The co-founder of Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi Chuxing has left his position as chairman of the company’s payment operation amid a cybersecurity investigation and delisting on the New York Stock Exchange.
As the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday (Jan. 11), Bob Zhang Bo, who is also the firm’s chief technology officer, was no longer listed as chairman of DiDi Payment — a position he’d held since January 2019 — as of Monday.
This move comes six months after Chinese regulators launched an investigation into the company, and is the latest milestone in a tumultuous year for the company.
Just before its initial public offering (IPO) in June of 2021, regulators accused DiDi of violating laws governing the collection and use of personal information. China also advised DiDi to delay the listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Read more: China Scrutiny Casts Pall Over DiDi IPO
Prior to the listing, early reports estimated the company’s worth at $100 billion. But by the time the IPO arrived in June, that valuation had dropped to around $70 billion, a number which continued to fall as time went on.
See more: Senators Ask SEC To Probe DiDi IPO
In July, Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to see if DiDi had misled investors prior to the IPO. The senators wanted to see how much the company had known about the regulatory investigation prior to the listing.
Read more: New Rideshare Rules Add Pressure to China’s DiDi
As we reported in September, DiDi was banned from registering new users until the government finished looking into the company’s data security.
Regulators had also alleged that DiDi and its competitors engaged in unfair market practices, such hiring unlicensed drivers and making them assume the risk tier trips. More rideshare rules followed in November.
Finally, in December, DiDi announced it was going to delist from the New York exchange and prepare for a listing on Hong Kong’s exchange.
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