China ride-hailing giant Didi to start trading on OTC market after NYSE delisting, ending an 11-month fiasco that angered Beijing

On the over-the-counter market, Didi’s trading symbol will change from ‘DIDI’ to ‘DIDIY’ effective at the opening of trading on June 13

Delisting from the New York Stock Exchange is expected to help complete Didi’s rectification process, so that it can resume normal operations

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Didi Chuxing could now be on the cusp of being removed from Chinese regulators’ scrutiny, which would give the company room to rebuild its operations in the world’s largest ride-hailing market. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:00pm, 12 Jun 2022

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global will start trading on the over-the-counter market (OTC) on Monday, more than two weeks after its shareholders voted to delist the company from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) where it raised US$4.4 billion last year in a public listing that angered Beijing.

That move was announced on Friday in the US by Chicago-based Options Clearing Corp, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing house, which said the Chinese firm’s trading symbol will change from “DIDI” to “DIDIY” effective at the opening of business on June 13.

Didi was described on Futu, a popular brokerage service in Hong Kong, as officially delisted on Saturday. It capped an 11-month fiasco that wiped out US$57 billion in Didi’s value, which turned the company into a cautionary tale for investors in Chinese tech stocks.

Beijing-based Didi Chuxing, which conducted its initial public offering on the NYSE under the name Didi Global in June 30 last year, is expected to soon be cleared by Chinese regulators from a cybersecurity review and resume normal operations. That would include reinstating its 26 apps in various Chinese app stores and restarting new user registrations in its home market.

People walk past the headquarters of Chinese ride-hailing services provider Didi Chuxing in Beijing on December 3, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Didi’s shares on the NYSE on Friday closed US$2.29, an 84 per cent drop from the IPO price of US$14 in June last year.

The delisting “may negatively affect the price of and liquidity in [the company’s] securities”, Didi said in its filing in May to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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