Moonshot Executives Reported in Settlement Talks With Shareholder, Claim Tops $700 Million

What happened

The settlement talks had not been previously reported, according to Reuters. The dispute has been in arbitration in Hong Kong since 2024. In a March 11 letter to Moonshot investors, Recurrent's lawyers said Yang Zhilin and Zhang Yutao set up Moonshot without authorisation from Recurrent's board, made false representations and enriched themselves; Reuters saw the letter but said it could not independently determine the accuracy of its claims.

Yang and Zhang co-founded Recurrent in 2016 and Moonshot in 2023, and remain directors of Recurrent's holding company. Yang has previously denied the allegations, and a lawyer representing Yang, Zhang and Moonshot told Chinese media the case lacked legal and factual basis. Neither Moonshot nor Recurrent responded to Reuters' latest requests for comment.

Key facts

1. The claim: Recurrent received 9.5% of Moonshot's original shares when the company was founded and is seeking compensation equal to 10.5% of the original shares, worth more than $700 million at the $30 billion valuation from Moonshot's June fundraising.
2. IPO progress: Moonshot confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO in September, Reuters reported earlier.
3. The company: Moonshot released Kimi K3, a 2.8 trillion-parameter model, in July. Its backers include Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan and China Mobile.