Hong Kong-listed AI company MiniMax (0100.HK, listed as MiniMax Group Inc.) announced it has granted 1,168,776 share awards under its post-IPO equity incentive plan, each representing one newly issued Class A ordinary share. Based on the closing price of HK$515 per share on the grant date, the total value of the awards is approximately HK$602 million (about US$77 million), with a purchase price of zero.
Executive director and head of large language model research and engineering Zhao Pengyu received 250,000 of those awards, worth roughly HK$129 million (US$16.5 million) at the day's closing price. The remaining awards were distributed to other employees and service providers. Vesting periods range from 13 to 72 months for employees and 12 to 44 months for service providers; Zhao's total vesting period is approximately 66 months.
According to the company's announcement, none of the awards are tied to any performance targets. However, the plan includes a clawback mechanism: if a grantee is found to have committed serious misconduct, fraud, or material misstatements in financial reports, the company can reclaim the gains or forfeit the vested awards.
The hefty equity grants signal that MiniMax continues to double down on talent investment, using long-term stock incentives to lock in its core team and boost long-term competitiveness. Co-founder and CEO Yan Junjie once bluntly described his management philosophy in an interview as: "Give more money, don't wait for them to succeed, give it now."