By Sherry Qin


BYD's chairman has proposed that the electric-vehicle giant buy back twice as many shares to help boost its stock price as the EV price war intensifies and concerns about the Chinese economy persist.

The Chinese carmaker said Sunday in an exchange filing that its chairman and chief executive, Wang Chuanfu, has suggested doubling the amount of A-shares under a proposed buyack to 400 million yuan ($55.6 million).

When Wang tabled the original plan to repurchase CNY200 million shares in December, the move failed to do much to arrest a drop in BYD's stock price. The company's Shenzhen-listed shares have plunged 7.7% since the beginning of this year after having slumped 23% last year.

By increasing the buyback, BYD aims to "safeguard the interests of all shareholders of the company, enhance investor confidence, stabilize and improve company value," it said.

The move comes after the Warren Buffett-backed company announced plans for more share buybacks, without specifying how much it planned to repurchase in total, and the launch of more luxury models a week ago.

BYD hasn't given updates on its planned shares repurchases since Wang's initial proposal was announced.


Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-25-24 2047ET