360 founder, chairman, and CEO Zhou Hongyi has resigned as the chairman and director of Qifu Technology (formerly 360 DigitTech) due to personal reasons, no longer being a member of the company’s board of directors.
On August 14th, Qifu Technology announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that Zhou Hongyi, founder and chairman of the 360 Group, resigned as a director and chairman of Qifu Technology due to personal reasons. The board of directors has approved the appointment of Zhao Fan as the chairman of the board and Liu Xiangge as an independent director, effective from August 13, 2024.
Zhao Fan, the newly appointed chairman, has been serving as an independent director of Qifu Technology since January 2023, as per his resume.
According to Wind data, by the end of 2023, Qifu Technology had issued a total of 327 million shares, with Zhou Hongyi directly and indirectly holding 42.9904 million shares, accounting for 13.16% of the Zhou Hongyi family’s shareholding. In addition, Zhou Hongyi holds more than half of the voting rights.
Formerly known as 360 Finance, Qifu Technology started independent operation in June 2018, went public in the United States in December of the same year, and secondary-listed in Hong Kong in November 2022. On August 8, 2020, 360 Finance was officially renamed as 360 DigitTech.
On the evening of February 14 last year, 360 DigitTech announced the rebranding to Qifu Technology, stating a full focus on financial technology strategy to help financial institutions achieve digital transformation.
Qifu Technology is a credit technology platform that assists financial institutions, consumers, and small and micro-enterprises in the loan lifecycle, providing services such as borrower acquisition, initial credit assessment, fund matching, and post-loan services.
In December 2014, Zhou Hongyi invested $409.5 million with Coolpad to establish the joint venture Qiku Technology, where Zhou Hongyi served as CEO.
Of note, Zhou Hongyi’s earliest establishment, the 360 Group, has been mired in losses in recent years. In 2022, the company incurred losses of 2.204 billion yuan and 492 million yuan in 2023, with its latest market value standing at only 51 billion yuan, experiencing a nearly 20% decline in stock price over the year.
Recently, 360 Company announced that its controlling shareholder, Qixin Zhicheng, decided to dissolve and liquidate, distributing its 46.14% stake to shareholders through non-trading transfers. Following the equity changes, Zhou Hongyi’s direct shareholding increased from 5.24% to 13.26%, making him the largest shareholder of 360 Company.
In June last year, Zhou Hongyi became involved in a high-profile divorce case of a listed A-share company, transferring 446.5 million shares (approximately 6.25% of the total company shares) to his ex-wife Hu Huan, with a total value of nearly 7 billion yuan, which had attracted considerable attention from the public.