China’s AI giant, Hanwuji Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Hanwuji), recently announced that the company is being sued by its former Vice President, Liang Jun, who has already left his position. The lawsuit claims an amount close to 4.3 billion yuan. The court has accepted the case for trial.
On October 31st, Hanwuji announced that they were being sued by Liang Jun, who left the company in early 2022. The case concerns a labor dispute with the disputed amount being the same as claimed in Liang Jun’s lawsuit.
Liang Jun alleges that on February 10, 2022, Hanwuji failed to fulfill the terms of the “Letter of Intent for Employment” and did not provide labor conditions as agreed in the employment contract, leading him to terminate the labor contract. On January 2, 2024, the shares of Hanwuji that he indirectly held became unrestricted. Liang Jun had requested to sell off some of his shares, but Hanwuji did not cooperate.
Hanwuji clarified that Liang Jun’s “equity incentive” is part of an employee stock ownership plan and not direct equity. As he left during the lock-up period of the equity, the company has initiated the forced repurchase of his shares according to the contract terms.
According to Hanwuji, Liang Jun notified the company of termination of his labor contract on February 10, 2022, due to disagreements with the company. Since he left during the lock-up period of his shares, the company executed a forced repurchase. However, Liang Jun refused to cooperate with the repurchase process. Subsequently, in 2023, the entities related to the equity incentive program filed a lawsuit against Liang Jun, requesting the court to order him to assist in completing the transfer of equity. The repurchase case is ongoing, awaiting the court’s judgment.
Hanwuji’s lawyers, commissioned by the company, analyzed that Liang Jun left the company in early 2022, during a period where the equity could not be disposed of. According to the terms of the company’s “Equity Incentive Plan” signed by Liang Jun himself, his equity holdings should be repurchased according to the agreed procedure and price, contrary to Liang Jun’s current lawsuit seeking compensation for “equity incentive losses,” which does not align with the agreement in the signed plan.
Hanwuji’s public statement mentioned that, given the ongoing repurchase case awaiting court judgment, and as the lawsuit has only received a copy of the complaint from the court and has not yet been scheduled for trial.
Public records indicate that Liang Jun was born in 1976. From 2000 to 2003, he worked as an engineer at Huawei’s Beijing Research Institute. From 2003 to 2017, he held various engineering positions at Huawei’s Basic Business Unit and HiSilicon Semiconductor Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen. He joined Hanwuji in 2017 and later served as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
In 2020, Hanwuji went public on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, with Liang Jun indirectly holding over 11.5 million shares of the company. These shares are considered “incentive shares.”
In March 2022, Hanwuji issued a statement regarding Liang Jun’s resignation, citing “disagreements with the company” as the reason. At the time, Hanwuji responded specifically to the reasons for Liang Jun’s departure, mentioning that the disagreements mainly revolved around the future development of the company.
Back then, Liang Jun also filed a labor dispute lawsuit with the Haidian Court, seeking compensation of 4.287 billion yuan for his equity incentive losses.