MiniMax Falls Below IPO Price as Hong Kong AI Stocks Plunge

What happened

During the session MINIMAX-W touched an intraday low of HK$159.10 and closed the midday session at HK$160.7 (down 6.52%); at the close MINIMAX-W was down 6.52% and Zhipu down 7.86%. MiniMax is now down as much as 88% from its March all-time high of HK$1,330; Zhipu is down 85% from its June peak of HK$2,980, touching HK$447 intraday.

The two companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Jan 8 and 9 this year at HK$116.2 (Zhipu) and HK$165 (MiniMax). The market initially priced them at a premium above leading global AI firms: MiniMax's market cap topped HK$400 billion in March versus about HK$56.8 billion now; Zhipu hit HK$1.33 trillion in June, the first unprofitable AI startup in Hong Kong's trillion-dollar market-cap club. Parts of both companies' locked-up shares were released on July 8 and 9.

Key facts

1. Fundamentals: MiniMax's interim results show H1 2026 revenue of about US$120 million, up 283.1% year on year, with a net loss of US$358 million. The large-model industry remains in a high-spend phase with profitability far off.
2. Institutional views: Morgan Stanley recently kept a HK$900 target price and Overweight rating on MINIMAX-W, citing competitive pricing for its lightweight M3.1 Flash model and expecting the higher-end M3 Pro possibly before end-October; Goldman Sachs upgraded Zhipu from Neutral to Buy in early October.
3. Market backdrop: Hong Kong stocks broadly weakened on Oct 22 with the Hang Seng Index down 3.03%; AI application names fell across the board, with MetaSilicon, Lenovo, Alibaba and HHGrace down over 5%. Chinese financial media attributed the pullback to cooling risk appetite, narrowing valuation premiums and post-lockup selling.