BEIJING (May 29): China's largest ride-hailing company Didi Global fell to a first-quarter net loss after two consecutive quarters of profit, the company said on Wednesday.

Didi reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of 1.4 billion yuan (RM908.51 million) for the three months to end-March, largely attributing that to a fall in investment income from its stake in Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng.

It sold its electric car development business to Xpeng in August in a deal worth US$744 million (RM3.5 billion) in exchange for a roughly 3.25% stake in the vehicle maker.

Excluding the losses attributed to investment income and other expenses, Didi's adjusted net income for the quarter was 1.4 billion yuan.

Revenue for the three months increased by 14.9% to 49.1 billion yuan from a year earlier.

Didi has begun recovering after drawing the attention of China's cyberspace regulator in 2021 over its pursuit of a US initial public offering without approval, prompting an inquiry that prohibited it from adding users and saw many of its apps removed from major app stores.

The regulator then handed Didi a US$1.2 billion fine in July 2022 over data security violation, before granting the company permission to relaunch its apps early last year.

Co-founder Jean Liu stepped down this month from her roles as president and board director, Reuters reported.

Liu, who over the past decade was heavily involved in financial decisions, has become a "permanent partner" and maintains her current duties, including serving as chief people officer.

Travel demand has shown signs of recovery though economic growth is sluggish amid an ongoing property crisis and weak domestic consumer demand.

Overall ride-hailing orders reached 891 million trips in March, data from the Ministry of Transport showed, an increase of more than 20% from the same month a year earlier.

Didi generates most of its revenue at home but also has a significant presence in Brazil and Mexico where it owns major ride-hailing platforms.

First quarter revenue from international operations rose 43.9% to 2.4 billion yuan from a year earlier.