Didi is making a comeback. The Chinese ride-hailing group has posted its first profit since Beijing’s crackdowns in 2021. Back then, regulators launched a probe into its data handling and forced a delisting in New York where it briefly had a valuation of more than $80bn. These latest earnings numbers boost the outlook for a Hong Kong listing.
Net income was Rmb107mn ($14.7mn) on revenues that increased by a quarter to Rmb51.4bn in the third quarter, Didi said on Monday. This follows a sales jump of more than 52 per cent in the June quarter.
That was quite a feat. Didi only resumed registration of new users in January after an 18-month ban imposed by Beijing. That gap not only put the brakes on sales growth but allowed rivals such as Meituan to eat into its market share in the hyper-competitive Asian ride-hailing industry.