China's ride-hailing giant Didi reports 19% drop in revenue in 2022, citing Covid

Didi Global, the Chinese ride-hailing company, reported on Saturday a 19% drop in revenue for 2022 compared to last year. This was due to Covid lockdowns across China and regulatory crackdowns.

Didi's first annual report, its first since it delisted last year from the U.S. market, said that its total revenue had fallen to 140.79 billion Yuan ($20.37billion) due to "the effects of Covid-19 outbreaks in the 2nd and 4th quarter of 2022", which affected its China business.

Last year, China implemented Covid restrictions that were severe across the nation. This had severely impacted its economy. In December of last year, it lifted these restrictions.

The report stated that Didi Global's net loss in 2022 was 23.78 billion Yuan, compared to 49.34 billion Yuan in the previous year. This is due to factors like investment gains.

Didi's China mobility business is expected to lose money in 2022. However, it said that this year the company has recovered to growth, citing a rapid rebound in travel in China following the end of Covid restrictions.

Didi's average daily transaction for China Mobility in March was 28.2 millions, up 42% on the same period of last year.

China lifted an 18-month ban against Didi in early this year, after a regulatory crackdown that lasted more than a year on the company for cyberspace security violations. The company was delisted in the U.S. and dozens of apps were removed from major app stores. It also paid the biggest regulatory penalty ever imposed on a Chinese technology firm.

The $1.2 billion fine was included in the net loss of 2022.