Didi Moves Closer to NYSE Delisting

Shareholders in Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Global have voted to delist the company from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the company announced in a Monday (May 23) press release.

The shareholder vote to delist was a move inspired at least in part by a Chinese government review of certain data-handling procedures. A separate announcement stated that the delisting is being pursued “in order to better cooperate with the cybersecurity review and rectification measures” and “the company’s shares will not be listed on any other stock exchange before the delisting is completed.”

Didi has 493 million annual active users.

Read more: China’s Didi May Let Government-Owned Firm Manage Data

The company had announced the delisting was likely after it was caught in a tug-of-war over auditing standards between regulators in the United States and China. U.S. regulators require that certain companies provide auditing work papers before trading on U.S. exchanges. Chinese regulators require that certain companies prevent representatives of foreign entities from seeing certain information deemed sensitive.

In a Sunday (May 22) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Didi wrote that based on current laws and regulations, “the company has concluded that it needs to complete the cybersecurity review and rectification in order to resume normal operations, including applying for the 26 apps to be made available for download on the app stores again and resuming the registration of new users in China, and that if it does not delist from the NYSE, it will not be able to complete the cybersecurity review and rectification, which would have a material adverse impact on the company’s ability to conduct normal operations, restore its businesses and serve the best interests of its shareholders.”

Didi said in the Monday press release that it would file a Form 25 with the SEC on or after June 2, seeking delisting of its American Depositary Shares from the NYSE.