Can I Upgrade My Windows 10 To Windows 11

If your existing Windows 10 PC is running Windows 10 20H1 or later and meets the minimum hardware specificationsit will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. The upgrade rollout plan is still being finalized, but for most devices already in use today, we expect it to be ready sometime in early 2022. Not all Windows 10 PCs that are eligible to upgrade will be offered to upgrade at the same time. To see if your PC is eligible to upgrade, refer to our knowledge base for a list of tested systems. Once the upgrade rollout has started, you can check if it is ready for your device by going to Settings/Windows Updates. Similar to how end users are notified when updates are available in Windows 10, end users will see an indication in the notification areas of the taskbar in the bottom right, that the upgrade is available.

Should I Upgrade My Windows 10 To Windows 11 More information on how that is presented will be available at a later date. Additional desktop notification options may be also be added at a later date. Cunningham concluded that "as I've dug into and learned its ins and outs for this review, I've warmed to it more", but argued that the OS was facing similar "public perception" issues to Windows Vista and Windows 8. If your existing Windows 10 PC is running the most current version of Windows 10 and meets the minimum hardware specifications it will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. Not all Windows 10 PCs that are eligible to upgrade to Windows 11 will be offered to upgrade at the same time. He also acknowledged the expansion of Microsoft Store to include more "traditional" desktop applications.

Original equipment manufacturers can still ship computers without a TPM 2.0 coprocessor upon Microsoft's approval. Some third-party software may refuse to run on unsupported configurations of Windows 11. If you are having a brand new laptop or PC, then your system must be compatible with Windows 11 or even might come with it preinstalled. But issues may arise with the older versions of PCs, as its hardware might not match with the requirements of Windows 11. If your PC has a 7th gen or previous Intel CPU, then it is unsupported by the latest upgrade. Still, you can migrate to Windows 11, but the way is a little more complicated as you will need to download install files, then perform a clean install and then restore the program and data files.

Citing security considerations, the system requirements for Windows 11 were increased over Windows 10. While the OS can be installed on unsupported processors, Microsoft does not guarantee the availability of updates. Windows 11 also drops support for 32-bit x86 CPUs and devices which use BIOS firmware. As before, Microsoft doesn't recommend installing Windows 11 on a device that doesn't meet the system requirements — though you can still do so. One thing to keep in mind is you might not get updates on a PC with an unsupported processor.

When Microsoft first released Windows 11 on October 4th, the company said it expected it would offer the upgrade to all eligible devices by mid-2022. At least 16GB of RAM The basic system requirements of Windows 11 differ significantly from Windows 10. Windows 11 only supports 64-bit systems such as those using an x86-64 or ARM64 processor; IA-32 processors are no longer supported. Thus, Windows 11 is the first ever consumer version of Windows not to support 32-bit processors and 16-bit software . The minimum RAM and storage requirements were also increased; Windows 11 now requires at least 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

S mode is only supported for the Home edition of Windows 11. The compatibility list includes the Intel Core i7-7820HQ, a seventh-generation processor used by the Surface Studio 2, although only on devices that shipped with DCH-based drivers. Our launch approach to Windows 11 leverages the well-established systems and processes used for the 1.3 billion Windows 10 devices we have shipped and serviced for over five years. We will use a measured and phased process in offering Windows 11 as we have done with Windows 10 feature updates. Our objective is to provide you with a smooth upgrade experience.

We will begin to offer the upgrade to eligible new devices first1,2. Then, as with previous rollouts, we will study device health data and other signals to determine the pace at which Windows 11 is offered via Windows Update. All HUAWEI PCs with Windows 10 currently being sold on HUAWEI Consumer BG website will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. For the PC to be able to upgrade to Windows 11, it must meet the minimum hardware specifications and specific hardware is required for some features. The upgrade rollout plan is still being finalized but is scheduled to begin late in 2021 and continue into 2022. All Dell PCs with Windows 10 currently being sold on dell.com will be able to upgrade to Windows 11.

As part of the minimum system requirements, Windows 11 only runs on devices with a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 security coprocessor. According to Microsoft, the TPM 2.0 coprocessor is a "critical building block" for protection against firmware and hardware attacks. In addition, Microsoft now requires devices with Windows 11 to include virtualization-based security , hypervisor-protected code integrity , and Secure Boot built-in and enabled by default.

The operating system also features hardware-enforced stack protection for supported Intel and AMD processors for protection against zero-day exploits. In October 2019, Microsoft announced "Windows 10X", a future edition of Windows 10 designed exclusively for dual-touchscreen devices such as the then-upcoming Surface Neo. Legacy Windows applications would also be required to run in "containers" to ensure performance and power optimization.

Microsoft stated that it planned to release Windows 10X devices by the end of 2020. Internet Explorer has been replaced by the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge as the default web browser, and Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows shell. Microsoft also announced plans to allow more flexibility in software that can be distributed via Microsoft Store, and to support Android apps on Windows 11 . If you're using Windows 10, installing Windows 11 will feel just like installing a Windows 10 feature update. Microsoft has said exactly that, which means the upgrade process should be pretty easy. It's also been confirmed that Windows 11 will be a free update for Windows 10 users, as long as their PC is compatible.

The free upgrade will start rolling out this holiday and it has no set end date yet, so you should be able to upgrade whenever you feel ready. If your existing Windows 10 PC is running Windows 10 20H1 or later and meets the minimum hardware specifications it will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. To see if your PC is eligible to upgrade, refer to our supported computer lists. As I've noted in past blogs, being on the latest version of Windows provides you with the best in creativity, protection and productivity. Windows 11's minimum system requirements enable a new era of experiences, reliability and security. AsPanos Panay shared in June, this is the first version of a new era of Windows.

And, for customers who are using a device that is not eligible for Windows 11, Windows 10 is a great place to be. Windows 10 will be serviced through Oct. 14, 2025and we previously announced that the next feature update to Windows 10 is coming very soon, continuing to offer you both support and choice with Windows. You can refer to our knowledge base for a list of tested systems to determine if your device eligible to upgrade to Windows -11. Many PCs that are less than four years old will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. They must be running 20H1 or later version of Windows 10 and meet the minimum hardware requirements to receive the Windows 11 upgrade.

Windows 11 is a free upgrade, but the minimum system requirements are quite a bit higher than ever before. Microsoft calls Windows 11 the most secure Windows yet, and that tag comes at the cost of backward compatibility. Trusted Platform Module 2.0, aka TPM 2.0, is one of those requirements. There are ways to manually install Windows 11 on incompatible systems, but those include giving up on official future updates via Windows Update and/or modifying the Windows 11 ISO file to remove security checks. One of the most valuable features of Windows 10 is Timeline. It allows users to view and track 30 days of activity on their desktop or laptop from all the devices signed in to their Microsoft account.

The Windows Timeline displays all the apps accessed and organizes them in tiles arranged according to days. It is like a recent apps section for Windows 10 users, which also allows users to jump back to an app. However, Microsoft decided to remove the feature entirely in Windows 11. Another Windows 10 feature that did not make it to the final build of Windows 11 is the Tablet Mode, which helped to use the operating system on touchscreen devices. Devices that do not meet the minimum system requirements will remain on Windows 10 and continue to be supported with security updates. Customers using long term service releases will continue to be supported through the published end of support dates.

For more information about Windows 10 support, see HP products tested with Windows 10. Upgrades to Windows 11 will begin to roll out late in 2021 and continue into 2022. During this time, we will be doing some behind the scenes testing and validating for your specific PC. Windows Update will provide an indication if and when your PC is eligible. Windows 11 SE was announced on November 9, 2021, as an edition exclusively for low-end devices sold in the education market, and a successor to Windows 10 S.

It is bundled with applications such as Microsoft Office for Microsoft 365, Minecraft Education Edition, and Flipgrid, while OneDrive is used to save files by default. Windows 11 SE does not include Microsoft Store; third-party software is provisioned or installed by administrators. On August 31, 2021, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 was to be released on October 5, 2021. The release would be phased, with newer eligible devices to be offered the upgrade first.

Our measured and phased approach to the rollout of Windows 11 means we will offer the upgrade via Windows Update when data shows that your device is ready, as our objective is to provide a good upgrade experience. If we detect that your device may have an issue, such as an application incompatibility, we may put a safeguard hold in place, and not offer the upgrade until that issue is resolved. To learn more about the status of the Windows 11 rollout, safeguard holds, and which holds may be applied to your device, visit Windows release health. Microsoft offers several ways to download Windows 11 manually. One is to use the Installation Assistant app, which you install on your PC to trigger a normal upgrade install via Windows Update. The second is to use the Windows 11 Media Creation Tool, which automates the process of creating a bootable USB install drive or downloading an install ISO file.

Once you have a USB drive, you can either boot from it to perform a clean install or run the Setup app from within Windows 10 to do a normal upgrade install. You can also burn the ISO to a DVD, but installing from any USB drive, even an old USB 2.0 drive, will be much faster, so you shouldn't do that. Finally, you can just download an ISO file directly from Microsoft's site. If you've been patiently waiting to install Windows 11 on your PC, Microsoft has good news. The company announced today it's increasing the pace of the operating system's rollout, and making it more broadly available. Provided your system is running version 2004 or later of Windows 10 and you recently installed the September 14th, 2021 servicing update Microsoft released, you can now upgrade directly to Windows 11.

For long-time Windows users, this update may cause a few annoyances. For example, the taskbar can no longer be resized or moved. The start button resides in the center by default, although you can move it back to the left. Also, the right-click menu hides away some menu options, like some app-specific functions you get with apps like Winrar, or some other Windows options like Troubleshoot compatibility. For new users, Windows 11 will seem like a good option with the new design.

You get rounded corners, a departure from the sharp edges we've seen in Windows for a long time. The Start Menu is now cleaner, featuring pinned apps and a recommended tab that shows you files based on your recent usage. The desktop more or less stays the same, but the right-click menu gets a simplified look, with the most common options like cut, copy, paste, and rename, at the top in a grid.

Windows 11 is officially out, meaning millions of PC owners are free to upgrade today (as long as their computers meet Microsoft's ridiculously strict system requirements). I've been testing a near-final pre-release version of Windows 11 for a while, and I'm here to spread the good news that my computer hasn't blown up once. Windows 11 is so far a completely non-lethal operating system, which is definitely a good sign, but maybe not enough justification to install it. To make the call on whether other PC gamers should actually install Windows 11 today, I've been spending some quality time with its new Start menu and rounded corners.

There is a way to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, but we wouldn't recommend it. Although Microsoft hasn't confirmed it, the company has heavily implied that unsupported users won't receive critical security updates. If you still want to install, you can do so using the Media Creation Tool, which bypasses hardware checks.

Click Next to have Windows 11 check for any updates, then accept the license terms. The Ready to install screen shows that Windows 11 will be installed and that your personal files and apps will be kept. You can then elect to keep personal files and apps, personal files only, or nothing. Microsoft is offering Windows 11 to newer PCs with Windows 10 installed. It will use data to figure out when other PCs will get the upgrade. This is similar to how Microsoft has determined which devices received Windows 10 features updates for the past few years.

And it's different than how Apple handles updates since Microsoft has to work with lots of partners that also sell Windows computers. As always, please continue to tell us about your experience by providing comments or suggestions via Feedback Hub. If you're an IT administrator, we recommend that you begin targeted deployments now as part of your regular Windows Update motion. For a list of the latest resources and tools, see our post on Tools to support Windows 11 deployment.

In addition, to help make Windows 11 deployment easier, there are new capabilities coming in Endpoint analytics to help you assess your organization's readiness for Windows 11 and hybrid work at scale. You can learn more in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager blog. Today, Windows 11 availability begins both for new devices pre-loaded with Windows 11 and eligible Windows 10 devices. Windows continues to be integral to how more than a billion people connect, learn, play and work. Windows 11 brings you closer to what you love, empowering your creativity and productivity while advancing critical elements such as security and reliability.

In this post I'll explain the measured and phased rollout process for Windows 11, and how to get the upgrade when your device is ready. If you're using Windows 7 or 8.1, the situation is a bit more complicated. Microsoft hasn't mentioned Windows 7 or 8.1, but the leaked Windows 11 build contains configuration files meant for users upgrading from these versions of Windows. Windows 10 was a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8.1, so it could be the same here. Of course, you'll have to meet the system requirements, and if you have an old device like that, that's gonna be harder.

Windows 11 has much higher system requirements than Windows 10 did. For starters, you'll need to have a PC with a 64-bit processor. Nowadays, that's true for the vast majority of PCs, but if you have an older 32-bit PC that upgraded to Windows 10, that will be the end of the line. On top of that, your PC will need at least 4GB of RAM to run Windows 11, and 64GB of storage. Again, a lot of modern PCs already meet these requirements easily, but if you have an older device, that may be a problem.

Windows 11 is the next major version of Windows, and technically, it's the first one we've had in six years. That's quite a long time, considering new Windows versions used to arrive every three years or so. The reason this happened though was because Windows 10 was a continuously updating operating system.

Instead of only getting new features every two to three years, Windows 10 received feature updates about twice a year. These would add new features and sometimes make pretty big changes. Sure, it may work, but you may encounter bugs—and Microsoft says it won't guarantee security updates will be available in the future.

Do you really want to find yourself reinstalling Windows 10 in a year when Windows 11 stops offering security updates to your PC? After all, Windows 10 will be officially supported until late 2025. Before we continue, it's worth noting that Windows 10 will be officially supported for years to come. Microsoft will continue supporting Windows 10 with security updates until October 2025, which is four years after Windows 11's release.

Didi Delisting What It Means For Investors

Whatever its sin, Didi now says it plans to delist from New York and relist in Hong Kong. It has not specified its reasoning or responded to queries on the move. It is possible that the company has been forced to leave America by Chinese internet regulators.

This is a fiasco for the firm and its shareholders, such as SoftBank, a Japanese investment group (whose share price has sunk by 8% since the delisting announcement). It also portends two big changes in how foreign investors will access Chinese shares in the future. Didi's move could mark the first in a wave of Chinese delistings from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced its final plan for putting in place a new law that mandates foreign companies open their books to U.S. scrutiny or risk being kicked off the NYSE and Nasdaq within three years. However, while the rules are generally considered to be written in stone, they can be overlooked for a short period of time if the exchange deems it necessary. For many of the approximately 400 stocks trading under $1, the freeze expired on January 2, 2002, and some companies found themselves promptly delisted from the exchange.

The same measures were taken in late 2008 in the midst of the global financial crisis, as hundreds of Nasdaq-listed companies plunged below the $1 threshold. Didi's delisting comes at the behest of Chinese regulators, who had long expressed concern that going public in the U.S. could risk exposing its vast troves of data to foreign powers. Despite regulatory unease, the firm pushed ahead with its IPO in June, a move that Beijing regarded as a challenge to its authority, Bloomberg News has reported.

The government reacted swiftly, announcing a cybersecurity probe into the firm days after its debut and taking its services off domestic app stores. Since then, authorities have weighed unprecedented penalties for the company, including a forced delisting. People with knowledge of the matter said last week that Beijing has directed management to come up with a plan to withdraw from the NYSE. Spat with a string of U.S.-listed Chinese firms carrying out secondary listings there in recent years, partly as a back-up in case they are delisted from New York, say market participants. Instead of a simple privatization from New York, Didi is opting to seek a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange first. The move will ensure that its American depositary shares will be "convertible into freely tradable shares of the Company on another internationally recognized stock exchange," according to its statement.

The firm is planning to file for the Hong Kong listing around March, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News on Friday, asking not to be identified as the plans haven't been made public. The entire process could take three to six months to complete, First Shanghai Securities analyst Linus Yip said. Chinese regulators opposed the U.S. listing, saying it could expose Didi's vast troves of data to foreign powers. The firm pressed ahead with the June IPO anyway, in a move that Beijing saw as a challenge to its authority.

Days after the listing, the government announced a cybersecurity probe into the firm and forced its services off domestic app stores. When stocks are soaring and initial public offerings are raking in the money, it can seem like a bull market will never end. Nevertheless, market downturns are inevitable and when the fall from grace occurs—as it has many times in the stock market's history—textbook conditions for delisting can be created. Here we examine the Nasdaq delisting rules, taking a closer look at how and why delisting occurs on the Nasdaq.

We'll review what this change in status means—for both the company being delisted and the individual investors that hold its stock. Beijing will not be a passive observer, waiting for the SEC's delisting clock to run out. Since the delisting reports first surfaced, Didi's share price has declined by 20%, as some investors will be forced to sell (not permitted to hold HK-listed names) and others see the risk of additional regulatory torment. When a delisting occurs, it typically results in shareholders losing all of their investment in a particular stock unless they sell their shares before the delisting occurs. However, if a company is delisted and investors do not tender their shares, some stocks can be traded on the over-the-counter market.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been calling on Chinese firms listed in the US to be more transparent with their books. Yesterday, the SEC said that Chinese companies need to reveal whether they are owned or controlled by a Chinese government entity, which could hastenthe "decoupling" of Chinese stocks and the US markets. China has not given the SEC access to local audits of firms listed in the US due to national security concerns, which has long been seen as a major risk to US investor interests. The American government, which sees China as the greatest economic, political and military rival, has been putting pressure of its own on Chinese ties. It has forced some state-controlled Chinese companies in delist their U.S. shares. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules that would require reluctant Chinese companies listed in the United States to further open their books to American accounting firms or get kicked off its stock exchanges.

"Didi's plan to delist in the United States and the listing of Hong Kong stocks I believe will have an obvious impact on location decisions for large technology stocks' future listings. Another problem for delisted stocks is that many institutional investors are restricted from researching and buying them. Investors who already own a stock prior to the delisting may be forced by their investment mandates to liquidate their positions, further depressing the company's share price by increasing the selling supply. This lack of coverage and buying pressure means the stock has an even steeper climb ahead to make it back on to a major exchange. Even if a company continues to operate successfully after being delisted, the main problem with getting booted from the exclusive club is the trust factor.

When a stock trades on the NYSE or Nasdaq, it has an aura of reliability and accuracy in reporting financial statements. When a company's stock is demoted to the OTCBB or pink sheets, it loses its reputation. Pink sheet and OTCBB stocks lack the stringent regulatory requirements that investors come to expect from NYSE- and Nasdaq-traded stocks. Investors are willing to pay a premium for shares of trustworthy companies and are leery of firms with poor reputations. In the financial markets, the term "delisting" refers to the removal of a stock's shares from an exchange. But a delisting event doesn't necessarily mean that a company's shares stop trading altogether, because many delisted stocks continue to trade over-the-counter .

Stocks are also delisted when a company decides to return to being a private rather than publicly held company. What is unusual is for a company, such as Didi, to delist from one exchange and relist on another . It is more common for a company to list its shares on multiple stock exchanges around the world, making its stock available for trading in both New York and Hong Kong, for example. The delisting of Didi in the U.S. is an example of what could happen with many other China-based companies whose shares trade in the U.S. as a new law, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or HFCAA, is set to go into motion. Signed into law in December 2020, the HFCAA states that any foreign company that trades on U.S. exchanges must submit to inspections of their auditor's work books by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

If they don't, they will be delisted after three consecutive years of noncompliance, with this December marking the first year since the law passed. Many foreign investors expect Chinese-listed firms to be more attuned to its rapidly changing regulatory environment, says Louis Luo of ABRDN, an asset manager. And despite their willingness to crush foreign-listed tech groups, the authorities are much more sensitive to domestic market turmoil given the high level of retail investment from ordinary households. It is hard to imagine regulators causing a locally listed group's share price to collapse as Didi's has. Rather, companies with regulatory challenges will henceforth need to sort them out before listing in China. Chinese authorities have long hoped that their corporate darlings would list closer to home.

A second shift is the redirection of capital flows towards Chinese markets. Didi has been one of many Chinese tech groups in recent months to be hit with harsh regulations. The campaign, which has been aimed almost exclusively at companies with overseas listings, has erased some $1.5trn in shareholder value since February.

Yet at the same time Chinese securities markets have experienced a windfall. In particular, foreign holdings of Chinese stocks and bonds on the mainland have nearly doubled between the start of 2019 and September of this year, to about $1.1trn . A local retail investor is warning about the risks of buying shares in Chinese companies listed on US stock exchanges following the delisting of a major firm. If China still has national security concerns about DiDi, then China might reject its bid to relist in Hong Kong and force it to relist its shares on a mainland exchange that foreign investors can't access as easily. If that happens, DiDi might backtrack and try to take itself private at a discount -- which would be the worst-case scenario for U.S. investors who bought the stock at its IPO price. A delisting of shares can be contrasted with an initial public offering , which is the process of a private company going public.

This is when a company will put its stocks up for sale to the public and its shares are traded on a stock exchange. The company announced the decision yesterday (Dec. 2), and said it will ensure its American depositary shares can be converted into "freely tradable shares" on another international stock exchange. It also said it has started pursuing a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The firm didn't give a reason for the delisting, or a time frame for the Hong Kong listing. The firm is planning to file for the Hong Kong listing around March, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News. The entire process could take three to six months, First Shanghai Securities analyst Linus Yip said.

Discover the different types of delisting, why this happens and how delisted stocks affect investors and traders. "After a careful study, the company will start delisting on the New York stock exchange immediately, and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong," the company posted on its Weibo account on Friday, a Twitter-like service in China. Some argue that delisting is too harsh because it punishes stocks that could still recover. However, allowing such companies to stay listed would result in the major exchanges simply diluting the caliber of the companies that trade on them and degrading the respectability of the companies that maintain the listing requirements.

Didi Delisting What It Means Therefore, if a company that you own is delisted, it may not spell inevitable doom, but it certainly tarnishes that company's reputation and a sign of diminishing returns down the road. For stock exchanges, the ongoing minimum standards are similar to the initial listing standards, but they're generally a little less stringent. In the case of the Nasdaq Global Market, one ongoing standard that a listed company must meet is to maintain 750,000 public shares outstanding worth at least $1.1 million—anything less could result in a delisting from the Nasdaq. "A large share of U.S. companies subject to delisting already have secondary listings in Chinese markets," said Andy Rothman, an investment strategist at Matthews Asia, the the largest dedicated Asia investment specialist in the U.S.

Chinese ride-sharing giant DiDi has been caught in Chinese regulators' crosshairs since it launched its starcrossed $4.4 billion U.S. DiDi finally announced last Friday its plans to delist from the New York Stock Exchange and relist in Hong Kong. The company's departure from the U.S. could make it the test case in a transition to a tougher data security oversight regime that could shape how Chinese tech giants conduct their businesses in the future. The announcement, which comes less than six months after DiDi's initial public offering , shouldn't surprise investors. According to Reuters, Didi is preparing to relaunch its apps in China by the end of the year, when it hopes that the cybersecurity investigation will be wrapped up.

Authorities in China have kept a tight watch over their online firms given many of them are listed in the U.S. and have to share vital data on their users with the regulators there, a scenario they are not comfortable with. Didi's news comes a day after the Securities and Exchanges Commission published new rules for enforcing access to data held by U.S.-listed companies. "After conscientious research, the company will start delisting operations on the New York Stock Exchange immediately and commence preparations to list in Hong Kong," Didi said on its social media account. A separate statement said U.S. shares would be converted into "freely tradable shares" on another "internationally recognized" exchange. Regulators said in July they would step up scrutiny of tech companies with shares traded abroad and their information security and cross-border data flows. Didi's share price fell 25% after regulators launched an investigation into its handling of customer data following its June 30 stock market debut.

As a shareholder, you should seriously revisit your investment decision in a company that has become delisted. A firm unable to meet the listing requirements of the exchange upon which it is traded is quite obviously not in a great position. However, being kicked out of an exclusive club such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq is about as disgraceful for a company as it is prestigious for it to be listed in the first place.

In some cases, investors may also be given an option to exchange their delisted American shares for shares in the company that are traded in another market. For example, if a Chinese company had a dual listing in Hong Kong and the U.S., the investor might be able to exchange his or her American-listed shares for the Hong Kong-listed shares. Sources told Reuters last month that Chinese regulators had pressed Didi's top executives to devise a plan to delist from the New York Stock Exchange due to concerns about data security. According to a press release, Didi announced ADR shares "will be convertible into freely tradable shares" in Hong Kong. However, for retail investors, the delisting and relisting could be problematic as many brokerages don't offer access to the HKEX.

The Didi delisting comes as U.S. regulators move to tighten the rules around foreign companies planning to list stocks on American exchanges. "Following careful research, the company will immediately start delisting on the New York stock exchange and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong," Didi said on its Twitter-like Weibo account. The delisting process, as this column has said before, will hurt the retail and individual investors the most, if they are not prepared. Companies that haven't established a dual listing and don't meet the requirements to move their shares to the Hong Kong stock exchange will be the most dangerous to own going forward. But Alibaba has already seemingly prepared for possibly delisting from U.S. markets. In November 2019, Alibaba shares began trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange as a secondary listing, where it raised an additional $11 billion in capital.

"Following careful research, the company will immediately start delisting on the New York stock exchange and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong," the company said on its account on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging network. Sources told Reuters last month that Chinese regulators had pressed Didi's top executives to devise a plan to delist from the New York Stock Exchange due to concerns about data security. "Following careful research, the company will immediately start delisting on the New York stock exchange and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong," Didi said on its Twitter-like Weibo account. In the event of a stock's delisting from New York, investors could exchange their U.S.-listed shares for the Hong Kong-listed ones. Not all U.S.-listed Chinese companies are eligible for secondary listings in Hong Kong, Morgan Stanley analysts noted. Stock exchanges force companies to delist if they don't meet the regulatory requirements of the exchange they're listed on.

For example, the London Stock Exchange requires all listed companies to hold a minimum market cap of £700,000. Additional requirements can include filing annual reports by a specific date or having a stock price above a certain value. In the case of any delisting, it is unlikely that your investment will completely disappear. There will be warning signs and there will be ample time for you to sell your shares even if you have to do so at a significant loss.

I hope that no investor would ever have to experience such a scenario as it would most likely result in a losing trade, but it is part and parcel of investing. If a company has been delisted, it is no longer trading on a major exchange, but the stockholders are not stripped of their status as owners. However, delisting often results in a significant or total devaluing of a company's share value. Therefore, although a shareholder's ownership of a company does not decrease after a company is delisted, that ownership may become worth much less or, in some cases, it may lose its entire value.

The criteria for delisting depend on the exchange and which listing requirement needs to be met. For example, on the Nasdaq, the delisting process is set in motion when a company trades for 30 consecutive business days below the minimum bid price or market cap. As for other requirements, companies must meet minimum standards such as minimum stockholders' equity and a minimum number of shareholders, among many other things. Golden Gate Ventures partner Justin Hall said while Didi's delisting might negatively impact global investor appetite for Chinese technology companies, it's too early to say the same for Chinese retail and institutional investors. Generally speaking, investors and traders can protect themselves from potential delistings by trading high-quality companies, and avoiding companies with poor reputations.

But as illustrated by DiDi and Luckin Coffee, unexpected things do happen in the market. Listing standards pertain to requirements such as share price, liquidity and market capitalization. Listing standards also encompass accounting and auditing standards, and in the case of Luckin Coffee, the company was delisted as a result of fraud.

The delisting was announced a few weeks before the six-month lock-up expires and major investors can exit their positions. It also came a day after amendments to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act were adopted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission . On Dec. 23, shares fell hard after Tencent Holdings said it'll slash its stake in JD.com to 2.3% from 17%, giving the shares to its investors. But regulators also have gone after ride-hailing firms, video game makers for-school operators, online delivery apps, Macau casinos and online brokers. On Dec. 14, Beijing levied fines vs. social media firm Weibo for publishing illegal content. China has signaled that it'll take a dim view of new overseas listings, especially for internet and data-centric companies.

Many big U.S.-listed Chinese companies already have secondary listings in Hong Kong. Those listings have already been threatened by American rules that require all listed firms to provide access to internal auditing documents or be booted off exchanges. Chinese companies cannot readily comply because officials in their home country consider such materials to be "state secrets".

The dilemma goes back a decade but a law put into practice by the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 2nd will purge all non-compliant companies from American bourses by 2024. Didi's delisting move accelerates China's decoupling from U..S capital markets. The CAC has added other U.S.-traded Chinese app-based companies to their investigations, including Full Truck Alliance Co and Kanzhun Ltd. Officials at China's Securities Regulatory Commission have resisted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's information disclosure requirements, which could reveal potentially sensitive market information. Didi went ahead with the listing and within a week, the Cyberspace Administration of China, China's top internet regulator, ordered the main Didi app to be taken down pending a cybersecurity review.