MiniMax raises about $2 billion as CEO forgoes salary until AGI

MiniMax Group, a Hong Kong-listed Chinese AI developer, is raising roughly $2 billion through a share placement and convertible bonds, the company said. Its founder pledged to work without salary until MiniMax achieves artificial general intelligence (AGI). The raise pairs about HK$16 billion of new capital with an unusually personal commitment from the top.

The placement covers 35.6 million new shares at HK$268 each, about $1.2 billion and near a 10% discount, alongside roughly HK$6.5 billion of zero-coupon convertible bonds due 2027. Founder, chairman and Chief Technology Officer Yan Junjie, 36, framed the moment in personal terms. “Effective today, and until the day we achieve AGI, I will no longer accept any salary from the company,” he said. Yan also pledged shares equal to 4% of total equity from his personal holdings to long-term employees over four years, plus another 1% for the open-source community.

The timing is defensive. MiniMax shares fell as much as 18% in one session after a post-IPO lock-up expired, extending a roughly 80% slide from their peak since March. About 80% of the proceeds are earmarked for AI infrastructure and model research, with the rest going to global expansion and its “Harness” AI agent products.

MiniMax said its enterprise and developer customer base grew to more than 1 million by the end of June, up from about 200,000 at the end of 2025, alongside roughly 300 million global consumer users. Those figures are the company’s own and have not been independently verified. AGI has no agreed definition or timeline, which makes the salary pledge as much a signal to investors as a financial commitment.