Coming just months after the ride-hailing giant's Wall Street debut, the news sends a clear signal to investors as tensions between Washington and Beijing generate uncertainty. "Didi's repatriation to [Hong Kong] is a significantly worrying indicator for the larger US-Sino economic relationship," Brock Silvers, chief investment officer at Kaiyuan Capital in Hong Kong, told me. "Beijing essentially forced Didi's hand."
Shortly after its $4.4 billion initial public offering in the United States in late June, Chinese regulators banned Didi from app stores in China, saying it broke data privacy laws and posed cybersecurity risks. Its share price collapsed. The decision to target Didi was widely seen as punishment for its decision to go public overseas, and the company became a prime example of China's efforts to curb the power of Big Tech firms.
