Later banned the company from taking on new customers and ordered mobile stores to remove its apps. Just days after Didi’s (China’s Uber) $4.4-billion initial public offering in the US, Chinese regulators announced they were reviewing the company on “national security grounds”, and started levying various penalties against it. Around $40 billion of its value was wiped out in a fortnight after China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) opened an investigation into its “suspected monopolistic practices” and on the announcement of “new worker protection rules”.Ĭhinese Regulators were far from “done”, yet.
![didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes](https://static01-proxy.hket.com/res/v3/image/content/3005000/3008146/Chin_groupphoto05_1024.jpg)
![didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes](https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2020/2020-12-28/d8030dc5-13f4-463c-9a12-ed90d8c3a8cc.jpeg)
That’s more than 10 Byju’s, India’s biggest startup, which is valued at $16.5 billion.įood delivery app, Meituan suffered a similar rout in April of this year. Tencent had $170 billion shaved off its value. Pony Ma, the Chairman, and CEO of Tencent, who “obediently” bowed down to the Chinese leadership, has lost even more money than the obstreperous Jack Ma in the recent crackdown. Leaders of top tech companies (also including ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok) were summoned before regulators and presumably berated. The government then embarked on an “antitrust” push, fining Tencent (China’s biggest social media company) and Baidu (one of the top Chinese internet companies) - for various past deals. Barely a day goes by without more news on the widening scope of Beijing’s crackdown on private enterprise. Since then, Canceled share sales, Ruined business models, Tech moguls brought to heel, became the new normal. The value of Ma’s business empire collapsed. The government levied a multi-billion dollar antitrust fine against Alibaba, deleted its popular web browser from app stores, and Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, went out of the public eye for weeks. “They need to be assured that what happened to Didi won’t happen to them,” said Protiviti’s Pang.Days before Alibaba’s (which is sometimes compared to Amazon) subsidiary Ant Group was set to raise up to $34 billion in an IPO which would have been the world’s largest public offering, beating the $29.4-billion listing of Saudi Aramco in late 2019, the Chinese government effectively canceled the IPO of Ant Financial.
![didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes](https://scenarieconomici.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/didi-730x444.png)
“Companies now feel vulnerable and exposed to different risks, including potentially damaging investor interests,” says Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance Securities. As of Thursday, Didi had lost roughly $14 billion in value since it listed. The company is now trading at $11.21 per share, 21% below its offer price. “The companies are likely buying time to ensure that they’ve done enough due diligence that is required in this new Data Security Law era,” says Michael Pang, managing director at consulting firm Protiviti.Īnother concern is investor sentiment, given how badly Beijing’s surprise actions have hurt Didi’s stock.
![didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes didi keep ximalaya linkdoc ipotimes](https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/07/keep_to_cancel_ipo-1-1600x832.jpg)
The string of shelved listings may indicate that companies are putting off IPOs until they better understand Beijing’s new regulatory scheme, including the State Council’s Tuesday directive on “illegal securities activities,” which the body has yet to clarify. Soulgate cited “alternative financing options” as the reason for yanking its IPO. Bike-sharing app Hello and dating platform Soulgate both scrapped their Nasdaq listing plans in late June the companies were aiming to raise $100 million and $198 million, respectively. China’s most popular fitness app, Keep, which operates under parent group Beijing Calories Technology, was eyeing a $500 million NYSE listing, but didn’t follow through on the debut that was supposed to take place this week, the FT reports.