Chinese taxi app Didi shelves plans for major overseas expansion

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11.05.2022 - 18:51

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theguardian.com:

Chinese taxi app Didi has told staff it has put plans for major international expansions on hold until at least 2025 and cut half its UK employees amid pressure from Beijing on one of its most prominent tech companies.

Didi Chuxing has been on the back foot since last summer when the Cyberspace Administration of China, a powerful regulator, banned the country’s dominant ride-hailing company from listing its app on mobile app stores in the country.

The ban came only days after the company floated on the New York stock exchange, and sent shockwaves around the Chinese tech sector. The move was widely seen by analysts as an attempt by the ruling Communist party to rein in the country’s tech companies after rapid growth in their market value and power.

Didi, which is backed by Japanese investment house Softbank, in December announced that it would delist its share instruments from New York, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the initial public offering, according to the company’s latest annual report. Shares that were worth nearly $80bn (£65bn) when it listed were valued at only $7.6bn on Tuesday evening.

Didi had previously planned to launch in the UK and Europe, with an office in London that would have overseen a direct challenge to other ride-hailing and food delivery companies such as the US’s Uber and Estonia’s Bolt. Uber is also Didi’s second-largest shareholder after pulling out of China in exchange for a 12% stake in its rival.

However, it paused that expansion in August following the Chinese crackdown, and in a February meeting told staff in several markets that it would pause until 2025, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. Didi last month said it would also pull out of South