Two days ago, Chi Yufeng, Chairman of Perfect World Co.,Ltd., finally made a public appearance. In late April, the launch of "Yihuan," a game seen as crucial for the company's performance turnaround, was followed by a sharp drop in the stock price, leaving the market perplexed.
During the earnings conference on May 12, Chi Yufeng and the management team addressed hot topics such as the performance of "Yihuan" and his personal share reductions. However, they failed to dispel lingering doubts: Where has Chi Yufeng been in recent years, and what has he been focusing on?
Over the past few years, as Perfect World's performance has significantly declined, Chi Yufeng—once celebrated as a top graduate from Tsinghua University and the head of two listed companies—has seen his reputation fade. More importantly, his focus seems to have shifted away from Perfect World. Rumors suggest that since the listing of iHuman Inc., Chi's attention has increasingly turned to that company.
Speculation about "major shareholders not being involved in management" and Chi Yufeng's "withdrawal" from the daily operations of Perfect World has persisted. When asked whether Chi participated in the gameplay experience and decision-making for the key product "Zhu Xian World," the company did not provide a direct response.
However, it is clear that Chi Yufeng has not been idle; he has been actively cashing out, recouping substantial amounts of money. Since the lock-up period for major shareholders of Perfect World ended in 2019, Chi has executed eight consecutive rounds of密集 sell-offs using methods such as block trades, negotiated transfers, and competitive reductions.
The first reduction occurred in June 2019, selling 25.61 million shares for 596 million yuan. The second was in November 2019, selling 25.80 million shares for 794 million yuan. In March 2020, he sold 19.80 million shares for 780 million yuan. June 2020 saw two reductions: one of 13.30 million shares at the highest price, netting 594 million yuan, and another via negotiated transfer of 64.6639 million shares, cashing out 2.871 billion yuan in one go. In 2020, he also indirectly reduced holdings through convertible bond exchanges, realizing 1.077 billion yuan. In 2022, he sold 57.4258 million shares through secondary market block trades, obtaining 720 million yuan.
Then, in February of this year, while investors were still hopeful about the performance boost from "Yihuan," Chi Yufeng acted decisively again, selling shares at a low price of 17.68 yuan per share to cash out an additional 583 million yuan.
Public reports indicate that through these successive rounds of sell-offs, Chi Yufeng has accumulated approximately 11.8 billion yuan, achieving what could be described as a "successful great escape."
Beyond the massive cash-outs, available information shows that between 2016 and 2026, Perfect World distributed dividends 11 times, totaling over 5.5 billion yuan. Chi Yufeng's personal share of these dividends is estimated to be between 1.7 and 1.8 billion yuan.
Notably, in 2024, despite the company reporting a significant loss of 1.288 billion yuan, Perfect World still paid out over 400 million yuan in dividends.
Among the controlling shareholders of major listed gaming companies in the A-share market, Chi Yufeng ranks first both in terms of the scale of share reductions and total dividend income.
Estimates suggest that since 2011, even though peers like Li Weiwei of 37 Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group Co., Ltd. and Lu Hongyan of G-bits Network Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. have generated significantly higher cumulative net profits for their companies, the amounts they have cashed out through share sales or received in dividends are far lower than Chi Yufeng's totals.
Moreover, conventional logic holds that high dividend payouts should follow high earnings growth. The average payout ratio for A-share gaming companies is around 40%, yet Perfect World's ratio has reached as high as 130%, which is not only significantly above the norm but also appears severely misaligned with its actual performance.
The rationale behind implementing high dividend payouts during periods of low growth or even losses raises questions: Is Chi Yufeng, as the major shareholder, prioritizing shareholder returns or his own liquidity?
Ironically, while the chairman has been aggressively "exiting," Chi Yufeng has also attempted to incentivize core employees with stock. According to an announcement in October 2025, Perfect World established an employee stock ownership plan for 2025, specifically reserving 1,644,831 shares for up to 15 eligible employees. The vesting conditions are as follows:
The first performance hurdle, based on 2023 net profit, requires a net profit growth rate of 30% or more in 2025. The second hurdle is more stringent. Based on 2025 net profit, it requires a net profit growth rate of 30% in 2026, with the cumulative net profit for the two years exceeding 1.3 times the 2023 figure.
A review of annual reports shows that Perfect World's net profit attributable to shareholders was 491 million yuan in 2023 and 731 million yuan in 2025, meeting the first target perfectly.
However, for the first quarter of 2026, Perfect World reported a net profit of only 103 million yuan, a sharp year-on-year decrease of 66%. Whether the full-year net profit can achieve 30% growth remains a significant question mark, with hopes largely pinned on the performance of "Yihuan."
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