mandag 12. juli 2021

Why China is making things hard for its tech firms

Scuttled listings and share prices hammered by official threats: Beijing has launched a withering and very public assault on some of China’s biggest tech names. The travails of ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing last week carried a cautionary tale for digital big hitters: what goes up, can come down … and fast. Days after a New York IPO that raised $4.4 billion, Didi’s app was banned from stores in its vast Chinese market over data collection issues, prompting shares to tank and attracting lawsuits from furious investors.

Similar cybersecurity investigations were announced on platforms of two more US-listed Chinese firms a day later. Motivated by monopoly and data fears or national pride and the control reflexes of the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party, Beijing is wounding its own firms.