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Mr Shangkong
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Mr. Shangkong
George Chen

China tech firms that delisted from Wall Street are now stuck

If former Wall Street-listed tech firms can't relist in Mainland China, will they be welcome in Hong Kong?

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Renren chairman and CEO Joseph Chen on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, May 4, 2011. Photo: Reuters
George Chen is managing director and co-chair of digital practice at The Asia Group, a business and policy consulting firm.

Still remember the news? Just a few weeks ago, more than 20 Chinese internet firms listed in the United States were leaving Wall Street via delistings as many of them were dreaming about relisting in China for higher valuations.

Those who decided to delist must regret deeply now as few of them could have predicted a stock market crash - one of the worst in years - in China in recent weeks.

On Saturday, Beijing decided to suspend new listings until the market stabilised. This suspension decision – directly coming from the State Council led by Premier Li Keqiang – could  mean those internet firms that delisted from Wall Street are  stuck.

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Blame whom? Blame yourself and your greed.

In a recent Mr. Shangkong column, I explained why we were suddenly seeing a bunch of Chinese internet firms deciding to leave Wall Street. Chinese regulators welcomed them back partly because Beijing wants those technology and internet leaders to set good examples to promote Premier Li's new "Internet Plus" strategy to transform the structure of the Chinese economy, which is in its worst shape in over a decade.
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On the other hand, many internet business leaders can't help thinking about relisting in China, especially on the Nasdaq-style, technology sector-focused ChiNext market in Shenzhen. Its benchmark index gained over 130 per cent from the beginning of the year to early June before crashing.

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