🐯虎嗅•Stalecollected in 16m
AI Stocks Mint Employee Millionaires
💡How Zhipu/MiniMax equity made staff rich—lessons for AI founders
⚡ 30-Second TL;DR
What Changed
Zhipu: 452/883 employees hold 51% shares, avg 36M RMB per holder.
Why It Matters
Sets new equity norms for AI startups to attract scarce talent amid rapid growth.
What To Do Next
Benchmark Zhipu-style broad equity pools for your AI team's retention plan.
Who should care:Founders & Product Leaders
🧠 Deep Insight
Web-grounded analysis with 3 cited sources.
🔑 Enhanced Key Takeaways
- •Zhipu AI's GLM-5 open-source model ranks fourth in overseas token usage on OpenRouter with significant adoption by global developers[2].
- •MiniMax's M2.5 model leads OpenRouter's top ten with 2.57 trillion tokens used last week, ahead of Zhipu GLM-5[2].
- •JPMorgan initiated coverage on Zhipu and MiniMax with 'overweight' ratings, signaling international investor recognition[2].
- •South Korean investors injected $92.5M into Hong Kong-listed AI firms including MiniMax amid the early 2026 rally[1].
📊 Competitor Analysis▸ Show
| Model | Token Usage (trillions, OpenRouter) | Key Benchmark | HK Stock Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| MiniMax M2.5 | 2.57 | Enhanced agentic tools | +13.7% recent surge[1][2] |
| Moonshot Kimi K2.5 | 1.04 | N/A | N/A |
| Zhipu GLM-5 | ~0.8 (4th rank) | Comparable to Claude Opus 4.5 in coding | +30% surge[1][2][3] |
| DeepSeek V3.2 | ~0.7 (5th rank) | N/A | N/A |
🛠️ Technical Deep Dive
- •Zhipu GLM-5: Open-source large language model released early 2026, performs comparably to Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.5 in coding benchmarks; subscription prices for GLM coding plan raised up to 30% due to demand[3].
- •MiniMax M2.5: Open-source model launched recently with enhanced agentic tools; leads global developer adoption with 2.57 trillion tokens on OpenRouter[2][3].
🔮 Future ImplicationsAI analysis grounded in cited sources
Hong Kong will attract more Chinese AI listings by end-2026
Recent listings of Zhipu, MiniMax, Biren Technology, and Tianshu Zhixin position HKEX as a hard-tech financing hub amid US-China tech competition[2].
Zhipu and MiniMax stock volatility will increase if monetization lags
Rally driven by model launches hinges on translating user growth into profits, with narrow trading near analyst targets amid broader market weakness[1].
⏳ Timeline
2025-12
Zhipu AI (HK:2513) and MiniMax (HK:0100) complete Hong Kong listings as first public AI Tigers
2026-02
Zhipu releases GLM-5 open-source model, sparking 20-30% stock surge
2026-02
MiniMax launches M2.5 model with agentic enhancements, leading OpenRouter token usage
2026-03
JPMorgan issues overweight ratings on Zhipu and MiniMax
📎 Sources (3)
Factual claims are grounded in the sources below. Forward-looking analysis is AI-generated interpretation.
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Original source: 虎嗅 ↗