Chinese microblogging site, Weibo, set to invest $142 million in top domestic taxi-hailing apps; Didi Taxi and Kuaidi taxi expects $6 Billion Value

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveals chinese microblogging site, Weibo, investing $142 million into two of the leading taxi-hailing apps based in China. Didi Taxi and Kuaidi Taxi expected to get over $6 Billion in value.

Weibo's actions seem to indicate the company's desire to corner the taxi market in China while simultaneously discouraging U.S.-based companies such as Uber Technologies from even starting anything, according to Reuters.

Weibo's latest move also allows the company to truly enhance its presence within the Chinese marketplace even more. Though Weibo's investments may technically be heading to rival companies, the truth is that the microblogging giant is simply allocating its funds into yet another dominant force.

Both Didi Taxi and Kuaidi Taxi, the two companies Weibo invested in account for more than 95 percent of China's taxi market, according to Tech Crunch. Also of interest is the fact that both Didi and Kuaidi Taxi have agreed to the terms of a merger back in February, though the deal itself is still unofficial.

Once completed, the deal between Didi and Kuaidi Taxi is expected to be valued at upwards of $6 billion, an unsurprising amount given that the two companies also combine to employ 1.35 million drivers working in 360 different cities across China.

Weibo already boasts over 200 million active users per month in China, and the addition of the new taxi-hailing apps to their microblogging site can only work to make their influence over the Chinese Internet scene even more widespread, though it is still unclear how the new apps may be integrated.

Another intriguing aspect of the reported deal between Weibo, Didi Taxi and Kuaidi Taxi is the fact that major companies are also backing the taxi-hailing apps. Tencent backs Didi Taxi, while Alibaba backs Kuaidi Taxi, according to the South China Morning Post.

With so many big name Chinese companies seemingly present in one deal, it's intriguing to see what may ultimately come out of it.