Xiaodi Hou, the co-founder and former CEO of self-driving truck startup TuSimple, is demanding that the board instantly liquidate the corporate and return all remaining funds – roughly $450 million – to shareholders “on a pure pro-rata basis, regardless of share class,” in keeping with a letter that TechCrunch has seen.
Hou can also be suing TuSimple and his former co-founder Mo Chen, the corporate’s chief producer and director, to verify {that a} 2022 voting settlement granting Chen management over TuSimple expired in November 2024, which Hou says would revert his voting rights again to him.
Hou has even created an internet site, SaveTuSimple.com, to boost consciousness about his marketing campaign to liquidate TuSimple and return money to shareholders – which embrace Traton Group, Blackrock, and Vanguard. The web site states that as of November 26, TuSimple’s inventory trades at $0.24 per share, whereas holding $1.93 per share in money alone. It advertises that by liquidation, TuSimple shareholders “can immediately realize this 700%+ premium to current market price.”
The letter, lawsuit, and marketing campaign are the newest flareups in an ongoing struggle between TuSimple and a few of its shareholders, which incorporates Hou, over the corporate’s makes an attempt to ship its remaining belongings to China. Before shuttering its U.S. operations and delisting from the inventory market earlier this 12 months, TuSimple was a pre-revenue firm, so any money it has at this time would have come from buyers.
Hou and different shareholders have accused TuSimple’s leaders of diverting belongings in direction of animation and gaming companies linked to Chen, framing it as a enterprise pivot. After shareholders raised issues of self-dealing in an August letter to the board, TuSimple shocked many by unveiling a brand new AI-generated animation and gaming unit.
Earlier this month, Hou urged a California district court docket to subject a brief restraining order on TuSimple to cease the corporate from transferring U.S. belongings to China as a part of an current shareholder lawsuit. Hou stated he was galvanized to motion after noticing filings that he says signaled TuSimple was getting ready to switch massive sums of cash to China.
TuSimple has fought again in opposition to Hou, mentioning its personal litigation alleging commerce secrets and techniques theft after Hou launched his autonomous trucking startup, Bot Auto, in Texas final month.
“As a founder who invested seven years building TuSimple Holdings Inc. and its largest shareholder, it has been disappointing to watch shareholders’ collective investment value plummet by over 91% in less than two years under the leadership of Mo Chen…and Chairman and CEO Cheng Lu,” Hou wrote within the letter which he despatched to the board on Monday.
Hou filed swimsuit in opposition to TuSimple and Chen final week within the Delaware Chancery Court, which is thought to be pleasant to shareholder rights. In the submitting, he additionally requested the court docket to postpone TuSimple’s upcoming annual shareholder assembly, which is at present scheduled for December 20, to “prevent the implementation of proposed significant governance changes before the voting rights dispute is resolved.”
Sources aware of the matter say Hou desires time to solicit proxies to get extra buyers on aspect.
Aside from Hou and Chen, TuSimple’s largest shareholder with an 11.8% stake is Sun Dream, an affiliate of Chinese conglomerate Sina Corporation, an funding that introduced scrutiny from federal regulators.
The remaining massive shareholders are: Logistics large Traton (7.6% stake); Vanguard Group (6.1% stake); BlackRock (5.6% stake); and Camac Partners (5.5% stake). Camac has additionally written to induce the board to maintain TuSimple’s funds within the U.S. The different three buyers didn’t reply in time to TechCrunch to remark.
But earlier than Hou can persuade shareholders to again him, he’ll must get management over his personal shares, that are the topic of his lawsuit.
Hou’s voting settlement
In the autumn of 2022, a probe from the…
