Alibaba, Bilibili, and China Tech Stocks Slide on Livestreaming Crackdown
Chinese technology stocks stumbled Tuesday in Hong Kong amid tighter regulations from Beijing on the country’s livestreaming sector, and on concerns over the planned delisting in the U.S. of DiDi Global .
Shares of video-game streaming Bilibili (ticker: BILI) fell 11.5% in Hong Kong, and its American depositary receipts traded 4.2% lower after the Central Cyberspace Administration of China said Friday it was launching a two-month “special action” to, among other things, cut down on illegal content in the country’s online live broadcasting and short video industries.
Shares of Chinese short video company Kuaishou Technology declined 3.5% in Hong Kong, NetEase (NTES) fell 3.5% and Alibaba (BABA) dropped 4.2%. U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba fell 2.3% in premarket trading Tuesday.
The Chinese government over the past several months has been moving to clamp down on the country’s bourgeoning tech segment.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech index fell nearly 4% on Tuesday after trading began following a long weekend. The larger Hang Seng index fell 2.5%.
U.S.-listed shares of DiDi (ticker: DIDI) rose 0.5% Tuesday after falling more than 18% in the previous session. The Chinese ride-hailing company said it was preparing to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. It plans to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting on May 23 to vote on its delisting.
Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda, said Tuesday that the Hang Seng had a “torrid” day, noting “perhaps also weighed down by China ADR delisting votes.”
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]