DiDi Global plans shareholder meeting in May to vote on US delisting

DiDi Global Inc. will hold an extraordinary general meeting on May 23 to vote on delisting its shares from the New York Stock Exchange, a sign the ride-hailing giant is heeding Beijing’s call to address concerns about how its data is handled abroad. 

The company said in statement on Saturday it won’t apply to sell shares on any other stock exchange before finishing the move in the US, adding that it would continue to explore a potential listing on another internationally recognized exchange.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement published on its website the same day that DiDi made the decision to delist based on the market and its own situation.

The Chinese government was angered by DiDi’s US listing in mid-2021, and days later launched a cybersecurity probe into the firm and forced its services off domestic app stores. The agency in Beijing responsible for data security was later said to have asked DiDi’s top executives to devise a plan to delist because of concern sensitive data may leak. 

DiDi announced in December that its board authorized the company to file for a removal and that it would pursue a share sale in Hong Kong. It added that the US stock will be convertible into freely tradable shares on another major stock exchange. 

Bloomberg reported in March that DiDi suspended work on a Hong Kong float slated for around this summer because the Cyberspace Administration of China had told executives their proposals on ways to prevent data leaks had fallen short.

The CSRC statement said the DiDi case wouldn’t affect talks with the US on audits of firms listed in America.

China recently modified a decade-old rule that restricted offshore-listed firms’ practices for sharing financial data, potentially removing a key hurdle for US regulators to gain full access to auditing reports of the majority of the 200-plus Chinese companies trading in New York.