> I can’t imagine Uber would ever be allowed to have a fully owned Chinese subsidiary competing in that market You imagine correctly, to my knowledge. Western

> I can’t imagine Uber would ever be allowed to have a fully owned Chinese subsidiary competing in that market You imagine correctly, to my knowledge. Western companies in China have to be 51% Chinese owned, on paper. In reality, they own 100% (plus or minus diplomatic relationship issues), they just haven't asserted this right yet. This is just my opinion: Uber could never have won in China, and Uber's management likely knew this, but the story of China was needed at the time to drive company valuation and allow the "hockey stick" dashed line of future growth to be plausible.