Didi shares tumble as Chinese regulators launch data investigation

[Hamartia Antidote]

Didi shares tumble as Chinese regulators launch data investigation

Cyber security agency orders ride-hailing app to stop registering users two days after New York IPO

www.ft.com

China’s cyber security regulators have launched an investigation into Didi, sending the ride-hailing group’s shares sharply lower on its third morning of trading in New York.

The Cyberspace Administration of China made the sudden announcement on Friday evening, Beijing time, two days after Didi raised at least $4bn in the year’s biggest initial public offering.

Despite the record fundraising, Didi kept the occasion low-key, without celebrating on its domestic Weibo social media channel, organising a press conference, or taking part in a bell-ringing ceremony in New York.

The CAC said the investigation was in order to “safeguard national data security and protect national security”, and that Didi must stop registering new users for the duration of the probe in order to “comply with the cyber security investigation work and prevent risks from spreading”.

Didi told the Financial Times that it would “actively comply” with the investigation and “completely inspect our cyber security risks under the guidance and supervision” of the authorities. Its shares opened 11 per cent lower on Friday in New York before stabilising to end down 5.3 per cent on the session, at $15.52. The stock was priced at $14 in its IPO. “This is a signal for big tech companies, warning them of the importance of data security and personal data protection,” said Wang Congwei, a partner at Beijing Jingshi law firm.

China’s cyber security reviews are new measures launched last year in order to protect what it sees as “critical information infrastructure”, a broad category that includes transport providers and large-scale database systems. One of its aims is to prevent data leaks of critical information.

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found here.
https://www.ft.com/content/0d1d96e7-6b56-4c92-b6f1-b0f93d8b5e72

According to Chinese regulations, an ordinary investigation can last up to 30 business days, with extensions of 15 additional business days for complex cases. Didi has more than 377m users and 13m drivers annually active in China, meaning it stores a significant amount of user data that could lead it to be considered a critical information infrastructure by Chinese regulators.

The platform not only gathers data on trips and user locations but, following a passenger safety scandal in 2018, also records audio during every ride. The company has not yet faced a major publicly known data leak.

Following passenger murders in 2018, Didi was reprimanded by police and traffic regulators for not sharing more data, a debacle that underlines the tensions within China’s government departments between demands for more data-sharing and calls for higher data security.

Along with other ride-hailing peers, Didi was called in by market regulators in May and told to address high costs for drivers and arbitrary price changes.

 

[Menthol]

It's good news actually.

We all know that Didi is not going to bankrupt anytime soon.

Just wait a moment, until everything fine, then buy the shares!

It will be skyrocketed to the moon!!!


Just like crypto! Lol

 

[Song Hong]

Didi deserves to get sht. Didi director Adrian Perica, is ex West Point and current CIA. GoC has delivered lots of sensitive geographical data to Didi. And there are many guessing that Didi is selling China intelligence to USA -- despite lots of warning.

 

[huckyang]

Good Job CN.

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

hope the guy in my dp get some jail time

 

[Song Hong]

The President of Didi Jean Liu works 12 years in vampire squid and financial terror unit of USA -- Goldman Sachs. She rose to director.

We can be sure she must be a race traitor.

Her father is famous race traitor Liu Chuan Zhi, CEO of Lenovo.

 

[kankan326]

Didi deserves to get sht. Didi director Adrian Perica, is ex West Point and current CIA. GoC has delivered lots of sensitive geographical data to Didi. And there are many guessing that Didi is selling China intelligence to USA -- despite lots of warning.

View attachment 759599
View attachment 759600

That's exactly the crime US government accused Huawei and other Chinese companies.

 

[Song Hong]

Another cardinal crime of Didi is that she insisted to go ahead listing in USA, despite repeated GoC bidding to stop. To the Chinese government this is yet another attempt of elites cashing out, and fleeing.

Also Didi holds too many sensitive data, geography or personal commute.

The listing will allow USACIA to control China secret, as now USA will have a lot of stake in Didi.

Didi really think she is bigger than God.

She got to be punished.

 

[kankan326]

US committed genocide to aboriginal people. It charged China Ughur genocide. US used slaves in cotton plant. It accused China using ughur slaves in cotton industy. US spies other countries while it claimed Chinese Huawei unsafe. US uses American companies to steal information from other countries. It accused Chinese companies stealing data.

Chinese and Anglo are not same kind of human beings.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The President of Didi Jean Liu works 12 years in vampire squid and financial terror unit of USA -- Goldman Sachs. She rose to director.

We can be sure she must be a race traitor.

Her father is famous race traitor Liu Chuan Zhi, CEO of Lenovo.

View attachment 759737


View attachment 759738

Well now we know why this happened. Somebody was about to ruin a nice operation so they were told to leave.

Confirmed: Didi buys Uber China in a bid for profit, will keep Uber brand | TechCrunch

China's Didi Chuxing has confirmed that it has agreed to buy Uber China in a deal that had been heavily speculated earlier today.

techcrunch.com

 

[letsrock]

This sucks. I bought didi - i think i wont touch china share for a while. Beijing is also responsible for this muck. Playing with small retail investors money like this.

 

[Paul2]

Another cardinal crime of Didi is that she insisted to go ahead listing in USA, despite repeated GoC bidding to stop. To the Chinese government this is yet another attempt of elites cashing out, and fleeing.

Also Didi holds too many sensitive data, geography or personal commute.

The listing will allow USACIA to control China secret, as now USA will have a lot of stake in Didi.

Didi really think she is bigger than God.

She got to be punished.

View attachment 759754

Lol, the cash out is complete. What can they do now?

 

[Skull and Bones]

Let the dust settle, one can scalp at an attractive valuation.

 

[huckyang]

CN is learning very fast from US regarding security. Hahaha..... Apple, Intel could be next finger crossed. Tit for a tat is arriving.....US should raise tariff further see who is more resilient.......

 

[mike2000 is back]

Another cardinal crime of Didi is that she insisted to go ahead listing in USA, despite repeated GoC bidding to stop. To the Chinese government this is yet another attempt of elites cashing out, and fleeing.

Also Didi holds too many sensitive data, geography or personal commute.

The listing will allow USACIA to control China secret, as now USA will have a lot of stake in Didi.

Didi really think she is bigger than God.

She got to be punished.

View attachment 759754

Rubbish. So for DIDI to choose listing in the US is a crime and traitorous action? lool
Ever asked yourself why most Chinese tech companies always choose to list outside of the mainland? You think it's because they are all unpatriotic and hate their country? lol
Dude you should first ask yourself this question. You financial/stock market is closed and still besieged by backward over regulations which discourges your most innovative/brightest tech companies from listing in China and move to the US or Hong Kong at least since they are more open/flexible and up to date with their rules/regulations/laws to attract companies.

Moreover, If you want to publicly list your company in China you need to submit an application to the Securities Regulatory Commission(CSRC), which then (if approved/lol) puts you on a long waiting list with several hundred other applicant companies. From what i red this process can take up to 3 years or even more at times. only a crazy company will want to take such an approach waiting for so long when they have an easier more viable choice in New York and Hong Kong. Also, the whole process is, like almost anything in China, highly political and often dependent on one’s personal relationships.
secondly, China’s stock exchanges are very focused on mature, profitable businesses. When it comes to funding, however, this is somewhat of a paradox, since if you operate a profitable business with a sound operating model you are from an operating stance most likely less dependent on additional funding compared to a company that is running at a loss or which doesn't have huge capital reserves at its disposal at that point in time. Therefore, the companies that have the highest interest in raising money on the public capital markets(your unicorns/vibrant private startups/companies) are de facto locked out.
There is also the fact that your stock exchanges doesn't have “dual-class shares”. This basically means that a company can issue ordinary shares with single or no voting rights. In practice, this allowed for example your Alibaba Jack Ma(which funny enough has now fallen out of favour with your government as well. lol) and his co-founders to stay in control of the company while holding only a minority of Alibaba’s shares. This wouldn't have been possible if they had listed in your stock exchange. Hong Kong recently in 2018 adopted dual class shares model as well, in other to attract even more tech companies on their stock exchanges(which has worked fabulously for them as many tech companies have been listing there even more than in the past). These are just a few of many reasons your tech companies don't list on the mainland and won't be doing so for a long time to come.

In short, as long as many of your country's financial system isn't changed or reform, then your tech companies will keep going abroad to the West to raise funds/list. Instead of tagging them with the ''race traitors label'' , how about you ask yourself why almost all of them don't list on the mainland? lol . You guys tend to be too emotional, which prevents you from seeing things from a rational perspective.

NB: Private companies/investors/shareholders etc will always make decisions that favours the growth/well being/profitability of their company and from which they can get the best return on investment. THAT IS THE PRIORITY OF EVERY PRIVATE COMPANY ON EARTH Irrespective of nationality(China is no exception to this rule unlike many of you will want to believe). So as long as you understand this, you will have a better time dealing with them and enacting laws to encourage and make them thrive in your country. This talk of patriotism and bla bla bla is secondary. No private company will want to enact rules/take action which they know will be detrimental for their growth/profitability/well being just for patriotic reason. lol Else there will be no US/British/German/Japanese/Korean/Taiwanese businesses/investments in China, and no Chinese company will choose to always go abroad to list and raise capital from western countries. The more people understand this, the better.