Didi, the Chinese ride hailing behemoth that has undergone a year of regulatory overhaul, faces a fine of over 8 billion yuan ($1.28 billion) from the country’s authorities, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Along with the fine, the regulators will also allow Didi to restore its app to domestic app stores and proceed with its plan to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to the reports.
If the move materializes, it could wrap up a year of turbulence at SoftBank-backed Didi, once celebrated in China as the ride share darling.
The fine is no small number, accounting for about 4.7% of Didi’s 174 billion yuan in revenues last year, but it can be read as a win-win in which the authorities show who’s in power and Didi gets to gradually head back to business as usual, albeit under much more oversi …
