Initial buying in Didi Chuxing stock fizzled at the end of its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. After reaching a high of $18.01 a share from an offer price of $14 per share, the stock closed at just $14.14 - a 1% rise.
The closing price put Didi's market capitalization at around $67.8 billion - slightly lower than Uber Technologies' $75 billion market capitalization after its debut. Uber's current market capitalization is $93.81 billion as of Wednesday's close.
Didi initially wanted to hit a $100 billion valuation for its initial public offering. However, meetings with investors following a lackluster pre-initial public offering roadshow forced the company to set a more conservative goal. Didi later announced it would settle for a valuation of up to $67 billion - or about the same level set during a 2018 fundraising round.
By hitting its more conservative target, Didi's initial public offering still remains one of the biggest offerings by a company from China in New York - albeit significantly below Alibaba Group Holding's $25 billion debut in 2014.
The company was founded by former Alibaba executive, Cheng Wei, and the daughter of Lenovo Group founder Lui Chuanzhi, Jean Liu. Cheng, who owns a 6.5% stake in the company, is its chief executive officer, while Liu, who holds a 1.6% stake, is president.
Didi's largest shareholder, SoftBank Group, holds a 20.2% stake in the company through its Vision Fund. The stake is now priced at around $13.7 billion based on the stock's last closing price.
Uber is the company's second-largest shareholder, with a 12% stake. Uber acquired the shares after it sold its China operations to Didi.
Didi, which was founded in 2012, operates its ride-hailing, ride-sharing, carpooling, bike-sharing and food delivery service in 15 countries. The company said in its prospectus it now has more than 493 million annual active users worldwide.
