Well, news! You just read - for a little more than three months, three significant events at once:

1. In early May, the services "Lucky", "RuTaxi" and "Saturn" / Red-Taxi merged, creating (at that time) the largest taxi aggregator in Russia (RuTaxi and Fasten companies). In the light of today's events, it is obvious that the guys decided not to work together because of a good life. Most likely, it was already known then that Yandex-Taxi and UBER were negotiating.
2. Most recently, the head of UBER left his post. Travis Kalanick turned a small startup into big business, which costs more than Rosneft, without having a single taxi car.
3. Today it became known about merging UBER(Uber) and Yandex taxi. The idea is that companies will retain their brands, but in a number of countries they will unite their technical platforms (Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan).

Now let's try to dig deeper and understand what happened in the market. In a word, this is called CONSOLIDATION. There are fewer small independent players - even in Izhevsk, the local Saturn (which is either 373, or 930-373, or is part of the Saturn group, or simply worked under its name) was sold to a person who entered the city gett. By the way, Yandex-taxi entered Izhevsk on its own (on the second attempt) and began working with several taxi companies. I talked about these events (and how I screwed up with my forecast regarding Y-T in Izhevsk) here:

Now there are even fewer independent players: Maxim, united by RuTaxi/Saturn, Gett and Yandex/Uber. Theoretically, there are still such small aggregators as Taxi-OnLine, but now it is difficult to assess their prospects. As I said in the last issue of the book “Taxi as a Business”, the lot of small aggregators is towns, villages and tiny settlements where “taxi” civilization has not yet reached.

On the one hand, the association of large players allows to invest solid funds in business development. With every news about the merger, it is especially noted that the merged companies agreed to invest 100-200-250 million dollars (for a second - 15 billion rubles) in business development. And all this money will go to: programmers, marketers / owners advertising media and drivers (subsidies). So our brother should rejoice: as long as taxi giants will face each other, drivers will receive subsidies for trips. Thank you, Mr. Travis, for putting this vicious practice into practice!

On the other hand, for the client, the consolidation of services is rather a minus - the fewer players, the lower the competition. And the higher the prices. It's no secret that the situation with prices in recent years is simply awful. If it weren’t for the increasing coefficients for a number of services, then drivers would ride customers almost at cost (rent, refueling, depreciation). One picture will replace thousands of words:

Gasoline has grown, car prices have generally gone into space - remember, for a few more years, when the Hyundai Solaris entered the market, there was an advertisement about the basic configuration for 299,999 rubles. And now start from 700 and above! At the same time, the price of a trip over the years has inevitably fallen, especially in Moscow: in 2013, it was possible to leave any metro within a couple of kilometers with a bombilla on the old “top ten” for 300 rubles. Now the client calls a new, glued Kia Sid with checkers and permits, rides with air conditioning and pays 170 rubles! It seems that with a decrease in the number of independent players, taxi prices will still rise. Who will benefit from this? Of course, our brother: driver and landlord! The first will have increased income, the second will have fewer problems with obtaining a lease and renting a car.

So, for our market with you, such an association is very good. Now a few words about the market itself - who makes how many orders per day:

Yandex Taxi - 500 000

UBER - 150,000 - 170,000

Gett - 150,000 We all know that time is money, so if you need a squeeze useful information on the topic, and read the entire site once I recommend purchasing a book « » .
The book contains and systematizes all the information on how to make money by renting a car for a taxi, taxiing yourself or creating a control room. Only experience and practice, no water.

Yandex and Uber are merging online taxi ordering businesses.

Two major players in the taxi services market, Yandex and Uber, have signed an agreement to merge online ride booking businesses in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan as part of a new company. This was reported to Gazeta.Ru in the press services of both services. The transaction has already been approved by the boards of directors of Uber and Yandex and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017 after approvals from regulatory government agencies. The participants in the transaction provide a total of more than 35 million trips per month.

The combined company is valued at $3.725 billion — Uber and Yandex will invest $225 million and $100 million, respectively, in it.

Taking into account these investments and possible adjustments, at the time of closing the transaction, 59.3% of the company will be owned by Yandex, 36.6% by Uber, and 4.1% by employees. Will lead the company CEO Yandex.Taxi Tigran Khudaverdyan.

"The new company will leverage Yandex's technology and expertise in mapping, navigation and search services and Uber's experience as the world's leading online ride-sharing service," Uber said in a press release. “This will create an even more dynamic and sustainable business that meets all the needs of users and drivers, and also helps to develop the transport infrastructure of cities and regions.”

As the representatives of the services assure, after the transaction is closed, both applications for ordering trips - both Yandex.Taxi and Uber - will still be available to users.

That is, there will be two separate applications for services on mobile devices. “At the same time, taxi companies and drivers will switch to a single technological platform, which will increase the number of cars available for order fulfillment, reduce the time for their delivery, reduce idle mileage, and increase the reliability and availability of the service as a whole,” Uber noted.

As stated by Gazeta.Ru in the press service of Uber, the planned deal does not mean the purchase of the company by Yandex. “This is exactly the association, we will have three seats on the board of directors out of seven, we will be able to take part in making strategic decisions,” the company emphasized.

At the same time, Uber declined to comment. pricing policy and competition within applications, as well as the question of whether Deptrans Moscow's claims to provide tracking of user trips will be transferred to a new organization.

“We cannot say how prices will differ in apps while the regulatory approval process is underway,” Uber said.

“But the merger will benefit both drivers and users. In addition, many other players remain at the services of the latter on the market, so there is no question of monopolizing the market. But it’s too early to talk about prices.”

In turn, Yandex announced an agreement with Uber on a roaming agreement in all countries where the companies operate. For example, having arrived in London or Bangkok, it will be possible to order Uber from the Yandex.Taxi application, and tourists from Paris will be able to order Yandex.Taxi from the Uber application.

As the Chairman of the Committee of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Development Issues told Gazeta.Ru transport service passenger transportation by cars by car Bogdan Konoshenko, the fact that the terms of the deal included a roaming agreement on the possibility of ordering Uber cars from the Yandex.Taxi application around the world shows that the company was able to build a competitive and efficient technology platform, for which they are ready to pay dearly.

“However, Yandex.Taxi and Uber are not the first and not the largest services to merge. Not so long ago, as a result of the merger of RuTaxi, Taxi Saturn and RedTaxi, Fasten was formed, which significantly exceeds them in terms of the number of trips. So Yandex.Taxi and Uber still occupy about 6-7% of the Russian market, no more. But I must say that Fasten and Maxim will now get a good strong competitor to be reckoned with,” said Konoshenko.

The Gazeta.Ru expert does not expect that there will be drastic changes in the tariff policy for the partners and passengers of the new company, since the “tightening the screws” instantly leads to the transfer of drivers and passengers to competitors.

In turn, State Duma deputy from the LDPR, a member of the Committee on Transport and Construction, Alexander Starovoitov, in an interview with Gazeta.Ru, noted that after the merger financial policy of the new united company should become more reasonable, which, in particular, will positively affect the quality of taxi services.

“The drop in transportation prices that we observed in the market is primarily due to the competition that Yandex and Uber have staged in the fight for customers. Because of this, drivers had to work for 12-15 hours. Uber seriously dumped, which, by the way, in many other countries eventually led to the collapse of the taxi market,” he said.

According to Starovoitov, if after the merger the new company continues to develop along the path of Yandex, in the near future the taxi market will be systematized somewhat.

“Of course, in general, this merger will not solve the taxi problem in Russia, but I am counting on a more adequate policy of companies. There are three components: the passenger, which must receive an inexpensive and high-quality service, the carrier, which must receive profit from its activities, and the state, which must receive taxes and a properly built market. All three elements must be in harmony, which, unfortunately, is not yet," the expert said.

At the same time, the deputy noted that the cost of taxi services as a result of such changes in the market should rise, and the life of other carriers should become more complicated.

“Travel prices will, of course, rise. It won't happen in the very near future, but it will happen anyway. But at the same time, the quality of these services should also improve.

I think that if trips become more expensive by 20 rubles, but at the same time professional drivers work on new cars, passengers will be ready to pay,” Starovoitov said. “After the merger, Yandex and Uber will become a powerful financial machine that will seriously compete with other market participants.”

Against the backdrop of the announced news, Yandex shares jumped 17.5%. Which is quite good, given the losses that the Yandex.Taxi service has suffered lately. So, in the first quarter of this year, the service's revenue for the first quarter amounted to 778 million rubles, but the adjusted loss was 1.25 billion rubles. In 2016, the adjusted loss of the service amounted to about 2.1 billion rubles. Earlier, Uber also reported large-scale losses. According to the Financial Times, the company's adjusted loss for last year amounted to $2.8 billion on revenue of $6.5 billion.

I found out how all this will work and who will benefit from the merger of the two market giants.

What are the conditions for joining?

The parties have already disclosed the financial part of the issue. Uber will invest in new company 225 million dollars and will receive 36.6 percent of the shares, "Yandex" - 100 million dollars for 59.3 percent of the shares. estimated at $3.7 billion, it will operate in six countries and 127 cities, making 35 million trips worth 7.9 billion rubles. Yandex will also develop the UberEATS food delivery business based on Yandex.Maps walking routes.

What was the market like before the merger?

According to Lenta.ru sources, in 2016 Yandex.Taxi drivers made more than 16 million trips per month, more than 500,000 trips per day. Uber, the second in the market, had 4.8 million trips per month, or 160,000 per day, while Gett, which closed the top three, had 4.3 million trips per month, or 143,000 per day.

Photo: Evgeny Pavlenko / Kommersant

In the same year, experts from the analytical center estimated the total volume of the legal taxi market at 441 billion rubles, and illegal taxis at 116 billion rubles. According to them, 338,000 taxi drivers are constantly working in Russia, and the number of issued licenses exceeds 457,000.

There are over 47,000 licenses in Moscow, and over 105,000 in the Moscow region. This is due to the fact that today licenses in the capital are issued only to yellow cars, and in the Moscow region the official color of a taxi is white, that is, the car does not need to be repainted or pasted over with a film.

Most of the cars belong to taxi companies, and Yandex.Taxi, Uber and Gett act as order aggregators, that is, a more advanced analogue of dispatching. For using their system, they charge taxi companies a monthly commission and take 15-20 percent from each trip. Taxi companies themselves earn by renting cars, receiving up to 2 thousand rubles from taxi drivers daily.

The average revenue of a taxi driver in Moscow is 7.3 thousand rubles a day, in St. Petersburg - 6 thousand rubles, in million-plus cities - 3.5 thousand rubles. Most drivers are registered as individual entrepreneurs and are not officially on the staff of taxi companies from which cars are rented.

What changes await drivers

Uber and Yandex.Taxi will unite the databases of drivers, in addition, they will use the maps and algorithms for distributing Yandex orders. In theory, it will become easier for taxi drivers to navigate the city, since the Yandex navigator objectively better service used in the Uber app. The combined base (again in theory) will increase the number of free cars, which will reduce the time of filing and reduce the cost of travel.

However, the taxi drivers themselves are not very happy about this. Said, the driver of Yandex.Taxi, told Lente.ru that the abundance of free cars will increase competition, but reduce the workload of drivers. This means fewer trips. “This is all, of course, very cool, but I pay 1,850 rubles a day for a rented Ford Focus. And also gasoline - the car "eats" 10 liters per 100 kilometers, which is 370-400 rubles. Plus a commission of 800 rubles - formally it is paid by the taxi company, but in fact I am. The average order I have now is 300 rubles, I make 15 such orders. So consider how much I will earn, ”he complains.

Photo: Anton Belitsky / Kommersant

I agree with him and Uber driver Alexei. “You can’t work without a license now, plus soon we will be completely bent over with color, in Moscow all cars must be yellow, and pasting over with a film even on an acquaintance costs 30-40 thousand. Yes, now we will fight for every order, passengers will surely like it. But we will definitely be able to raise less money, and migrants will squeeze us out. They are ready to plow on speeds [amphetamines] for 20 hours, but we are not. Although where you go, you have to, ”he says.

Aleksey also noted that drivers would most likely start working part-time as a private driver. “You step into the night and stand at points where there are a lot of people. It is often possible to negotiate for cash. And in the morning you are already taking orders from Uber. True, for this you have to have your own car, in the taxi fleet they will quickly cut through that you are shaking for days, and will not allow you to constantly go on a flight, ”sums up the taxi driver.

Will passengers like the changes?

In theory, the combination of driver databases and a single navigation from Yandex will increase the speed of car delivery and allow taxi drivers to better navigate cities. “This is very important, because 80 percent of drivers are from the CIS,” explains a Lenta.ru source in one of the taxi services.

On the other hand, the price war between Yandex.Taxi and Uber, which irritated taxi drivers, but users really liked, will end. Both companies constantly dumped and introduced new options: in February they set fixed prices, and in April Yandex.Taxi supported Uber's announced price cuts of 10-50 percent.

Photo: Alexander Koryakov / Kommersant

At the same time, in order to save income, both companies introduced the so-called zones of high demand, where, depending on the time of day and the workload of drivers, the cost of the trip increased. True, this led to the fact that during peak hours, tariffs soared by 200 percent, and in case of bad weather, a 15-minute route cost a conditional 800 rubles.

Nevertheless, the unification of Yandex.Taxi and Uber is unlikely to reduce the cost of travel. On the contrary, the combined company will actually become a monopolist in the market, which means that it will be able not only to dictate pricing policy, but also not to take into account the opinion of taxi drivers, who, due to the increased number of free drivers, will have no choice but to accept the new rules of the game.

This means that passengers will continue to be transported, including taxi drivers who do not know the city, but work for 20 hours and receive a penny for this. Only the price for their services is likely to increase, because now the union of Yandex.Taxi and Uber need not be afraid that their orders will be picked up by drivers of a competing service.

"" and signed an agreement to merge online travel booking businesses in Russia, as well as in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan, according to a Yandex blog. Against the backdrop of the deal, Yandex shares rose more than 12% in NASDAQ preliminary trading. Quotations on the Moscow Exchange grew by more than 14%.

Under the terms of the agreement, Uber and Yandex will invest $225 million and $100 million, respectively, in the new company, valuing it at $3.725 billion. Given these investments and possible adjustments, Yandex will own 59.3% of the company at the close of the transaction, 36, 6% for Uber and 4.1% for employees. The companies expect to close the deal in the fourth quarter of 2017, after regulatory approval. Tigran Khudaverdyan, CEO of Yandex.Taxi, will head the company.

The new company will leverage Yandex's technology and expertise in mapping and navigation services and search engines, and Uber's experience as the world's leading online travel booking service. The companies also entered into a roaming agreement, according to which you can order an Uber taxi from the Yandex application and vice versa.

Khudaverdyan said that both service applications will remain available for ordering trips, and drivers will be combined into a single platform. According to him, this will increase the number of available cars and reduce the waiting time for an order. According to him, the companies want to build a "personal public transport"- an alternative to a private car, buses or metro.

“We will also continue to develop the technology of an unmanned vehicle, the first successes of which were published a few weeks ago. We use the many years of accumulated experience of our engineers, their knowledge in computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning. I hope that soon there will be something to brag about,” noted Khudaverdyan.

"This combination benefits not only both companies, but most importantly - users, drivers and cities - also said Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Koti, head of Uber in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. - This transaction confirms the exceptional growth of Uber in the region and will help in the further formation of sustainable international business".

The combined company will cover 127 cities in six countries and carry out about 35 million trips per month worth 7.9 billion rubles, Yandex calculated. In addition, the UberEATS food delivery service, recently launched in Moscow, will continue to develop in the new company and will use the Yandex.Maps walking routing technology.

Uber came out on Russian market in November 2013 in Moscow, by July 2017 the American service can be used in almost 20 Russian cities. Yandex.Taxi was launched in Moscow in October 2011. Currently Yandex.Taxi operates in more than 100 major cities Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

Uber did a similar merger in China in 2016. The service has merged its Uber China business with its main local competitor, Didi Chuxing. Then the companies merged on the Didi Chuxing platform, which received the Uber China brand, business and company data, and Uber received a stake in the joint venture.

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The united company Yandex and Uber is likely to slightly reduce its spending on discounts in Moscow, but these funds will be redirected to other regions in emerging markets, says a financial analyst at Otkritie Broker Timur Nigmatullin.

Merger of Yandex and Uber

Yandex and Uber have agreed to merge online taxi ordering businesses in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan. The combined company is valued at more than $3.5 billion, which will provide about 35 million trips per month. At the same time, both applications for ordering trips will still be available to users, but all taxi companies and drivers will switch to a single technological platform.

“The taxi market, most likely, will not react to the agreement in any way, that is, the growth rate of the online taxi order market will continue and will remain high. But due to the reduction in direct competition, companies will be able to invest somewhat less in their aggressive expansion into new markets for Yandex and Uber. It turns out that high growth rates will be maintained with less investment.

The deal is, of course, very positive for Yandex, which now accounts for nearly half of its structure. Search no longer dominates other business segments, at least in terms of valuation. But the deal also has risks. Russian company. The combined company will use a roaming mechanism, which, in theory, can either slow down Yandex's expansion into the global market, or even limit such opportunities,” comments FBA "Economy Today" Analyst at Otkritie Broker.

Tariffs at Yandex and Uber

The news about the merger immediately reacted to the shares of Yandex, which updated, showing an increase of more than 17%. In the new company, Yandex will receive a 59.3% stake, while Uber will have a 36.6%. The company will be headed by the CEO of Yandex.Taxi Tigran Khudaverdyan. As for the prices for taxi services, while the process of coordination with regulatory authorities is underway, it is too early to talk about prices, Uber noted, adding that there is no question of monopolizing the market.

“In itself, the online ordering market today is a small share of the legal taxi market - about 10%. Fundamentally, nothing changes in terms of the legal taxi market. But with future changes in expansion strategy, online ordering market share will continue to grow at a faster pace, without companies needing to raise additional funding to cover the costs of a business that remains unprofitable. The level of unprofitability will decline due to reduced competition.

As for tariffs, Yandex and Uber are likely to slightly reduce the intensity of providing discounts in established markets, primarily in the Moscow region. These rebate spending, which has been spread due to competition between them, will be redirected to developing regions. Roughly speaking, in Moscow there will be fewer discounts and fares will rise, but in other regions their number will increase in different categories, and travel will become more affordable,” Timur Nigmatullin sums up.