Didi Wants Wall Street and Beijing on Its Side

Didi Global Inc. is bringing its dominant ride-hailing position in China to the U.S. stock market. While the Beijing-based company’s 80% share of the sector has made it attractive to Wall Street investors, that dominance has also brought on an investigation by China’s competition authorities. Didi seems to have decided to navigate between those two interests by driving through the electric-vehicle economy.

Despite early excitement over the stateside initial public offering, the company is dealing with lowered expectations. Documents for its $4 billion New York listing show a company with tight margins and slowing growth. Didi now seems content on a market cap of about $67 billion as those regulatory shadows and growing concerns over cash burn temper expectations. Its valuation is barely up from the last funding round in 2019 and far short of the most bullish $100 billion expectations.