Moonshot executives in talks to settle shareholder dispute ahead of IPO: report

Executives from Chinese AI startup Moonshot are engaged in negotiations with a shareholder in an effort to resolve a dispute ahead of the company's planned listing on the Hong Kong stock market, according to sources familiar with the matter. Moonshot, a developer of AI software with offices in Beijing, is accused by Recurrent.ai, another AI developer, and some of its investors of making misleading statements to Recurrent's investors and enriching themselves at Recurrent's expense.

Recurrent's lawyers sent a letter to Moonshot's investors on March 11, detailing the allegations, though Reuters could not independently verify the claims. The letter did not name the specific Recurrent investors involved. Moonshot's CEO, Yang Zhilin, and CTO, Zhang Yutao, are both directors of Recurrent's holding company, and they co-founded Recurrent in 2016, before forming Moonshot in 2023.

While the settlement talks have not been previously reported, Reuters could not independently verify the accuracy of the letter's claims. The dispute has been ongoing since 2024 and is currently subject to arbitration in Hong Kong. Recurrent alleges that Yang and Zhang set up Moonshot without authorization from the Recurrent board, made false statements to investors, and enriched themselves at Recurrent's expense.

They also claim that servers containing vital large language model data were transferred without authorization from Recurrent to a Moonshot subsidiary in April 2023, and that key data was deleted in September 2024 at Zhang Yutao's instructions. Recurrent is seeking compensation equivalent to 10.5% of Moonshot's original shares, potentially worth over $700 million based on the startup's $30 billion valuation in a June fundraising round.

Moonshot denies the allegations, stating that the dispute lacks legal and factual basis. Yang's legal team has previously denied the accusations, while Zhang has also declined to comment. Despite the dispute, Moonshot remains on track to file for a Hong Kong IPO, as Reuters reported in September, as the company seeks to capitalize on the popularity of its Kimi AI models.