Didi Global’s Revenue Jumps Ahead of Planned Hong Kong IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Didi Global Inc.’s fourth-quarter revenue rose 55% from a year earlier, sustaining the Chinese ride-hailing leader’s gradual recovery ahead of a planned listing in Hong Kong this year.

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The company’s revenue increased to 49.4 billion yuan ($6.83 billion) in the fourth quarter, while for the full year it climbed 37% to 192.4 billion yuan, according to a statement on Saturday.

The results suggest Didi is progressing in its endeavor to reclaim market share lost since 2021, when regulators launched a probe into its data handling and forced it to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. This setback hindered the company’s business expansion and created opportunities for competitors like Meituan to gain ground in its domain.

“We are fully confident in our future progress,” Cheng Wei, Didi co-founder and chief executive officer, said in the statement, “In 2024, we will continue to focus on our core businesses, promote the healthy development of our domestic and international businesses, foster technological, product and service innovations, and serve our consumers, drivers, and ecosystem partners better.”

The company, China’s answer to Uber Technologies Inc., is planning a public listing in Hong Kong this year, Bloomberg reported last year, citing people familiar with the matter. The latest increase in revenue adds to growing signs that Didi’s business is recovering since it restored its main apps to mobile stores in 2023.

Didi said that as of Feb. 29 it had repurchased an aggregate of approximately 14.9 million ADSs for approximately $54.4 million under its $1 billion share-buyback program, which was authorized by the board last year.

(Updates with CEO’s comment and further details from fourth paragraph.)

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