Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 8, 2026

Cheng Wei

Cheng Wei is a Chinese businessman. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of DiDi, a Chinese mobile transportation platform with global operations. In 2012, after eight years at Alibaba Group's regional and Alipay's operations, Cheng founded Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co Ltd in Zhongguancun.

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Jul 8, 2026
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Cheng Wei
程维
Cheng in 2017
Born (1983-05-19) 19 May 1983
Shangrao, China
EducationBeijing University of Chemical Technology
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder, chairman and CEO of DiDi
Founder of Beijing Xiaoju Technology Ltd.

Cheng Wei (simplified Chinese: 程维; traditional Chinese: 程維; pinyin: Chéng Wéi; born 19 May 1983) is a Chinese businessman.1 He is the founder, chairman and CEO of DiDi, a Chinese mobile transportation platform with global operations.2 In 2012, after eight years at Alibaba Group's regional and Alipay's operations, Cheng founded Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co Ltd in Zhongguancun.3

Biography

Cheng was born in 1983 in Jiangxi, China.1 He received a bachelor's degree in administration from Beijing University of Chemical Technology.451

After graduation, Cheng served as an assistant to a chairman at a foot massage company. About one year later, Cheng applied to join Alibaba as a sales person for its business-to-business e-commerce service in 2005.1

For six years at Alibaba, Cheng served as a sales manager for the northern region of China. He later moved to China's largest third-party online payment platform, Alipay, where he was soon promoted to the position of regional manager.46

In 2012, Cheng left Alibaba to found Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co and launch Didi Dache—translated to "Beep Beep Call a Taxi"—as the initial incarnation of his ride-hailing service.1

In 2014, Cheng hired Jean Liu (Liu Qing), a former Goldman Sachs Asia managing director, as the COO of the company.6

In February 2015, the company merged with its rival Kuaidi Dache and was renamed Didi Kuaidi (later renamed Didi Chuxing or "DiDi").7

In August 2016, DiDi acquired all assets of the Chinese division of Uber.8

Recognition

Fortune named Cheng to its "40 Under 40" list in 20159 and selected him as one of its "Businessperson of the Year" honorees in 2016.10 The same year, Forbes Asia named him its Businessman of the Year,11 and Wired included him on the Wired 100.12 In 2017, Time placed him on its list of the 20 most influential people in technology.13

References

References

  1. Stone, Brad; Chen, Lulu Yilun (October 6, 2016). "Uber Has Always Looked Unstoppable. Then It Went to China". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  2. 宋丽. "Didi Chuxing receives $600m investment from China Life Insurance - Business - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  3. Beijing, Paul Carsten (2016-08-11). "Didi's Cheng Wei: Chinese patriot who tamed Uber". Reuters. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  4. Kong, Eva Dou in Beijing and Juro Osawa in Hong (2016-08-17). "How Uber Rival's Founder Won Friends and Influenced Beijing". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  5. "Cheng Wei". Executives in technology. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  6. "The Early Wisdom of Didi Founder Cheng Wei". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  7. Wong, Gillian (2015-02-14). "Tencent, Alibaba-Backed Chinese Taxi-Hailing Apps to Merge". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  8. Beijing, Alyssa Abkowitz in; Kong, Rick Carew in Hong (1 August 2016). "Uber Sells China Operations to Didi Chuxing". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  9. "Fortune's 2016 40 Under 40". 2016-09-22. Archived from the original on 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  10. "Cheng Wei". Fortune. 2016-11-10. Archived from the original on 2017-03-04. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  11. Wang, Yue. "Didi's Cheng Wei Is Forbes Asia's 2016 Businessman Of The Year". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  12. "The Wired 100". Wired. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  13. Pullen, Lisa Eadicicco, Alex Fitzpatrick, Matt Peckham, John Patrick. "The 20 Most Influential People in Tech Right Now". Time. Retrieved 2017-10-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)