Didi considers going private to calm Chinese authorities – sources

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global is considering going private in order to calm Chinese authorities and compensate for the losses incurred after going public in the United States last month, sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. 

In late June, Didi raised $4.4 billion in a U.S. listing, the biggest listing by a Chinese company since 2014 when Alibaba hit a world record raising $25 billion. 

Days after listing on the New York Stock Exchange, Chinese authorities launched a probe into Didi due to national security concerns and China’s cyberspace regulator ordered a ban on the new downloads of the app for illegally collecting user data. 

Following the news, Didi’s shares fell as much as 30% to $10.90 and the Chinese company lost $22 billion in market cap.

In order to resolve the problems, the company has held negotiations with regulators, bankers and its key investors, according to sources close to the company. 

It has reportedly asked its major underwriters to assess the views of its investors regarding the delisting plan and the price range they would agree with. 

While the plan is still in the negotiation phase, Didi would need to get the approval of its board and major pre-IPO investors to make it happen. 

Following the report, Didi shared a post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform, and denied the delisting rumors, adding that it’s cooperating with the investigation.