Divorce fillings have revealed the former wife of a tech baron has been handed a mind-blowing $US1.3 billion ($A1.92 billion) stake in her ex-husband’s company after their relationship collapsed.
According to Bloomberg, Zhou Hongyi – the founder of cybersecurity firm 360 Security Technology Inc, also known as Qihoo 360, and one of China’s rich-listers – gave his ex-wife Hu Huan a 6.25 per cent stake in the company.
The 52-year-old billionaire chairman remains the controlling shareholder despite the generous slice give to his former wife, who is a Chinese citizen with permanent residency in Singapore.
Few details are known about Hu Huan, however, it is understood she was never an employee of the security software provider and search company and did not own any shares previously.
It is not known whether the former couple have any children.
Zhou Hongyi, who lives in Beijing, made a name for himself as one of China’s first internet entrepreneurs after launching the search engine 3721 back in 1998.
That company was acquired by Yahoo just six years later for a cool $US120 million, before it was sold to Alibaba.
Mr Zhou then founded Qihoo 360 in 2005.
In 2016, he delisted the juggernaut from the New York Stock Exchange and began trading in Shanghai 360 Security Technology Inc in 2018, which sent his net worth skyrocketing to more than $US13 billion, although he has seen his personal wealth fall as a result of China’s recent restrictions on tech firms.
According to the Forbes rich list, Mr Zhao’s net worth currently sits at $US4.1 billion ($A6 billion).
Earlier this month, Mr Zhao made headlines after insisting artificial intelligence development “should not stop” despite fears the technologies could pose risks.
“It’s too early to worry about the risks,” Mr Zhou told Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the Global Times.
“I myself am in the security business, but I firmly believe that the greatest risk to security is the lack of development,” he told the publication in an interview.
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“GPT is the greatest tool of this era. We can use its ability to dramatically increase productivity and improve the ability of individuals themselves, and ordinary people can unlock professional skills and bring their intelligence into play.
“Through human-computer collaboration, we will become the strongest human ever, that is to say, homo sapiens 2.0.”
