Didi Moves to Leave U.S. Stock Market Just Months After Huge Offering

Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-sharing company that was once considered the world's most successful start-up, said Friday that it would delist from the New York Stock Exchange and prepare for a public offering in Hong Kong.

The move will be felt in Washington and on Wall Street. Didi sold shares to global investors in an initial public offering that valued the company at $69 billion. After just six months, the company abruptly turned around, angering investors who bid up the price of the company this summer.

Didi said in a statement in China that its board had authorized the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. The securities that are traded in the US will be converted into shares on another stock exchange.

Didi said that the company would organize a shareholders meeting to vote on the matter.

The shift comes as officials in the United States and China alike take an increasingly skeptical view of the access that Chinese companies have long enjoyed to Wall Street and its money.

Beijing's top leaders are trying to control Didi and the private technology sector. Some analysts have applauded the need for regulatory measures to control consumer data and end anticompetitive practices, but others worry that the moves may damage the competitiveness of the country's dynamic private technology giants.

Chinese officials have rushed to assure investors that the private industry is important, but China's efforts to tame its internet giants has already worried investors that a push for social control will only extend deeper into the economy.

The line between private and state control has already been blurred under the leadership of China's top leader, as new emphasis has been given to the development of Chinese Communist Party committees within private firms. Beijing has recently set new limits on video-game time for children and has also set limits on online celebrity fans.

An antitrust campaign aimed at the technology industry has left untouched state-run monopolies that dominate key sectors like energy, telecommunications and banking.

In China, Didi Chuxing has been celebrated as a tech champion because of its 377 million active users a year. In 2016 it bought the Chinese operations of its American rival. As Chinese officials called for building a more innovative economy, executives made promises to use their banks of data to unsnarl traffic and develop driverless car technologies.

The delisting is likely to increase investor concerns about Chinese officials' growing hostility towards domestic companies that list shares on overseas exchanges. Regulators stopped an I.P.O. of the company that was a sister company of the internet giants.

Despite a history of regulatory concerns, Ant went ahead with a share listing. Firms that may have looked at the United States as a way to easily raise money are now likely to look at China's capital markets.

The company's new Wall Street shareholders were shocked by Beijing's sudden curb on Didi. In China, a listing on Wall Street is seen as an ultimate validation of a company's business achievements. Didi's share price has halved in value since its blockbuster initial public offering.

Chinese regulators followed up Didi's megabucks listing with several regulatory slaps. The company was forced to stop new users from being registered two days after the I.P.O. as they began a review of its practices.

After that, officials ordered a halt to downloads of Didi's main consumer-facing application, before broadening the block to 25 more of the company's apps, including its car-pooling app, finance app and its app for corporate customers. Problems with the collection and use of personal data were the reason for the suspension.

Didi was hard pressed to avoid scrutiny before it was listed. At the end of March, regulators in the southern city of Guangzhou ordered it and nine other companies to compete fairly and not use consumers' personal data to charge them higher prices.

Didi was one of three dozen Chinese internet firms ordered to obey antimonopoly rules. In May, transportation regulators told Didi and other platforms to ensure fairness and transparency when it came to pricing and drivers' incomes.