Jidu Auto, an electric vehicle venture launched by tech giant Baidu and automaker Geely, has hired former Nio and Ford executive Izzy Zhu (Zhu Jiang in Chinese) to lead the company’s user development and community efforts, a key pillar of its retail and marketing strategies. Zhu joins Jidu following a one-year stint as chief operating officer for Ford China’s EV unit, overseeing sales and marketing of the Chinese-made version of its popular Mustang Mach-E vehicles. Before that, he ran social media and digital marketing as a vice president for Nio for three years until March, 2020. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Chinese gaming giant NetEase has restarted a Hong Kong listing plan for its online music streaming business Cloud Village Inc. The IPO is excepted to raise about $500 million before the end of this year, according to Reuters sources. In August, the company suspended the Hong Kong IPO plan amid an intense period of regulatory changes in the Chinese tech and other industries. [Reuters]

Gaotu Techedu, a China-based edtech company, previously known as GSX, announced Monday that it will cease offering curriculum tutoring services up to grade nine, or K-9, in the mainland Chinese market by the end of this year. The company says it will shift its business focus towards developing courses for professional education and explore opportunities in digital products and vocational education. Gaotu joins rivals TAL Group and New Oriental-backed Koolearn Tech in making business updates in response to China’s July crackdown on private tutoring. [Gaotu press release]

Meicai, a Chinese app that supplies farm produce to restaurants, has picked China International Capital Corp., Citigroup Inc., and Nomura Holdings Inc. to help it prepare for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The listing could raise between $300 million to $500 million. The company, valued at about $7 billion after its latest found in September 2018, reportedly shelved its US IPO plan in July due to China tightening scrutiny on overseas IPOs. [Bloomberg]

Hozon is considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong to raise $1 billion next year, making it the latest Chinese electric vehicle maker to weigh up tapping investors close to home, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 12. Backed by an investment arm of the city of Yichun in central Jiangxi province, Hozon currently makes and sells three models under its Nezha brand. Fellow Chinese vehicle makers WM Motor and Sequoia Capital China-backed Leapmotor are also said to be targeting their own Hong Kong IPOs as early as next year, the report said. [Bloomberg]

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Nov. 14 proposed that companies seeking Hong Kong listings should apply for cybersecurity reviews if they handle data that concerns national security. The internet regulator released a draft regulation for comment and said that companies seeking to set up overseas headquarters or research centers should also submit a report to regulators. In a proposed amendment on cybersecurity review measures released on July. 10, the agency asked companies that control data of more than 1 million users to seek permission from regulators before going public overseas, but that didn’t include Hong Kong listings. [Reuters]