As Many As 217 Chinese Companies Could Be Delisted
Matty-Sways
The President wants foreign companies to adhere to the same accounting standards as public U.S. firms and has signed a bill calling for the delisting of those companies who don't. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act takes aim at Chinese companies and drew rare strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress before arriving on Trump's desk (bill could affect 217 Chinese companies). The act says delisting could happen if a company fails to comply with audit inspections three years in a row.
U.S.-listed companies are required to have audit inspections by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (put in place after accounting scandals like Enron in the early 2000s). However Chinese companies listed in the U.S. don't adhere to these inspections and have had major financial scandals as recently as this year (Luckin Coffee). Sixteen Chinese companies have delisted since February 2019.
The biggest companies that could be affected are:
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA)
JD.Com Inc (JD)
Nio Inc (NIO)
Xpeng Inc (XPEV)
Li Auto Inc. (LI)
Carson Block, who has made himself a short-selling star through his investigations into Chinese companies, has called for the delisting of Chinese firms, saying to Bloomberg last month: "This is China and the Chinese stock promotion, manipulation fraud machine laughing in the face of the SEC."