China is preparing to hit ride-hailing giant Didi with a fine of more than $1 billion to wrap up a long-running probe, media reports said, boosting investor hopes that the country’s tech crackdown is winding down.

Didi, once known as China’s answer to Uber, has been one of the highest-profile targets of the widespread clampdown on the sector, which saw years of runaway growth and supersized monopolies before regulators stepped in.

The fine — imposed over Didi’s cybersecurity practices — would amount to more than four percent of its $27.3 billion total revenue last year and pave the way for its new share listing in Hong Kong, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the Journal said that once the fine is announced, the government will ease its restrictions on Didi’s operations.

The firm was prevented from adding new users and its apps were removed from online stores in China by regulators.

The WSJ report triggered a rally in Chinese tech shares in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with investors hopeful that the two-year regulatory storm that swept the sector was nearing its end.

E-commerce giant Alibaba soared four percent, while gaming titan Tencent gained 2.5 percent in early trade.

Didi got into hot water in June last year after it pressed ahead with an IPO in the United States, reportedly against Beijing’s wishes.

Days after it raised $4.4 billion in New York, Chinese authorities launched a cybersecurity probe into the company, sending its shares plunging.

If confirmed, Didi’s fine would be the biggest imposed on a Chinese tech company since Alibaba was told to pay $2.75 billion in April 2021 as punishment for anti-competitive practices.

Didi did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment.

Its shareholders voted to delist the firm from New York in May.

That move is expected to pave the way for a Hong Kong listing that was reportedly put on hold after China’s top internet watchdog told executives their proposals to prevent security and data leaks were insufficient.

China’s regulatory crackdown has eased this year as it grapples with the economic fallout from its zero-Covid strategy, with the country struggling to reach its 5.5 percent growth target.

However, there is still a strict regulatory environment for tech firms: President Xi Jinping last month called for stronger oversight and better security in the financial tech arena.

China has ramped up approvals for new coal power plants this year, Greenpeace said Wednesday, with authorities trying to lower the risk of economically painful electricity shortages.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving global warming, and President Xi Jinping last year vowed to phase down coal use from 2026 as part of an ambitious set of national climate commitments.

But campaigners fear those targets are under threat with the government focused on economic challenges, even as the deadly impact of climate change is felt around the world.

In the first quarter of 2022, Chinese regulators gave the green light to coal plants with a total capacity of 8.63 gigawatts, according to research conducted by Greenpeace.

That is nearly half of the entire coal-fired capacity approved last year, the environmental campaigners said.

“Building more coal-fired power capacity will not provide energy security for China,” said Wu Jinghan, climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace in Beijing.

“China has an overcapacity of coal-fired power plants. Power inadequacies originate from poor integration of generation, grid, load and storage.”

The figure for new coal plant approvals dipped in mid-2021 but rebounded later in the year as China experienced widespread power outages due to a supply crunch.

Electricity consumption has surged this summer as China suffers through an intense heatwave, with air conditioning cranked up at homes and businesses to try and keep people cool.

China relies on coal for around 60 percent of its electricity, and has asked domestic miners to increase capacity by 300 million tons this year.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, in May announced 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) of investment in coal power generation, as coal producers were pressured to ramp up output before the 2025 threshold. 

“An overcapacity of this one energy source is a major hurdle for energy security, as well as China’s energy transition,” Wu warned.

Skyrocketing global commodity prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have renewed China’s focus on energy security.

As the Chinese economy stalls under strict Covid policies and prolonged supply chain disruptions, authorities are looking to boost growth through a massive infrastructure construction push — which relies overwhelmingly on coal power.

China is the world’s biggest coal consumer and producer, and analysts worry that economic targets will derail its pledge to peak carbon emissions by 2030.

The high stakes court battle between Elon Musk and Twitter kicked off on Tuesday, as the social media firm tries to force the entrepreneur to honor their $44 billion buyout deal.

The first hearing was centering on Twitter’s push to set a trial date for as early as September in a case focused on Musk’s move to walk away on allegations the platform misled him about its tally of fake accounts.

Billions of dollars are at stake, but so is the future of the platform that Musk has said should allow any legal speech, an absolutist position that has sparked fears the network could be used to incite violence.

The hearing is being held in the eastern state of Delaware.

“Questions have been raised about Twitter’s future, and they don’t want this to drag on for very long,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor. 

Musk’s legal team has filed papers arguing that date is far too soon for such a complex matter, and instead proposed mid-February.

Twitter lawyers noted the deal is supposed to close toward the end of October, just six months after Musk launched an unsolicited bid that the company’s board first resisted but then supported.

The world’s richest person has backed away from the deal in recent months as tech stocks have tumbled, and Twitter’s value has fallen well below the $54.20 per share he offered.

– Musk willingness to fight –

Rather than Silicon Valley, where Twitter is based, the company has lodged its lawsuit against Musk in Delaware.

The firm is incorporated in the tiny state like scores of other companies, and the case will happen in the Delaware Chancery Court that has deep experience in business disputes.

“The Chancery Court, which handles most of these matters, is very expert in corporate law, and more particularly, mergers and acquisitions. So this is the place to go,” Tobias added.

Kathaleen McCormick, the judge overseeing the case, comes with a no-nonsense reputation.

She also reportedly has the distinction of previously ordering a reluctant buyer into completing a corporate merger.

A forced closing of the Twitter deal is a scenario that some analysts consider possible.

“(Wall) Street and legal experts across the board view Twitter as having a ‘strong iron fist upper hand,’ heading into the Delaware court battle after months of this fiasco and nightmare,” analyst Dan Ives wrote last week.

He also noted that less likely options include Musk paying a $1 billion breakup fee and being able to walk away, or winning outright on his fake-account argument.

After pausing the deal in May, Musk’s lawyers announced in July he was “terminating” the agreement because of skepticism over Twitter’s false or spam accounts tally and allegations the firm was not forthcoming with details.

Tuesday’s hearing will be just the first step in what could be a lengthy legal fight that could end in a trial, but also a settlement.

“Musk has shown his willingness to take things all the way to the end in Delaware court,” said Adam Badawi, a University of California at Berkeley law professor.

“I think settling is not necessarily his instinct.”