Russia's Internet giant Yandex said Thursday that it has agreed with Uber to merge their ride-hailing and food delivery services in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
"Our goal is to create a platform with the convenience and accessibility comparable to both a personal car and public transport," Tigran Khudaverdyan, head of Yandex's taxi division, said in a statement.
The combination of taxis and drivers in a single technological platform will increase the number of cars to fulfill orders, cut delivery time, reduce idle mileage, and raise the availability of the service, he said.
Uber will invest 225 million U.S. dollars while Yandex will contribute 100 million dollars into a joint venture with an estimated valuation of over 3.7 billion dollars, the statement said.
Yandex will hold 59.3 percent stake in the merged company, while Uber will own 36.6 percent. Employees will have the remaining shares.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
Uber, headquartered in San Francisco, operates worldwide car transportation and food delivery mobile apps. Moscow-based Yandex specializes in Internet-related services and runs Russia's biggest search engine.
