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Uber Looks to Acquire Daimler-BMW Ride-Hailing Joint Venture

Uber Technologies Inc UBER is contemplating the purchase of Daimler AG and BMW AG’s ride-hailing joint venture, Free Now, per a Bloomberg report.

Free Now is part of Daimler and BMW’s mobility-business joint venture called Your Now. Previously, Free Now operated as MyTaxi and integrated ride-hailing apps, including France’s Kapten, Greece’s Beat and Romania’s Clever Taxi.

Uber is said to have expressed interest in the Free Now acquisition after the joint venture failed to get additional investors due to coronavirus-led woes. If a deal works out between the parties, it would help Uber expand its market share in Europe and Latin America.

However, given the challenging market scenario caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a deal might not materialize since the parties might struggle to agree on a price, a person familiar with the matter said. Other bidders could also emerge and negate chances of an agreement with Uber, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Meanwhile, Uber’s long-standing London license case recently came to an end with the company being granted an 18-month license extension to continue operations in London.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Uber carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the Internet - Services space are Autohome Inc ATHM, Dropbox Inc DBX and Crexendo Inc CXDO, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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