China app giant Meituan tumbles after CEO’s poetic swipe at officials
Shares of Chinese online giant Meituan plummeted for a second straight day on Tuesday amid a run of bad headlines that included the CEO posting an ancient poem viewed as a veiled criticism of China’s government. Meituan’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed more than five per cent lower on Tuesday – and down around 12 per cent since last week – as investors bet it would become the next big Chinese tech company humbled by government regulators. Beijing has moved aggressively to loosen Big Tech’s hold on the daily finances of consumers and – analysts believe – to curb the sector’s growing influence on society by using anti-monopoly probes. Regulators hit e-commerce titan Alibaba, co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Jack Ma, with a record $2.78 billion fine last month for abusing its market dominance with anti-competitive practices. Two weeks ago regulators said they had also launched a similar probe of Meituan, a consumer lifestyle super-app through which users order consumer goods and book entertainment, health and leisure services. Resulting pressure on Meituan shares turned into a rout after CEO Wang Xing last Thursday posted on social media a classic ancient poem about the...