Home-sharing company Airbnb on Wednesday denied a report in the China Daily newspaper that it was in talks with Chinese home-sharing platform Xiaozhu to work together in markets such as Japan and South Korea.
The newspaper reported that Xiaozhu’s chief executive Chen Chi said in an interview published on Wednesday that a partnership with Airbnb was also likely to cover China but talks were in early stages.
Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas told Reuters in an email, “This story is false and no discussions are taking place.”
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Airbnb, valued at $30 billion in a round of fundraising in 2016, said in March that it would triple its China staff and have a Chinese name, Aibiying.
China Daily quoted Chen as saying, “Different from the car-hailing sector, where Chinese player Didi Chuxing competed fiercely against its U.S. rival Uber, we are more willing to cooperate with each other to grow the industry.”
Xiaozhu, which is often described as the U.S. company’s Chinese clone, has about 150,000 listings and raised $65 million in its latest fundraising drive in November, the China Daily said.