China’s Didi Posts Profit Turnaround, Despite App Glitch Payout

China’s largest ride-hailing company, Didi Global, reported a fourth-quarter profit swing on Saturday, as the firm continues its recovery from a period of sustained regulatory scrutiny.

Didi reported net income attributable to shareholders of $113.15 million in the three months ending December 31, compared with a loss of $133.43 million a year ago. Revenues jumped 55.4% to 49.4 billion yuan for the quarter.

In 2021, Didi found itself in the spotlight of China’s cyberspace regulator over its pursuit of a US initial public offering without obtaining approval, prompting an inquiry that prohibited it adding new users and resulted in many of Didi’s apps being removed from major app stores.

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The company was penalised with a $1.2 billion fine in July 2022 over data security violations. The company began recovering from its regulatory challenges in early 2023 when it received permission to relaunch its apps.

Didi’s net profit in Q4 2023 was also affected by a substantial one-time expenditure in November, which was associated with compensating users for a glitch that disrupted its ride-hailing app.

As part of an apology for the malfunction, which that lasted for hours, the company provided millions of customers with coupons valued at 10 yuan ($1.40) each.

Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara

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Sean O’Meara

Sean O’Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.

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