Didi shares slump 25% on China crackdown

HONG KONG: Didi shares slumped 25 per cent in US pre-market trade on Tuesday (Jul 6), ahead of its first session since China's cyberspace regulators ordered that the company's app be taken down days after its US$4.4 billion listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

The ride-hailing giant's app was ordered to be removed from mobile app stores in China on Sunday by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) which followed an official investigation into the company's handling of customer data.

The US market was closed on Monday for the Jul 4 holiday.

Didi said on Monday the app's ban would have an adverse impact on its revenue in China despite it remaining available for existing users.

The company told Reuters on Monday it had no prior knowledge of the investigation before the IPO went ahead last week.

In pre-market trading on Tuesday, Didi shares were trading at US$11.59, well below its debut price of US$16.65 on June 30.

Didi shares were sold at US$14 each in the IPO which was the largest listing of a Chinese company in the US since Alibaba raised US$25 billion in 2014.

The company had been valued at up to US$75 billion as of Friday.

CAC said it had ordered app stores to stop offering Didi's app after finding that the company had illegally collected users' personal data.