Moonshot Kimi on October 12 enters settlement talks with former shareholders over equity dispute worth more than $700 million

Moonshot AI's Kimi entered active settlement talks on October 12 with suing former shareholders in a dispute that may unfold at a critical time for the planned Hong Kong listing. The plaintiffs are Recurrent.ai and a number of investors, who accuse co-founder Yang Zhilin and CTO Zhang Yutao of making false statements and transferring technology and business resources from Recurrent.ai to Kimi without authorization, allegedly for personal gain. Recurrent.ai is demanding 10.5 percent of Kimi's initial equity, valued at more than $700 million, or roughly 5 billion yuan at current valuation. Yang Zhilin has publicly denied the allegations, and his legal representatives stated the claims lack legal and factual basis. Kimi has confidentially submitted a Hong Kong IPO application. Industry analysts believe the shareholder dispute is unlikely to block the IPO directly, but mishandling could raise concerns among potential secondary-market investors about corporate governance, equity clarity, and disclosure quality.