The power struggle between Bitmain co-founders Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu appears to be over. In one Tweet on January 26, Wu announced that it would be leaving the company.
The former Bitmain CEO and board member posted a goodbye message announcing that the long-standing disagreement between ousted co-founder Zhan and himself had been “amicably” and “constructively” resolved.
“I am stepping down as CEO and Chairman of Bitmain as of today,” said Wu after nearly eight years with the company.
As part of the deal, Zhan bought roughly half of the Bitmain shares from Wu and other people for $ 600 million. The Bitmain co-founder reportedly received a $ 400 million loan from the crypto-mining giant and pledged to raise “another $ 200 million from outside the group.”
Bitmain has $ 327 million in fiat cash, according to Wu. That is “twice as much as is required by the preferred shareholders in order to conclude this settlement”. He reported that Bitmain’s financial condition was “strong and healthy” and unlikely to feel any impact from the loan to Zhan.
However, Wu does not want to withdraw completely from the crypto industry. He noted that the company’s own contract cloud mining service Bitdeer will be spun off from Bitmain. Wu will then be chairman there. Zhan will head the Antpool crypto mining group once it becomes “an independent company”.
This agreement was preceded by a long power struggle between the two crypto mining giants. Zhan and Wu are said to have agreed on a $ 600 million settlement in December. Sequoia Capital acted as an intermediary after Zhan initially offered to buy Wus and other Bitmain stocks for $ 4 billion in June.
The fight began with Wu ousting Zhan from Bitmain in October 2019. At the time, Zhan was the company’s largest shareholder. He later described Wu’s actions as an “illegal seizure of power”.
After Zhan was ousted, Bitmain went on the offensive, publicly stating that he had no right to act as the mining giant’s legal representative or to give notices and instructions to employees of the company. Legal action against Zhan has also been reported.
The Bitmain manager hit back in a number of ways. He filed two lawsuits against the various Bitmain entities in an attempt to regain his position. He accused Wu of spreading rumors, sent a group of people to steal a physical copy of his business license, and embezzled company assets. Zhan and a team of security guards are supposed to open the company’s Beijing branch in May stormed to have.
Bitmain was worth nearly $ 12 billion in August 2019 before that battle for control rocked the leadership, production, and media coverage of the crypto mining giant. Wu’s message suggests that Bitmain is still planning to go public. The company’s first attempt to apply for an IPO in September 2018 was unsuccessful.
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