Didi fell 5% in morning trading as Tencent says hasn’t bought more DiDi shares since its U.S. IPO.Tencent Holdings Ltd. said it hasn’t bought shares in Didi Global Inc. since it went public, after a U.S. regulatory filing showing an increased stake sent shares of the Chinese ride-hailing company soaring almost 9%.
Tencent said in a filing Thursday it had added about 1.8 million Didi Class A ordinary shares to its last-known holdings. The social media giant subscribed to the additional stock during Didi’s initial public offering, which was not previously disclosed, a Tencent spokeswoman said Friday in an email. Tencent, which operates the WeChat messaging platform, had not acquired more stock in Didi since its debut, the spokesperson added.
Tencent’s ownership of Didi’s Class A shares stood at 7.4% as of Dec. 31, up from the 6.4% that had been disclosed ahead of its June initial public offering.