After the lifting of restrictions saw a nearly 13% rise instead of a drop, Zhipu sold shares at a discount, raising 31.5 billion yuan.
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AI large model stock Zhihu performed a countertrend rebound on the first day of unlocking restricted shares, and subsequently launched large-scale equity financing.
On July 8, about 25.68 million cornerstone investor restricted shares of Zhihu were officially unlocked, with an unlocked market value exceeding HK$40 billion. Facing enormous selling pressure, the stock price rose instead of falling, surging nearly 19% intraday and finally closing up more than 13%, bringing the total market value to HK$813.7 billion.
Taking advantage of this strong performance, Zhihu proceeded with a placement plan, intending to place 19.8 million H shares at a price of HK$1588 to HK$1698 per share, representing a discount of about 7% to 13% to the closing price of the day, with fundraising amounting to approximately HK$31.44 billion to HK$33.62 billion.
The company disclosed that the funds raised will be used in three areas: First, R&D investment, including talent cultivation, computational resource deployment, and related technical service procurement; second, accelerating business expansion and advancing strategic investments and mergers; third, optimizing capital structure and managing working capital.
Unlocking pressure did not crush the stock price, multiple cornerstone investors express long-term holding
This unlocking involved 11 cornerstone investors, and the potential selling pressure from the expiration of the lock-up period was previously the main market concern. However, several institutions publicly stated their holding positions on the eve of unlocking.
JSC International Investment Fund SPC said it is willing to continue holding based on confidence in the company’s long-term development prospects; WT Asset Management, Optimas Capital Limited, and other institutions also expressed intentions for long-term holding.
The above locked cornerstone investors collectively hold about 70% of the total unlocked cornerstone shares in this batch.
Recently, JPMorgan raised Zhihu’s target price from HK$1800 to HK$2000, maintaining an "overweight" rating. Their research report noted that Zhihu's newly launched GLM-5.2 has global competitiveness, and believes that the scalability potential of the open weight model still has "option value" that has not been fully priced in.
The collective stance has somewhat alleviated market concerns about a wave of sell-offs. Zhihu’s stock price movement on the day confirmed this judgment; it opened down about 2.92%, dropped nearly 10% intraday, then surged strongly, once reaching a high of HK$1918.
MiniMax Faces More Complex Unlock Test Today
The market trend after Zhihu’s unlocking shifted attention to another Hong Kong-listed large model company, MiniMax.
MiniMax was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 9, 2026. Its stock price once surged to HK$1330, then came under pressure and continued to fall, and it is now valued at about HK$113.7 billion.
MiniMax’s cornerstone investors include Alibaba, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Boyu Capital, etc. Based on the six-month lock-up period, the company will welcome its first large-scale unlocking of restricted shares on July 9 after listing.
Different from Zhihu’s unlocking, which was mainly among cornerstone investors, MiniMax’s unlocking structure is more complex, involving both cornerstone investors and some pre-IPO investors, with a potential unlocked amount accounting for about 49% of the total equity, a significantly higher unlocking ratio than Zhihu.
The market is thus more focused on their motivations for reducing holdings and the secondary market’s capacity to absorb shares. Whether Zhihu’s unlocking experience can serve as a reference for MiniMax remains to be answered by today’s market.
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