Uber has joined the bike-sharing craze with the acquisition of New York-based Jump Bikes, as the Chinese surge in two-wheeled rentals threatens to disrupt parts of the car-hailing market in North America and Europe where the company is most entrenched.
The deal, which one person familiar with the terms confirmed was for more than $100m, marks the first acquisition since Dara Khosrowshahi took over as chief executive of Uber eight months ago after a series of scandals.
The purchase price is dwarfed by the $3.7bn that Meituan-Dianping is reported to have paid last week for Mobike, a mark of the valuation boom that has followed the take-off of bike-sharing services in China. Mobike set up its first service in the US six months ago, pointing to the kind of disruptive competition in its home market that Uber has yet to face from Chinese car-hailing services.