Chinese online travel major Ctrip plans to delist from Nasdaq, sources say

Chinese online travel major Ctrip is in talks with potential investors about funding its delisting from Nasdaq amid escalating US-China tensions and Covid-19, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Photo credit: Fogcat5 (CC 2.0)

With a current market value of US$16.4 billion, Ctrip, which is operated by the Trip.com Group, has reached out to private equity firms and domestic tech companies to join a take-private deal, said sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The development comes as the pandemic has negatively affected Ctrip’s business.

In March, the company announced that it would suspend operations and terminate employment contracts. It also reported a US$754 million net loss and a 42% decrease in net revenue in Q1 2020, compared with the same period last year. It’s expecting to see a 67% to 77% year-on-year decrease in net revenue in Q2 2020.

The discussions, however, are still at an early stage, the sources noted. Ctrip, meanwhile, declined to comment, according to Reuters.

The report comes at a time when US-listed Chinese companies are facing tighter regulations following the Luckin Coffee fiasco.

On Monday, Chinese tech giant Tencent made a preliminary offer to take Sogou, the country’s second-biggest search engine, private. Tencent is the biggest shareholder in Sogou, whose parent company Sohu is listed on Nasdaq.

In May, Reuters reported that Baidu, China’s top search engine, is also considering delisting from Nasdaq and moving to an exchange closer to home to boost its valuation amid rising US-China tensions.