The senior leadership of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global granted themselves stock options worth $3 billion in the second quarter, before last week’s initial public offering, securities filings show. That move is likely to inflame investor anger over the offering as Wall Street comes to grips with the Chinese government’s weekend directive that Didi remove its app from app stores, curtailing future growth.
Didi shares fell 21% on Tuesday morning as investors reacted to the app takedown order from the Cyberspace Administration of China. The internet regulator said Didi’s app had violated laws regarding the collection and usage of personal information. While Didi had warned in its IPO paperwork of its exposure to Chinese regulations relating to data security, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the government had suggested Didi delay the IPO while it reviewed its data security, but Didi had ignored the suggestion. The company went public last week.