The lawyer stated that at the legal level, as long as both parties reach a consensus through consultation, there are no other legal issues with the vehicle without collateral.
On April 29th, the founder of 3660 (601360. SH), Zhou Hongyi, sold Maybach at a transaction price of 9.9 million yuan. However, within 24 hours of the popularity, it was reported that the auction client of the vehicle was affiliated with Beijing Dajue Investment Consulting Co., Ltd., which is 100% owned by Zhou Hongyi’s ex-wife Hu Huan.
In addition, the legal representative of the company was changed from Hu Huan to Dong Jianming on June 20, 2019. The latter is currently the legal representative, executive director, and manager of Qihoo 360 Software (Beijing) Co., Ltd., holding 50% of the shares, and also serves as the executive director and manager of Beijing Dajue Investment Consulting Co., Ltd.
It should be noted that although the vehicle auction principal left the company name, the authorized contact person left the name Zhang Peng. According to Tianyancha information, Zhang Peng serves as the supervisor of Qihu 360 Software (Beijing) Co., Ltd., holding 50% of the shares.
The first financial reporter called Zhang Peng’s phone number based on the authorized phone number of the trustee left on the Maybach auction confirmation form, but the other party replied that they had dialed the wrong number.
Regarding the specific ownership issue of the Maybach before being auctioned off, as of the time of publication, there has been no clear response from the 360 side.
(‘Auction document information displayed by second-hand car dealers on site’,)
9.9 million Maybach’s property rights sparked controversy before being auctioned off
The document information provided by the second-hand car dealers participating in the auction and the final contract page show that the name of the owner of the auction target is “Beijing Dajue Investment Consulting Co., Ltd.”. According to Tianyancha information, the shareholder of the company is Hu Huan, who holds 100% of the shares, and the latter is Zhou Hongyi’s ex-wife.
On April 4, 2023, 360 Group issued a notice regarding changes in shareholder equity. The chairman of the company, Mr. Zhou Hongyi, and Ms. Hu Huan, reached a friendly agreement to terminate their marital relationship and made relevant arrangements regarding share division and other matters.
360 stated that Mr. Zhou Hongyi, the chairman of the group, and his wife Ms. Hu Huan have indeed terminated their marriage in a friendly manner. This is a personal relationship adjustment. This adjustment will not result in changes in the controlling shareholders or actual controllers of the company. The actual controller of 360 Group is still Mr. Zhou Hongyi, with a voting rights ratio of 52.45%.
Regarding the issue of ownership of vehicles, a reporter from First Financial called the Secretary General’s Office of 360, and the other party replied, “In terms of ownership and actual use rights of vehicles, the law also needs to define based on actual circumstances. This car was’ driven ‘by Zhou Hongyi for nine years.”.
Liu Anbang, a partner of Deheng Law Firm, told reporters that based on the objective fact that both parties have divorced, if the property division between the two parties ends and the vehicle belongs to Hu Huan’s 100% shareholding company, then the ownership of the vehicle should belong to Hu Huan. If both parties have signed relevant agreements on vehicle ownership and auction issues, they should comply with the provisions of the agreement. At the legal level, as long as both parties reach a consensus through consultation, there are no other legal issues with the vehicle without collateral.
As for the issue of the right to use, Liu Anbang told reporters that at the legal level, ownership is ownership, and the right to use is the right to use. The two concepts should not be confused, and the eligibility for auction should not be judged based on the right to use.
In addition, it should be noted that in addition to Zhou Hongyi’s ex-wife, the authorized phone number of the car owner’s client’s affiliated company and the client also involves two senior executives in their thirties and sixties.
According to Tianyancha information, the legal representative of Beijing Dajue Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. was changed from Hu Huan to Dong Jianming on June 20, 2019. The latter currently serves as the legal representative, executive director, and manager of Qihu 360 Software (Beijing) Co., Ltd., as well as the executive director and manager of Beijing Dajue Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. From August 2006 to November 2020, Dong Jianming served as the Manager of the Administrative Department at 3600.
In addition, the authorized contact person for the vehicle auction commission is named Zhang Peng. According to Tianyancha information, Zhang Peng serves as the supervisor of Qihu 360 Software (Beijing) Co., Ltd., holding 50% of the shares.
As of now, the information obtained shows that this 2015 Maybach S600, which was driven by Zhou Hongyi for nine years, is more likely to belong to the company’s assets before Zhou Hongyi and Hu Huan divorced. But what is currently unclear is the property delivery situation after the divorce of both parties. Previously, the content of the announcement by 360 Company was mainly about the share split.
According to the reporter’s understanding, the proceeds from Maybach’s auction and live broadcast room tipping on the 28th, after deducting corresponding taxes, will be donated to the 93 Wang Xuan Care Foundation. In addition, the auction buyer (the bidder who buys the auction object at the highest bid) will receive an opportunity to have a meal with Zhou Hongyi once a year in the next three years. The final auction buyer (the bidder who bought the auction object with the highest bid) is Chu Zhenliang. According to his personal page of Tiktok, Chu Zhenliang is currently the executive chairman of Beijing Automobile Circulation Industry Association.
Main business of 360
Recently, Zhou Hongyi’s personal network popularity has reached a new height. After the auction last night, the number of people who liked Tiktok’s live broadcast room was 13.526 million. At present, his Tiktok account has 5.938 million fans and his micro blog has 11.518 million fans.
Last week at the Beijing Auto Show, Zhou Hongyi even climbed directly onto the roof of an off-road vehicle, was photographed and spread online, and was ridiculed by netizens as the “oldest car model at the auto show.”. In response to the popularity of the internet, Zhou Hongyi explained that “top-notch” is to promote and promote domestic new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles, hoping that consumers can see the progress of domestic cars in recent years. “So I want to sell my luxury car from a foreign brand, which is actually a symbolic meaning that I want to support the domestic automotive industry, so it can’t be called ‘top tier’. Everyone is curious and interested in this matter.”
In addition to focusing on new energy vehicles, Zhou Hongyi has also been actively advocating for the development of the large model industry recently. He stated at the Zhongguancun Forum that there are two paths for the development of large models. In addition to growing bigger, they can also become more specialized. The big model is not a foam and will lead a new round of industrial revolution.
Compared to the popularity of the internet, it is the recent performance with a loss of 30-60%. On April 19th, 360 Group released its 2023 financial report, which showed that the company’s revenue in 2023 was 9.055 billion yuan, a decrease of 4.89% compared to 2022; Net loss of 492 million yuan. The net operating cash flow was 924 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 65.84%, and R&D expenses were 3.104 billion yuan, accounting for 34.28% of the revenue; The gross profit margin of the main business is 60.35%.
At the business level, 360’s revenue is mainly composed of Internet business, digital security business and intelligent hardware business. Among them, the Internet business mainly takes traffic as the entrance, forming Internet commercialization business represented by Internet advertising and services, and Internet value-added business represented by Internet products and game distribution.
During the reporting period, the company’s revenue from Internet commercialization and value-added services totaled 5.62 billion yuan, down 2.95% year on year, mainly due to a 4.00% year-on-year decline in Internet advertising and service business, which declined 25.32% year on year in 2022 and 16.06% year on year in 2021. However, the revenue from 360 security and other related businesses was 1.765 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.48%. The operating revenue of the intelligent hardware business during the reporting period was 1.57 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.80%.
According to the financial report, among the top three to six hundred shareholders, Zhou Hongyi and Hu Huan did not make any further changes to their shares except for the share split that occurred during their divorce. On April 4th last year, 360 announced that according to the divorce agreement signed between Zhou Hongyi and Hu Huan, Zhou Hongyi planned to divide his direct holdings of 446.5 million shares of the company (approximately 6.25% of the total shares of the company) into Hu Huan’s shares.
At that time, 360 issued a clarification announcement, stating that Zhou Hongyi, as the actual controller, promised not to reduce his holdings of 360 shares for the next 12 months from April 4, 2023. Hu Huan, who holds 5% of the shares, also promises not to reduce her holdings for 6 months starting from April 4, 2023. As for the next 6 to 12 months, it is not ruled out that Hu Huan will reduce his holdings in the company’s shares, and he promises to reduce his holdings by no more than 1.25% of the total share capital of the company, and will maintain his position as a major shareholder with a shareholding ratio of no less than 5%.
It is worth noting that when the divorce was announced last year, the stock price of 360 was closed at 20.08 yuan. Today, it closed at 8.67 yuan. In less than a year, the company’s stock price dropped by 57%.