Tencent, Baidu and JD.com put $50m each into Bitauto
Three of China’s most famous internet businesses, Baidu, Tencent and JD.com, are each ploughing $50 million into Chinese online auto portal Bitauto.
It is not yet known how the round of funding, which totals $300 million after factoring in another $150 million from PA Grand Opportunity Limited, will be used beyond the vague “general corporate purposes” that the business has stated.
Bit auto is a consumer-facing business but makes money in three ways; an advertising and subscription business, a transaction services business and a digital marketing solutions business.
The deal is unique in that it has equal investment from the three Chinese digital giants. Tencent had been a strategic advisor to the business and JD.com has already invested at an earlier round. According to Seeking Alpha, the two may have been able to freeze Baidu out of the deal but perhaps deemed the business less of a threat in the area of autos.
A report on TechCrunch suggests that Bitauto might provide inventory for a new auto search on Baidu.
Baidu has also been investing in the auto space, however, it is specifically in technology such as driverless cars.