The transfer, executed on 20 September 2026, is understood to be the largest founder-to-ESOP donation by percentage of share capital in the history of the Hong Kong stock market. It is not a disposal for cash. No shares are being sold into the market; all of them are being placed into a vehicle whose sole economic purpose is to reward and retain employees.Crucially, the arrangement is being funded entirely from the founder's personal shareholding. It involves no issuance of new shares and therefore no dilution to existing shareholders, and it consumes no company capital — no cash, no treasury reserves, no debt. The 120,682,000 shares are being transferred at nil consideration from the founder's own account to the employee incentive platform, meaning the cost of motivating and retaining the core team is borne by the founder, not by public investors or the Company's balance sheet.
Six months of exponential growth
The transfer comes as Duiba's AI short-drama business enters a phase of compounding growth. On Douyin's native end, cumulative playback from June to August rose 178%. In July and August, Duiba ranked top three across the entire industry for two consecutive months and was the only leading player to sustain month-on-month growth above 50% in both months.
Seven years, zero founder selling
Duiba listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 7 May 2019. According to HKEX disclosure records, Mr. Chen Xiaoliang, the founder and controlling shareholder, voluntarily extended the post-IPO lock-up to three years at the time of listing and, from the IPO through the date of the transfer, has never reduced his personal beneficial shareholding.
The 20 September arrangement is therefore the first change in the founder's ownership structure in the seven years since listing — and its direction is unambiguously inward.
"This is the clearest possible signal that the controlling shareholder is backing the next chapter of the business rather than exiting it," a Company spokesperson said. "The shares go to an ESOP vehicle, not to the market."
After completion, Xiaoliang Holding will remain the controlling shareholder with approximately 31.01%, down from 42.21%. Kewei Holding, which currently holds only 0.17%, will hold approximately 11.38%.
A war chest for AI talent
Kewei Holding has undertaken to introduce new incentive schemes with vesting and lock-up arrangements under the Company's equity incentive management measures. The stated focus is AI businesses, with AI short drama at the centre. Existing and future awards will be subject to service and performance conditions, aligning key employees with long-term shareholder value.
The timing is deliberate. The AI short-drama sector is expanding rapidly, but hits remain scarce: fewer than 0.5% of new AI short dramas on Douyin surpass 100 million views. In that environment, the constraint on growth is not capital — it is the ability to retain writers, algorithm engineers, producers and commercialization talent capable of turning AI tooling into repeatable hits.
see more..https://www.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/110236/