Insight - Didi IPO ambition marred by crackdown

Beijing-based ride-hailing giant’s US listing downsized

DIDI Global Inc is on the cusp of pulling off one of the biggest United States initial public offerings (IPOs) of the past decade, the culmination of five years of battling first Chinese regulators and then Covid-19. Now Beijing again threatens to spoil the party.

Didi, the scrappy upstart that defeated Uber Technologies Inc in 2016 before embarking on an ambitious international expansion, aims to raise as much as US$4bil (RM16.6bil) in New York. But like its one-time foe, the car-hailing giant has had to settle on going public at a far lower market value than previously targetted.