The Fair Trade Commission yesterday gave the nod to the Taiwan subsidiary of US-based Uber Technologies Inc to acquire Taiwanese taxi company Crown Taxi.
The two companies were previously in a partnership, and the merger would not significantly change their share of the taxi dispatching service market, the commission said in a statement.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Taiwan’s market consists of other competitors, including Taiwan Taxi Co Ltd, Line GO, yoxi and Europe-based Bolt, which launched service in Taiwan last year, it said.
The commission said its assessment found that Uber would not pose significant competition restriction risks in the market, such as unilaterally raising fares, colluding with other companies to fix prices or creating barriers to market entry.
The merger would facilitate business integration and reduce administrative layers, thereby improving operational efficiency, it added.
Uber and Crown Taxi both provide taxi dispatch services, constituting a horizontal merger, the commission said, adding that a vertical merger is also involved, as Uber supplies the dispatching system used by Crown Taxi’s drivers.
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