(Bloomberg) — Didi Global Inc. Chairman Jean Liu is stepping down from her roles as president and director of the Chinese ride-hailing giant after nearly a decade in the role, as the company tries to revive growth after a government regulatory crackdown.
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Liu, director and president of the company since December 2014, will become a permanent partner and will continue to report to CEO Will Cheng as chief people officer, according to an internal letter to employees on Sunday. Didi’s administration will no longer have a president and Liu’s responsibilities will not change, he said.
“Through ten years of ups and downs as one of the company’s co-founders, Jean has been my closest companion and partner and will continue to be in the future,” Cheng said in the letter.
Liu said in the memo that he initiated the change to better focus on long-term efforts, including work on talent development, organization building and social responsibility work.
“Please rest assured that I will continue to fight side by side with all of you and be the best version of myself for the next 10 years at Didi,” she wrote.
Liu is one of the few prominent women leaders in China’s technology industry and is the daughter of Lenovo Group Ltd. founder Liu Chuanzhi. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive was one of the driving forces behind Didi’s success, including securing backing from technology giants including Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Uber Technologies Inc. and capital from a number of powerhouses. SoftBank Group Corp. for Blackrock Inc.
The latest move comes as Didi, once celebrated as the national champion who drove Uber out of China, is trying to make a comeback after being targeted by the government in its campaign to control the country’s powerful internet industry. Didi was fined more than 8 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in 2021 and was found to have violated three laws, with these illegal operations threatening national security, the Internet superintendent said. Cheng and Liu were fined 1 million yuan each following the investigation.
The ride-hailing platform looks set to benefit from China’s recent support measures for overseas listings. China this month approved a U.S. listing of self-driving startup Pony.ai, raising the potential for a surge in Chinese technology initial public offerings in New York after a hiatus of more than two years. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said it would support overseas listings of technology companies.
Didi was planning to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange this year after being forced out of New York, Bloomberg News reported. Its shares, now traded only over-the-counter in New York, have risen 21% this year to $4.78, and its market capitalization has recovered to $23 billion, but it is still far short of its IPO price. from 14 dollars in 2021.
The company could also face potential class action lawsuits from IPO investors for hiding compliance issues before listing, a US judge ruled in March.
Didi’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 increased 55% year-on-year, suggesting the company is making progress in its effort to regain market share lost since 2021. Its flagship apps returned to Chinese app stores earlier in the year past, allowing the company to resume growth in the domestic market it still dominates.
(Updates with CEO comment in third paragraph, more details in company letter in fourth paragraph.)
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