Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, April 6 (TMTPOST) —— Zhou Hongyi, the actual controller of 360 Security Technology Inc., and his wife Hu Huan have completed the divorce procedure through friendly negotiations and split their shared assets, according to an announcement made by the company on Tuesday evening.

According to the divorce agreement, Zhou will transfer his 6.25 percent stake in 360 Security Technology to Hu Huan. Zhou will still hold a 5.24 percent stake in the company and 46.14 percent indirectly through Tianjin Qixin Zhicheng Technology Co., LTD.

The announcement said that the divorce does not involve a change of control of the company. After the transfer of shares, Qixin Zhicheng remains the controlling shareholder of 360 Security Technology, and Zhou is still the actual controller. The board secretary of this SSE-listed company publicly retorted that the move was not a transfer of assets by cashing in shares on the pretext of a divorce.

Given that Hu has permanent residence in Singapore but does not work in 360 company or its subsidiaries, nor participate in the company's production and management, the share change has no impact on the company's management, according to the announcement.

It was also mentioned that Zhou has no plans to increase or decrease his stake in the listed company in the next 12 months, while Hu has no intention to increase her stake in the next 12 months or reduce her stake in the next six months.

“In case of subsequent relevant plans or changes in relevant rights and interests, we will strictly comply with the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, and fulfill the relevant approval procedures and information disclosure obligations by the law,” said the company in the announcement.

As one of the stocks related to AI-power content generation, 360 has seen a surge in its share price over the past few months, from 7.19 yuan ($1.04) per share on February 1 to 20.08 yuan ($2.92) per share on April 4. This means that Hu's 447 million shares are worth nearly 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion).

According to Zhou's autobiography, he and Hu, former colleagues at Beijing Founder Electronics, were married for more than 20 years. They met in an online community called Shuimu Tsinghua BBS. Zhou said that he liked to talk about the experience of entrepreneurship with Hu in the past, his ambitions and his future plans. Hu always believed what he said and was supporting his business with action. The couple were involved in the founding of 3721, a Chinese Internet service provider, in 1998, for which Hu left Beijing Founder Electronics.

Founded in November 2005, 360 Security Technology is one of the largest Internet security service providers in China. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011. Zhou announced the launch of 360's privatization plan to return to the SSE in June 2015, and the listing was completed on February 28, 2018.