Sources: Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing is in early-stage talks about a multibillion-dollar IPO as soon as this year, at a valuation of ~$70-$80B
A multibillion dollar offering for Didi Chuxing could happen as soon as this year — China's Didi Chuxing Technology Co. …
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2018 report of early-stage talks at a $70-$80B valuation turned out to be the opening move of a multi-year listing saga. Didi went on to raise $1.5B in bank debt ahead of a potential US float, briefly weighed Hong Kong over New York, then filed confidentially with the SEC for an IPO pitched as high as $100B.
By the time it actually priced, the air had come out: the NYSE offering targeted $62B-$67B, below even this report's range — and the arc ended with a 2022 delisting, a valuation near $16B after a Chinese regulatory probe, and a planned Hong Kong relisting. The gap between the 2018 number and the outcome is the story.
First-order effects
- Didi's bankers and early backers get a liquidity clock: the $70-$80B figure becomes the anchor against which every subsequent filing, debt raise, and exchange decision gets measured.
Second-order effects
- Listing prep pulls credit markets in before equity markets — the $1.5B bank facility raised ahead of the potential US IPO shows lenders positioning for the float well before it happens.
- Venue selection became a bargaining chip: Didi publicly rethinking NYSE in favor of Hong Kong forced both exchanges to compete for the same deal.
Third-order effects
- The end state — NYSE delisting in 2022, a ~$16B valuation after regulators opened a probe, and a planned 2024 Hong Kong IPO — shows US-listed Chinese consumer-tech companies carrying jurisdictional risk that 2018-era valuations never priced in.
- The slide from $70-$80B in private-market talk to $62B-$67B at pricing set a template for how much valuation compression occurs between IPO rumors and an actual book-build.
The trend: Chinese tech giants' US listing ambitions are giving way to Hong Kong, with home-market regulation rather than investor demand determining where — and at what valuation — they ultimately go public.