“After a thorough study, the company will immediately begin to withdraw from the New York Stock Exchange and begin preparations for its listing in Hong Kong,” the Chinese rideshare company wrote on Friday on its verified account on Weibo, a platform popular Twitter type. in the countryside.
In a separate statement in English, the company said its board of directors authorized the company to file for delisting in New York, while guaranteeing that its shares “will be convertible into freely tradable shares of the company in another. internationally recognized action. exchange. “
The company’s shares are now worth about half of its IPO price of $ 14 per share, a loss of nearly $ 30 billion in market capitalization.
There have also been recent signs that Didi will be leaving New York. Bloomberg reported last week, citing anonymous sources, that the Chinese Cyberspace Administration has asked top leaders in Didi to come up with a plan to get there.
News of Didi’s decision to step down from the list has sent shock waves through Chinese social media. Friday noon was one of the hottest topics on Weibo, with articles about the company attracting more than 120 million views.
The person wrote that she was “sad” about the “misfortune” faced by Didi executives, but angry about their relationship with foreign investors.
“They could stand up straight, but they tended to crawl under the feet of foreign capital,” the person wrote.
The pressure on Chinese companies doing business in the United States is not just coming from Beijing. Washington has also tightened the screws on companies in the world’s second-largest economy. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday finalized rules that would allow it to deregister foreign companies that refuse to open their books to U.S. regulators. China has for years rejected US audits of its companies, citing national security concerns.
Chinese tech companies were shaken by Friday’s Didi news. E-commerce company JD.com plunged more than 5%, while Alibaba lost 3%. Baidu also lost 3%. Online music and games company NetEase, which also operates in New York City, slipped 5.4%.
“This is just another black eye for Chinese tech stocks, which continue to face many regulatory challenges both domestically and internationally,” said Daniel Ives, managing director and senior equity analyst. at Wedbush Securities. “The Street remains very diverse among Chinese tech stocks, and this situation of Didi is another uplifting tale.”
CNN’s Beijing office contributed to this report.
