Didi Shows China’s Tech Giants Must First Answer to Beijing

China’s regulator pulls app days after blockbuster IPO
Beijing has grown increasingly concerned over data gathering

WATCH: China expanded its latest crackdown on the technology industry beyond Didi to include two other companies that recently listed in New York.(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Sofia Horta e Costa and Kari Soo Lindberg

July 5, 2021 at 8:00 PM UTC

Updated on

July 6, 2021 at 8:06 AM UTC

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To the world’s investors, the saga over Didi Global Inc. has made China’s biggest tech firms a riskier bet as President Xi Jinping seeks to control one of the country’s most valuable resources: Big data.

Didi is by most measures an appealing success story. The firm controls almost the entire ride-hailing market in China, and counts SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. as major shareholders. Didi was actually profitable in the first quarter, a rarity for the industry. Its initial public offering last week was the second-biggest in the U.S. by a company based in China, and it was well received. Didi sold 317 million shares -- about 10% more than originally planned.