Tim Cook Visits China in Hopes Beijing Will Take Another Bite of the Apple

BEIJING— Apple Inc. AAPL 3.71 % Chief Executive Tim Cook said he "caught a cab" in Beijing on Monday morning. The tab for that ride—$1 billion.

Mr. Cook tweeted photographs of himself learning to hail a ride from the president of China's answer to Uber Technologies Inc., Didi Chuxing Technology Co., in which the technology giant on Friday announced a $1 billion investment.

The visit, which also included a meeting with Chinese startups, appeared to be part of a charm offensive aimed at both Chinese regulators and investors wary of Apple's prospects in its second-largest market.

"It's a message to shareholders, saying, 'Look, we believe in the potential of China,'" said Bryan Ma, an analyst for market-research firm IDC.

Apple's stock fell to a two-year low after the company posted its first quarterly decline in revenue in 13 years, with the saturation of China's smartphone market a major factor. The company also has gotten caught up in a crackdown around Internet content, with Chinese regulators shutting its digital book and movie services last month.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn last month told financial news network CNBC that he had sold his stake in Apple because of China's "attitude" toward the company.

Mr. Cook's upbeat tone on Monday reflects a strategy common among Western companies of not speaking publicly about regulatory challenges in China.

Facebook Inc. FB -0.95 % CEO Mark Zuckerberg is perhaps the best example, continuing to give optimistic statements about China while he attempts to get his social-media site unblocked.

In March, Mr. Zuckerberg posted a photo of himself cheerfully jogging at Tiananmen Square on a smog-cloaked Beijing morning.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to say if Mr. Cook will meet with Chinese regulators during this trip. China's technology, Internet and content regulators didn't immediately respond to faxed questions as to whether they planned to meet with Mr. Cook.

Western companies are grappling with recent regulations that require foreign companies to share more information with China's government and restrict some types of business to domestic companies.

In shutting down its book and movie services, Chinese regulators cited a new law that restricts licenses to Chinese companies, people familiar with the matter said last month. Apple is considering its options, which include finding a Chinese partner company, one of the people said.

The company also is facing a slowdown in China sales. Apple's iPhone sales in China fell to 13.1 million units in the first quarter from 16.2 million a year earlier, according to IDC. China accounted for nearly a third of Apple's global iPhone sales decline during the period. Apple doesn't break out revenue by country.

Apple slid from first place to fourth in China's smartphone market in the first quarter, trailing Huawei Technologies Co., Oppo Electronics Corp. and Vivo Electron ics Corp., according to IDC. The fall is in part due to Apple customers holding out for the expected launch of a new iPhone this fall.

Amid the glum news comes Apple's $1 billion investment in Didi, one of its largest to date. The Chinese Internet startup was an unusual investment target for Apple, but it pointed to the company's ambitions in developing autonomous cars, as well as its continued focus on the China market.

On Monday, Mr. Cook praised China's startups and government policies to promote innovation at a meeting with Chinese app developers. Panel speakers included startups such as group-buying platform Meituan-Dianping and news app Toutiao.

"My message to all of you today and to all of the developers who are not here is, we are happy to work with you. We are proud to work with you. We are humble to work with you," said Mr. Cook, according to a video of his remarks on a Chinese media site.

Mr. Cook said China-based app developers have earned more than $7 billion, with more than half of that in the past 12 months.

The visit was Mr. Cook's eighth since he became Ap ple's CEO in 2011. It wasn't clear how long he would be in Beijing this time.

—Yang Jie and Kersten Zhang contributed to this article

Write to Eva Dou at eva.dou@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications: Didi Chuxing is China's answer to Uber Technologies Inc. An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the company as Uber Technology Inc. (May 16, 2016)

Source: Tim Cook Visits China in Hopes Beijing Will Take Another Bite of the Apple