Bitmain legal representative Micree Zhan has reportedly offered to buy out Jihan Wu, in a bid to resolve the ASIC hardware manufacturer’s internal conflicts.
Zhan made the offer to buy out shareholders in a letter he wrote in response to a statement published on Bitmain’s official website, which is reportedly under Wu’s control.
The statement reads, “Bitmain Hong Kong has suspended the chip supply for the time being to Century Cloud Core (Bitmain’s Shenzhen factory), which is now controlled by Zhan’s relatives, until we are assured, through negotiation with Zhan’s relatives, that they are committed to protecting the interest of Bitmain’s customers and of the company as a whole.”
The statement addresses the issues that Bitmain’s Shenzhen factory is having in regards to shipping. The Shenzhen factory has allegedly halted shipments to customers due to an internal struggle for power between Wu and Zhan—as the two battle to decide who really has control of Bitmain.
Zhan’s claims
In Zhan’s response to the statement on the Bitmain website, he mentions all of the illegal things that Wu allegedly did to gain control of the company.
2nd part of the announcement: After Micree took back the control of Beijing Company, Jihan did a series of illegal crazy things. 1. Sent a team to rob business license from Micree. 2. Move company properties and documents . 3. Continue spreading rumors on behalf of bitmain pic.twitter.com/VyxVEnG1Rg
— Molly (@bigmagicdao) June 22, 2020
According to HashKey Hub head of marketing Molly, to illegally gain control of the company, Wu:
“1.Sent a team to rob the business license from Micree. 2. Moved company properties and documents 3. Continued spreading rumors on behalf of Bitmain.”
In addition, Zhan is claiming that Wu forged the shareholder decision that ousted Zhan from his role at the company. Zhan claims that the shareholder meeting that was allegedly held for this matter did not even take place.
The end is near…?
It appears as though both Wu and Zhan are tired of this internal battle and the effect it has taken on Bitmain’s bottom line. In a previous statement made by Wu, he said he would be taking legal action to regain control of the company.
In his statement, Zhan claims he is already in control of the company, with 36% ownership of Bitmain in Cayman, and 59.6% of voting rights (Bitmain Cayman controls Bitmain HK, Bitmain HK controls Bitmain in Beijing). Regardless of Zhan’s current power at the company, he has offered to buy out Wu, as well as employees who have a stake in the company, at a company valuation of $4 billion—to put an end to the power struggle once and for all.
Only time will tell if Wu will take Zhan up on his offer, but given all of the trouble Wu has already gone through in an attempt to establish himself as the sole leader of Bitmain, it is unlikely that Wu will let Zhan buy him out.
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