Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi said it will delist from the New York Stock Exchange, a stunning reversal for the leading technology group whose hurried overseas listing in June drew a backlash from Beijing.

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       In a one-line announcement on Chinese microblog Weibo on Friday in Asia, the company said it had already started work to withdraw from the American exchange and had begun preparations to re-list in Hong Kong.

       The decision is the clearest sign yet that two decades of Chinese technology companies securing huge valuations in U.S. markets is coming to a close, a sea-change that threatens to ripple through $2 trillion of Chinese company shares traded in the United States.

       China targets ride-hailing giant Didi in data crackdown after U.S. listing

       Over the last year, the Chinese Communist Party has launched a multipronged campaign to rein in its Internet giants with a particular focus on groups it deems responsible for data insecurity, dodgy labor practices and unfair competition.

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       Didi fell in the bull’s eye of the crackdown. Responsible for about 90 percent of China’s ride-hailing market, it owns vast troves of data on Chinese citizens and drew criticism for its driver pay policies.

       Chinese officials have raised concerns that a push by U.S. regulators to strengthen due-diligence for U.S.-listed Chinese firms could require Chinese groups to hand over sensitive information. Beijing’s solution has been to encourage companies to list in mainland Chinese or Hong Kong markets where it retains regulatory control.

       Didi’s announcement is a major concession in the company’s bid to mend its relationship with the country’s cybersecurity regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which launched a probe into suspected “illegal collection and use of users’ personal information” days after Didi rushed through an investor roadshow to sell shares in New York.

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       That surprise investigation was announced days after the company pulled off an initial public offering in New York in which it raised $4.4 billion. Didi was valued at $68 billion by the end of first day trading, the biggest U.S. share sale since Chinese online retail group Alibaba listed in 2014.

       The conclusion of the CAC’s probe has yet to be announced, but the uncertainty over Didi’s business and relationship with regulators saw its share value plummet. In recent weeks it has hovered around $8, occasionally nearing $7, or half the value of its initial public offering.

       Lyric Li in Seoul contributed to this report.

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