Driving service broker
China’s Uber rival Didi plans to withdraw from the New York Stock Exchange
The driver service broker Didi only went public on the New York Stock Exchange in the summer. Photo: How Hwee Young / EPA / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
After strong pressure from Beijing, the Chinese driver service broker Didi is preparing a move to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Investors have lost a lot of money since going public in the summer.
Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing, who has come under heavy pressure from China’s regulators, has announced steps to withdraw from the New York Stock Exchange.
The company announced on Friday that the board of directors had authorized the company to initiate the necessary proceedings. Votes should be taken at a shareholders’ meeting later. At the same time, a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange will be sought.
Influence of the Chinese authorities
Just a few days after its IPO in the summer, the transport service broker was targeted by Chinese regulators, who reportedly wanted to prevent Didi from going public abroad.
The Beijing cyberspace regulator ordered the deletion of the Didi app from Chinese app stores just days after the listing in New York. In an investigation, “serious violations” were found in the collection and use of personal data by Didi, it said. The share price of the Uber rival, which also operates in 16 other countries such as Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Russia, has halved since it went public in early July.
Chinese companies have been raising capital on the New York Stock Exchange for many years. However, against the background of increasing tensions between the two superpowers, there are more and more reservations about this approach not only in Beijing but also in the United States. While Beijing raised security concerns, US critics warned of a lack of transparency by Chinese companies listed in New York. There were also concerns about unclear links with the Communist Party.
Other Chinese Internet companies in their sights
The regulatory authorities in Beijing recently investigated a number of Chinese Internet companies and announced stricter rules for them.
The tide began to turn last fall when Jack Ma, founder of online retail giant Alibaba, was first targeted by political leaders after criticizing the country’s state bank-dominated financial sector as outdated and backward. The unusually brash attack had the consequence that the IPO of the Alibaba financial subsidiary Ant Group had to be canceled.