It is reported that by the time the shares of Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi are listed in the United States, the company's co-founder Cheng Wei will soar in the rich list.
The company last week filed (IPO) documents for its initial public offering under the company name of Xiaogu Kuaizhi and revealed that the Chinese entrepreneur had a 7 per cent stake. Didi is said to have been trading on the secondary market in recent months at a valuation of about $95 billion, which could be worth as much as $6.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Liu Qing, the company's co-founder and president of Didi, has a 1.7 per cent stake, which could be worth $1.6 billion. In total, eight other executives own about 1.8 per cent of the company, worth about $1.7 billion.
This is the latest example of rich ride-hailing services in Asia, Softbank Corp. of Masayoshi son.A number of such companies backed by the group are preparing to go public. Singapore's Grab Holdings Inc. is preparing to merge with (SPAC), a special-purpose acquisition company, while Indonesia's GoTo Group is seeking a listing by the end of the year.
"car travel is one of the most important growth industries in Asia," said Gary Dugan, chief executive of Global CIO Office. The size of Didi's IPO "shows how much economic value it can continue to create".
A representative of Didi did not respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg News has reported that the startup has more than 493 million annual active users, mainly in China; it previously raised money at a valuation of $62 billion and is considering seeking a valuation of as much as $70 billion to $100 billion in IPO.