On July 10th, the pressure from the share lockup expiration continued to impact MiniMax's stock price, with its Hong Kong shares continuing to decline.
At the close of trading in Hong Kong on July 10th, MiniMax's share price had fallen 9.68% to HK$268.6 per share. The company's total market capitalization stood at HK$84.2 billion, representing a loss of over HK$6 billion compared to its market cap of HK$90.8 billion at the close on the lockup expiration day.
Key Leadership Moves Amid Market Volatility
Notably, on the same day, the company's founder and CEO, Yan Junjie, issued an internal letter to all employees addressing the recent market fluctuations.
Founder Announces "Zero Salary"
As a young general artificial intelligence technology company, MiniMax, under the leadership of 37-year-old Yan Junjie, has independently developed large general-purpose models across different modalities. These include a trillion-parameter Mixture-of-Experts text model, a speech model, and an image model. The company has also created native AI products like Hailuo AI and Talkie, while offering services to enterprises and developers through an open platform.
Riding the wave of the AI model boom, the company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 9th this year. On its first trading day, the share price surged nearly 110% above the issue price, closing with a total market capitalization exceeding HK$105 billion. In March, the share price once climbed to HK$1,330 per share, pushing the market cap past HK$410 billion.
However, in recent months, the company's share price has continued to slide. As of July 10th, the price had fallen 79.85% from its historical high, erasing over HK$320 billion in market value.
On July 9th, MiniMax faced its first round of lockup share expirations since listing. Reports indicated that approximately 146 million restricted shares, representing about 48.9% of the total share capital, became freely tradable. On the expiration day, MiniMax closed at HK$297.4, plummeting 17.98% for the session. On July 10th, the share price declined further, closing down 9.68%.
In what appears to be an effort to stabilize market confidence, Yan Junjie released an internal letter making a "zero salary" commitment.
"The market will have fluctuations, and there will be noise from the outside, but the direction of progress will not change," he stated frankly in the letter. "Being on the front lines of the industry, we understand the true pace of technological evolution better than anyone, and we are also more aware of the long-term value we are creating and accumulating."
Simultaneously, Yan Junjie made three commitments in the letter: first, effective immediately, he will not receive any salary from the company until AGI is achieved; second, over the next four years, he will allocate shares equivalent to 4% of the company's total share capital from his personal holdings for team incentives; third, he will allocate 1% to establish a special fund for the open-source community.
Yan Junjie stated directly that he would devote all his time, energy, and resources to this endeavor.
Based on the current market capitalization estimate, the 4% of total share capital for team incentives is worth approximately HK$3.6 billion, and the 1% for the special fund is worth about HK$900 million. It is important to note that these 5% of shares come from Yan Junjie's personal holdings, not from the company issuing new shares, thus avoiding additional dilution.
HK$16 Billion Fundraise to the Rescue
Following the 17% plunge on the first day of the lockup expiration, MiniMax disclosed two concurrent financing arrangements before the market opened on July 10th.
According to the announcement, MiniMax is placing 35.6 million new Class A shares and, under a general mandate, simultaneously issuing HK$6.5 billion in zero-coupon guaranteed convertible bonds due in 2027.
For the Class A shares, the placement price is HK$268 per share. Assuming all placement shares are fully subscribed, the estimated gross proceeds from the placement are expected to be approximately HK$9.541 billion, with estimated net proceeds (after deducting commissions and estimated expenses) expected to be around HK$9.492 billion.
Combined with the HK$6.5 billion bond offering, these two transactions together raise approximately HK$16 billion. Morgan Stanley and UBS will act as joint placement agents.
The announcement indicates that investors in this round cover the Asia-Pacific, European, and U.S. markets, spanning four major categories: international sovereign funds, long-term institutions, leading Chinese financial institutions, and top multi-strategy funds.
Regarding the use of the HK$16 billion in funds, according to the announcement, the company intends to allocate the raised capital for continuous investment in AI infrastructure, model research and development, and global commercial expansion. Specifically, 80% of the net proceeds will be used to further strengthen AI infrastructure and model R&D; approximately 10% will be used to accelerate the global commercialization and development of Harness products, and the remaining 10% will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Behind this massive fundraising, MiniMax remains in a loss-making position. Its 2025 financial report shows full-year revenue of approximately $79.04 million, a year-on-year increase of 159%; the annual loss widened by 302% to $1.87 billion, with an adjusted net loss of $250 million.
On June 1st this year, MiniMax released its new-generation flagship model, M3. However, market feedback after the product launch was mixed, and its pricing strategy sparked controversy among developers. Nonetheless, reports suggest the company is developing a large language model, M3 Pro, with 2.7 trillion parameters, slated for release and planned open-sourcing as early as the third quarter. Meanwhile, the full version of M3 (with a larger parameter count) is planned for release in the second half of 2026. Additionally, the new-generation video model, Hailuo 3, is expected to launch within weeks.
The founder has staked his shares and salary, and over ten billion in hard cash has been raised. Whether this combination of internal morale-boosting and external ammunition replenishment can truly reverse MiniMax's predicament is a question the market is still awaiting an answer to.
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