qu’Uber string of fundraising, its main competitor, Lyft, would be looking for a buyer, according to the New York Times. The VTC company would have faced a rejection of from all groups canvassed for his redemption. Among them, the automaker General Motors, the heavyweights of the technology sector Apple, Google and Amazon, or Uber and its Chinese equivalent, Didi Chuxing.

In case, an excessive price compared to the business valuation: Lyft requires $ 9 billion, while its value is estimated at 5.5 billion. His last fundraiser of $ 500 million, took place in January with General Motors. The automaker could be the most serious candidate for the purchase of Lyft. But no written offer to purchase has been made to date.

Such a rout from Lyft illustrates the difficulty to operate in the competitive market and increasingly polarized booking car with driver. The sector is supported by major players in new technologies including Google, which through its subsidiary Google Ventures is one of the main investors of Uber, and Apple. In May, the iPhone maker has invested a billion dollars in Didi Chuxing, the number of booking online taxis in the Chinese market, with 300 million registered users. Uber has since been forced to merge its operations in China with those of Didi Chuxing. He received in return an investment of one billion dollars from the Chinese company. In September 2015, Lyft concluded a strategic partnership with Didi Chuxing allowing Chinese users of the application to order, once the United States of Lyft vehicles without the need to download additional application. This was not enough to catch Uber.

The reluctance of large companies canvassed by Lyft not sign mean the end of the business. This can still rely on strong cash reserves – the amount of which would be about $ 1.4 billion according to the website Recode – to continue to develop its business and try to improve its profitability. A challenge, as the company loses about $ 50 million a month on annual revenues of 400 to 500 million.