MiniMax’s CEO won’t take a salary until AGI. His company just raised $2bn after an 80% crash
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MiniMax’s founder Yan Junjie has vowed to forgo his salary until the company reaches AGI, and to give away 5% of his shares.
July 10, 2026 – 1:41 pm
The letter, shared internally and later on X, reads like a founder’s article of faith. It outlines Yan Junjie’s commitment to not taking a salary until MiniMax achieves Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Alongside this pledge, the company is raising up to $2bn from investors, following an 80% stock slump.
“Effective today, and until the day we achieve AGI, I will no longer accept any salary from the company,” wrote Yan, internally known as "IO". He further promised to distribute shares worth 4% of his personal holdings to staff over four years and allocate 1% to a fund for open-source projects. “We will keep going until we get there.”
The Gesture and the Ledger
While symbolic, Yan’s salary forgiveness is largely a gesture. Founders’ wealth is tied up in equity, not salary. Giving away 5% of his stake is a significant commitment, serving as both a retention tool during a period of talent poaching and an expression of faith in the company’s future.
The timing coincides with a large, discounted fundraising round – a move aimed at reassuring employees amidst falling share prices.
The Raise: Numbers and Reality
MiniMax is offering 35.6 million new shares at HK$268 each ($1.2bn), a nearly 10% discount to Thursday’s close, according to Bloomberg. They are also issuing $6.5 billion Hong Kong dollars of zero-coupon convertible bonds due 2027. Morgan Stanley and UBS are leading the deal.
The stock dropped approximately 10% on Friday. The new shares dilute a float that had just expanded after early backers’ lockups expired, leaving some retail investors feeling burned.
Why the Stock Cratered
MiniMax listed in Hong Kong in January and aimed for a second listing in Shanghai. However, their flagship M3 model struggled to gain traction upon its release in June, leading to price cuts just a week later. Competitors like Zhipu, DeepSeek, and Moonshot AI quickly filled the void, intensifying competition in the market already gripped by a brutal price war.
Why it Matters
This fundraising is not an isolation incident. Chinese tech firms are flooding the market with AI investment. Zhipu secured $4bn this week, one of the largest such rounds in Hong Kong.