The stock market dynamics have drawn considerable attention following the recent equity transfer by East Money Information Co., Ltd. On the evening of October 17, East Money disclosed the results of the inquiry-based transfer from shareholders Lu Lili and Shen Yougen, where 23.78 million shares were sold for approximately 5.8 billion yuan. Sixteen well-known domestic and foreign institutions, including E Fund, Guotai Junan, UBS, Huaxia Fund, and Morgan Stanley, successfully acquired the shares.
According to sources close to the transaction, the funds generated from the transfer will primarily be allocated towards investments in technology startups.
This highly anticipated equity transaction originated from a transfer plan announced by East Money on September 30, where shareholders Lu Lili and Shen Yougen aimed to transfer 23.78 million shares, accounting for 1.5% of the total share capital, citing personal funding needs as the reason for the sale.
Unlike ordinary secondary market reductions, the inquiry-based transfer was not conducted through centralized bidding or block trading. The transferees were institutional investors possessing adequate pricing and risk-bearing capabilities, with a six-month restriction on the resale of acquired shares.
Notably, the identities of the transaction parties add a layer of interest. Shen Yougen is the son of East Money's controlling shareholder and actual controller, while Lu Lili is his wife, making them concerted actors in this transaction. Prior to the inquiry-based transfer, Lu Lili and Shen Yougen collectively held 21.89% of East Money’s shares. Following the transfer, Shen Yougen no longer holds shares, while Lu Lili’s stake decreased from 2.32% to 1.01%. Consequently, the total stake held by the transferors and concerted actors fell from 21.89% to 20.39%.
On October 9, East Money tentatively set the transfer price at 24.4 yuan per share, with 402 institutional investors receiving subscription invitations. Of these, 32 institutions submitted 37 valid bids. By the evening of October 17, East Money announced the successful implementation of the inquiry-based transfer, with the effective share transfer quantity at 23.78 million shares at the set price, totaling approximately 5.8 billion yuan, officially revealing the list of 16 institutions that received allocations, highlighting significant participation from both domestic and foreign reputable entities.
The market’s enthusiasm reflects East Money's capital appeal, with top-tier institutions showing a notable gathering in the final allocation list. Among these, E Fund secured the largest allocation with 14.148 million shares; Guotai Junan and UBS each received over 20 million shares; while Huaxia Fund and Morgan Stanley acquired over 10 million shares each.
The active involvement of peers is also noteworthy; besides Guotai Junan, GF Securities received 4.04 million shares, CITIC Securities 500,000 shares, and Guohai Securities 480,000 shares. Additionally, J.P. Morgan, Nordea, Guotai Junan Financial Holdings, Huabao Fund, and CITIC Securities Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited were among the institutions that received allocations.
It is worth mentioning that Shen Yougen conducted a previous inquiry-based transfer in July, where 15.88 million shares were sold for approximately 3.44 billion yuan, attracting participation from various well-known domestic and foreign institutional investors, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, UBS, E Fund, CITIC Securities, and Guotai Junan.
Industry analysts consider the significance of this equity transaction to be substantial; the inquiry-based transfer mechanism on the ChiNext and STAR market differs from reductions in the secondary market. It allows existing shareholders to transfer equity through primary market issuance processes, selectively introducing high-quality long-term institutional investors from both domestic and international markets. This strategy expands the network of institutional investors for listed companies, providing East Money with broader growth opportunities and enhancing the diversity of its internet wealth management ecosystem.
The enthusiastic entry of institutional capital is backed by East Money's dual breakthroughs in both performance and strategy in recent years. Known as the "券茅" (a leading brokerage), East Money delivered its best interim report since its listing for the first half of 2025, achieving total revenue of 6.856 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 38.65%; net profit attributable to the parent company reached 5.567 billion yuan, up 37.27%.
Analyzing by business segments, both its securities and fund sales sectors thrived. East Money Securities achieved a net profit of 4.175 billion yuan, significantly increasing its market share in brokerage business, leveraging its advantage in internet traffic; Tiantian Fund generated a net profit of 64 million yuan, supported by improved user operation systems that steadily boosted fund distribution scale.
What adds further potential is East Money's "AI + finance" strategic layout with its independently developed "Miao Xiang" financial large model consistently iterating and upgrading, deeply empowering the financial ecosystem via artificial intelligence. This has created additional value in areas such as user service and product innovation, contributing new intelligence towards the industry’s digital transformation.
Currently, the "Miao Xiang" large model is open to all market users and widely applied across various scenarios such as information, market data, self-selected stocks, and customer service.
Xu Kang, head of financial industry research and chief analyst at Huachuang Securities, stated that East Money, as a leading internet brokerage, directly benefits from increased trading volumes and leveraged funds. The company emphasizes its "East Money Website + Tiantian Fund" dual-platform model, greatly enhancing its traffic and customer acquisition advantages. Moreover, it leverages AI technology to empower its financial ecosystem, constructing a collaborative closed loop among securities, fund, and data services, significantly boosting user engagement. This "platform + AI empowerment" dual-driven model is likely to further strengthen its competitive edge in the industry.
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