Wife of late SenseTime co-founder inherits 20% stake worth $1.6B

The wife of a SenseTime co-founder is now the company’s largest shareholder, after inheriting 20 percent of the company, a stake worth approximately $1.6 billion, from her late husband.

Yang Qiumei took ownership of more than 6.9 billion unlisted Class A shares in the company on August 19, following the death of her husband Tang Xiao’ou last December, reports The Standard. The shares were converted to Class B shares and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange later the same month.

Yang currently serves as managing director and advisor to the CEO of the Hong Kong stock exchange.

At the time of Tang’s death, SenseTime shares were in the midst of an extended sell-off, declining from a peak of HK$3.30 (US$0.42) in April of 2023 to HK$1.12 ($0.14) in the wake of his passing. The shares continued to slide, reaching a low of HK$0.58 ($0.075) each in April of this year.

With the introduction of a stimulus package by China’s central bank, the share price has rebounded to HK$1.77 ($0.23) as of Thursday trading.

SenseTime reports a net loss of 2.46 billion Chinese yuan ($350 million) in the first half of 2024 on revenue of 1.74 billion ($250 million), with both figures representing 21 percent improvements from the same period a year ago.

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