Out

After DiDi, more Chinese tech giants could ditch the US stock market — or be forced out

Snacks / Monday, December 06, 2021

NYC to Hong Kong ETA… 15 hours and 35 minutes. Financial ties between the US and China are coming undone as political tensions escalate. The latest case study: DiDi, aka the Uber of China, which went public in the US in June in the largest US IPO of a Chinese company since Alibaba. But DiDi's debut caused some #drama: China wanted DiDi to pause its IPO until it could show Chinese data was safe. So Chinese regulators banned DiDi from app stores and started investigating the company. Now...

  • DiDi, delisted: Last week, DiDi said it would immediately start delisting its shares from the NYSE, saying it plans to relist in Hong Kong. Bloomberg earlier reported that Chinese regulators were behind the reversal.
  • DiDi shares have plunged 20% since the announcement. Shares of other Chinese tech giants also dropped, with Alibaba (“the Amazon of China") and Nio ("the Tesla of China") leading the losses.

Taking stock... China has been cracking down on its tech titans this year, levying major fines and imposing strict anti-monopoly laws. DiDi’s delisting marks a dramatic escalation. DiDi's now worth $31B — less than half its value at IPO. And it's not the only one...

  • In May, there were 248 Chinese companies with a combined $2.1T market cap on US exchanges. $1T+ of that value has been erased.
  • Not just DiDi: Since 2019, more than a dozen US-listed Chinese companies have sought alternative listings in Hong Kong.

The Great Delisting could be coming… and not just because of China. Last week, the SEC finalized rules to forcibly delist foreign companies that don't follow auditing requirements. The goal: Avoid situations like Luckin's fake earnings. Meanwhile, Beijing is tightening data-privacy regulations that’ll make it harder for Chinese companies to list on foreign markets. Escalating US-China tensions could mean a wave of Chinese tech companies leaving US markets — which could hurt both American and Chinese investors.

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