On February 26, after market hours, East Money Information announced that its controlling shareholder and actual controller, Qi Shi, plans to donate 20 million unrestricted shares of the company to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Education Development Foundation. The donation, representing 0.13% of the company's total shares, is intended to support educational development, talent cultivation, and technological innovation. Based on East Money's opening share price of 22.46 yuan on February 27, the donated shares are valued at approximately 450 million yuan.
In fact, in the two months leading up to the 130th anniversary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, alumni such as Qi Shi of East Money and Ji Qi of H World Group have made consecutive donations worth hundreds of millions of yuan. In total, this recent round of donations from these entrepreneurs to their alma mater exceeds 800 million yuan.
Qi Shi, Chairman of East Money, was born in October 1970. He graduated from the Department of Materials Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a bachelor's degree and holds a PhD in Journalism from Fudan University. He is a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress. He founded East Money in 2005 and currently holds several public roles. Visiting the familiar campus, Qi Shi recalled founding the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Social Practice Center during his university years. He stated that the most important aspects were the foundational knowledge and social practice from his undergraduate studies, which provided a solid base. He expressed his hope that current students would have more opportunities for growth. Previously, in October 2022, Qi Shi also donated 100 million yuan to establish the "Qi Shi Medical Innovation Development Fund" to support the construction of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine's new campus in Pudong.
Another alumnus announcing a donation on the same day as Qi Shi was Ji Qi, the founder of three listed companies: Trip.com, Home Inns, and H World Group. On February 26, the donation agreement for the "JI Hotel Humanities Development Fund" was signed at the Minhang campus. Ji Qi was appointed as a university trustee and donated 100 million yuan to support various university initiatives. Ji Qi, who earned his bachelor's degree in Engineering Mechanics in 1989 and his master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1992 from SJTU, recalled that his seven years of study at the university were the most important period of his life. He stated that SJTU provided him not only with professional knowledge but also with training in humanities and a group of like-minded friends. In the AI era, he expressed a hope to bring world-class masters to the campus, offering students opportunities to quietly contemplate and appreciate the humanistic spirit.
Another major donor from the securities industry is Chen Guangming, a 1996 bachelor's and 1999 master's alumnus of SJTU and founder of Ruifeng Fund. Last month, this university trustee donated 130 million yuan to his alma mater to support the "Ruifeng Youth Science and Technology Award," paving the way for young researchers and providing targeted support for medical aid, business innovation, and departmental development. Chen Guangming collaborated with the university in 2022 to establish the "Ruifeng Science and Technology Award" and the "Ruifeng Youth Science and Technology Award" at SJTU, recognizing faculty, students, and alumni who have made outstanding contributions globally in basic research, applied research, and scientific frontiers. To date, 13 distinguished scientists have received these awards. The "Ruifeng Youth Science and Technology Award" established in 2024 focuses on supporting innovative research by scholars under the age of 40.
Adhering to the university motto, the "Tang Ye Education Fund" was formally donated at the end of 2025. Master's alumnus Tang Ye (Class of 2007) was appointed as a university trustee and donated 1 million shares of his founded company, B.C. Laser, with a market value of approximately 130 million yuan. Concurrently, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and B.C. Laser reached a strategic cooperation agreement. The "Tang Ye Education Fund" will primarily support the School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, the School of Mechanical Engineering, the School of Integrated Circuits, the Po-Yuan Future Technology Institute, and the overall development of the university, injecting new vitality into talent cultivation and scientific research innovation. In 2007, after earning his master's degree from the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Tang Ye, along with classmates Dai Tiantian, Lu Lin, and Wan Zhang, and later joined by junior Xie Miao, started their entrepreneurial journey in the Zizhu Hi-Tech Park. This "all-SJTU" team delved deeply into the field of laser processing automation, successfully listed in 2019, and set the record for the highest IPO price on the STAR Market at that time—68.58 yuan per share.
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