Beijing asks Didi to delist in New York over data security concerns
Chinese regulators have pressured top executives of ride hailing giant Didi to pull together a plan to delist from the New York Stock Exchange over data security fears, according to reports.
Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) – the body that has cracked down on the likes of Ant Group and Alibaba in the last year – has asked the company’s leaders to remove Didi from its US listing due to concerns over a potential leak of sensitive data, sources told Bloomberg and Reuters.
It has also imposed a deadline for the ride-hailing app to promise it will delist, sources told Reuters.
The request to delist in New York comes as a condition for Didi to be able to relaunch its apps in China, and sits alongside another proposal for full-on privatisation, or a second listing in Hong Kong followed by a delisting in the US, according to the reports.
It comes after the CAC turned Didi’s July New York IPO sour after it ordered app stores to remove all 25 mobile apps that the Chinese giant operates, just day after its market debut.
On the premise of national security and public interest, the regulator also banned Didi from registering new users.