Chinese social e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu’s valuation in the private equity market has declined by as much as 50% in a year, Financial Times reported on Nov. 20. Backed by Alibaba and Tencent, the company was valued at $20 billion in the latest financing round last November, however, the report said its recent valuation has now fallen between $10 billion and $16 billion. Xiaohongshu shelved its plans to go public in the US after Chinese regulators launched an investigation over the online ride-hailing platform Didi’s IPO in New York in July 2021. Meanwhile, the company’s CFO, Yang Ruo, resigned after less than two years on the job in September, suggesting the road to an IPO for the lifestyle-focused social platform is increasingly unclear. With more than 200 million monthly active users, Xiaohongshu’s revenue is extremely dependent on advertising, with 80% of its revenue coming from advertising and 20% from e-commerce in 2020. [Financial Times]