This article only represents the author's own views.
Just six months after zooming onto the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, shares of ride-hailing platform CaoCao Inc. (2643.HK) are hitting some major speed bumps. Earlier this month, CEO Gong Xin confidently unveiled a “100 billion yuan from 100 cities in one decade” roadmap at a robotaxi event, discussing his company’s ambitious plans to create a massive fleet of autonomous taxis. The 10-year vision he described included CaoCao’s establishment of five global operation centers offering service in 100 cities, and generating cumulative gross transaction value (GTV) of 100 billion yuan ($14.2 billion).
But investors were apparently unconvinced by such grand visions. Just days later, CaoCao’s stock suddenly collapsed, plunging for six consecutive days from HK$52.30 to HK$32.80 – a 37% nosedive that wiped out more than HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) in market value.