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(Yicai Global) June 21 -- Shares of Kunlun Tech dived after the Chinese game developer said its third-largest shareholder, the founder’s ex-wife, intends to unload up to 3 percent of the firm's stock.
Kunlun Tech's equity price [SHE: 300418] tanked by 20 percent to close at CNY50.34 (USD7). The shares had been rising since January due to the entertainment platform operator's plans to develop ChatGPT-like products with its partners.
Li Qiong, the ex-wife of the firm's founder and actual controller Zhou Yahui, will sell up to 35.9 million shares for personal reasons, the Beijing-based firm said in a statement yesterday.
However, Li will lend over 50 percent of the money (excluding tax) she earns from selling the shares to Kunlun Tech with an annual interest rate of 2.5 percent and a term of three years to support the firm’s artificial intelligence business in the long run, the company said in another announcement yesterday.
Self-made billionaire Zhou divorced his wife Li in 2016, marking the most expensive mainland divorce based on the amount of equity that exchanged hands after. Li bagged 298 million shares or over 24 percent of the total.
Li began selling her stake in the company in 2020 but still held over 11 percent of the shares in late March. Zhou is the second-biggest shareholder with his 12.2 percent stake.
In the first quarter, the firm logged CNY1.2 billion in revenue, up 2 percent from a year ago, and CNY210 million (USD29.2 million) in net profit, down 43 percent, mainly because of a decline of CNY180 million in investment returns, according to the latest earnings report.
Editor: Emmi Laine