SHANGHAI/HONG KONG – Didi Global, a ride-hailing company that operates in China, announced Friday that it would delist the New York Stock Exchange and seek a Hong Kong listing. This was due to Chinese regulators worried about data security.

The Chinese authorities were not pleased with the IPO of $4.4 billion in U.S. dollars that it was pushing through. However, they asked for it to be put on hold until a review of data practices was completed.

China has a strong Cyberspace Administration ()Didi ordered the app store to delete 25 apps it had developed and instructed the company not to register new users. Didi remains under investigation.

Didi stated on Twitter that “Following careful investigation, the company will instantly start delisting at the New York Stock Exchange and begin preparations to list in Hong Kong,” (NASDAQ:).

In a separate English language statement, the board later confirmed that it had approved this move.

It stated that the company would organize a shareholder meeting in order to discuss the matter.

Sources have told Reuters that Chinese regulators pressed Didi’s top executives to devise a plan https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-asks-didi-delist-us-security-fears-bloomberg-news-2021-11-26 to delist from the New York Stock Exchange due to concerns about data security.

“Didi’s plan to delist in the United States and the listing of Hong Kong stocks I believe will have an obvious impact on location decisions for large technology stocks’ future listings,” said Kenny Ng, securities strategist at Everbright Sun Hung Kai in Hong Kong.

“Nevertheless, the event gives the market the impression that industry supervision for technology stocks on the mainland will continue. The decline in stock prices of technology stocks listed today in Hong Kong also reflect this fact.”

Sources have told Reuters that Didi is preparing to relaunch https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-didi-prepares-relaunch-apps-china-anticipates-probe-will-end-soon-2021-11-11 its apps in the country by the end of the year in anticipation that Beijing’s cybersecurity investigation into the company would be wrapped up by then.

Didi plans to leave New York and delist from CAC, but the CAC didn’t immediately reply to my request.

Didi was launched in New York on June 30, 2014 at $1 per American Depositary share. That gave Didi an undiluted valuation of $67.5 Billion. The shares fell 44% from their original price to $37.6 million at Thursday’s closing, which equates it with a value of $37.6 billion.

SoftBank Group Corp, Didi’s investor in Didi fell by more than 22% following the announcement. Grab’s decline in its Nasdaq debut also affected shares in Didi.

Didi reports that SoftBank Vision Fund has 21.5% ownership of Didi. Uber Technologies (NYSE.) Inc holds 12.8% according to a June Didi filing.