by Julie Zhu, Yingzhi Yang and Kane Wu
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s cybersecurity authority on Thursday fined Didi Global 8.026 billion yuan (1.17 billion euros), concluding an investigation that has forced the Chinese ride-hailing giant to delist in New York.
Didi drew the wrath of the Chinese authorities when it continued its IPO in New York, after the Chinese regulators had asked him to suspend the time to carry out a review of the security of its practices in data matter.
The China Cyberspace Administration (CAC) said its investigation revealed that Didi illegally collected millions of pieces of information over a seven-year period from June 2015, and carried out data processing activities that seriously affected the national security.
In an unusual move, she added that Didi’s general manager, Cheng Wei, and its chairman Jean Liu were responsible for the violations and also imposed penalties of 1 million yuan each.
In a statement posted on his Weibo account, Didi said he accepted the CAC’s decision and that he would review his practices and rectify them.
Chinese tech stocks reacted to Didi’s remarks, with the Hang Seng Tech index rising more than 1%.
“The fine should mark the end of Didi’s regulatory troubles,” said Travis Lundy, an analyst at Quiddity Advisors which publishes on the Smartkarma research platform.
In its Thursday statement, the regulator did not say whether it would allow the return of Didi-operated apps, which it had ordered removed from smartphone app stores, or allow new users to register.
Didi previously said he would have to make a request to redeploy his apps. Three sources told Reuters the company had updated the apps to be compliant with the rules once a relaunch is permitted.
Didi did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her apps.
A Didi investor said on condition of anonymity that the fines should wrap up the investigation and the company should therefore get permission to relaunch its apps and resume normal operations.
(Reporting Brenda Goh, Julie Zhu, Yingzhi Yang, Scott Murdoch, Zhang Yan and Kane Wu, writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; French version Valentine Baldassari, editing by Kate Entringer)