NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Didi Global, China’s largest ride-hailing company, warned on Sunday (July 4) that the withdrawal of its “DiDi Chuxing” app from Chinese smartphone app stores will have a negative impact on its income in China. After discovering that Didi had illegally acquired users’ personal data, China’s cyberspace authority ordered app retailers to stop distributing the program.
“The Company expects the app shutdown to have a negative impact on its revenue in China,” it stated in a statement.
Didi recorded revenue of 42.2 billion yuan (US$6.52 billion) for the three months ended March 31 in a June filing. The China transportation section contributed 39.2 billion yuan, while foreign business contributed 800 million yuan. Didi holds a commanding position in China’s online ride-hailing market, with 4,000 outlets in 16 countries. Didi stated that it will work to resolve any issues and that consumers’ privacy and data security will be protected.
The business also stated that once the app is removed from app stores, new users in China will no longer be able to download it, however existing users who have installed it previous to the takedown will be allowed to continue to use it.
The takedown comes only days after Didi made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange, raising US$4.4 billion in an IPO.
A top Didi official stated on Saturday that the business retains all China user and road data on Chinese servers and that it is “absolutely not possible” for the company to send data to the US./n
