A company with a market value of hundreds of billions, having just recovered through hit games, sees its controlling shareholder opting to sell shares to repay debts first.
On the evening of May 8, Century Huatong (Rights Protection) disclosed a share reduction plan. The company's largest shareholder and actual controller, Wang Ji, along with his concert party Jiyunsheng, plans to reduce their holdings by no more than 220 million shares through centralized bidding and block trades between May 30 and August 29, 2026, accounting for 3% of the company's total share capital. Based on the closing price of 15.96 yuan per share on May 8, this corresponds to an estimated cash-out amount of approximately 3.511 billion yuan. The reason given in the announcement is straightforward: personal funding needs, primarily for debt repayment.
For Century Huatong, this is not an ordinary shareholder reduction. The company has just emerged from the shadow of being labeled ST, and its performance has shown significant recovery, yet the personal debt pressure on the actual controller has now been brought to the market's attention. Following the announcement, on May 11, Century Huatong's stock price fell by over 7% intraday, closing down 4.26%. Market concerns about the major shareholder's funding chain were quickly reflected in the stock price.
As of the announcement date, Wang Ji directly holds 764 million shares of Century Huatong, representing 10.40% of the company's total share capital; Jiyunsheng holds 196 million shares, representing 2.67%. Together, they hold 960 million shares, accounting for 13.07%. If the reduction is completed at the upper limit, the combined holdings of Wang Ji and his concert parties, Jiyunsheng and Shaoxing Shangyu Jiren, will decrease to approximately 865 million shares, representing 11.78% of the company's total share capital, still making them the largest shareholder.
This planned reduction, aimed at cashing out 3.5 billion yuan, brings back into focus the high-leverage path Wang Ji took to gain control of Century Huatong.
Wang Ji's involvement with Century Huatong began with the merger and acquisition of gaming assets. In 2014, Century Huatong acquired 100% of Tianyou Software, founded by Wang Ji, officially transitioning from auto parts manufacturing to the gaming sector, and Wang Ji entered the listed company system. Subsequently, Century Huatong expanded its gaming footprint through mergers and acquisitions, gradually becoming a leading gaming company in the A-share market.
What truly changed the company's control structure was in 2021. At that time, Wang Ji acquired a 5% stake from Century Huatong's former actual controller, Wang Miao Tong. According to previous media reports, the funds Wang Ji used to increase his stake in Century Huatong came from a loan from Tencent, with an annualized compound interest rate of 8%, accumulating approximately 726 million yuan in interest over three years. Leveraging this transaction, Wang Ji further solidified his position as the largest shareholder and assumed the role of Chairman of Century Huatong in August 2021.
Securing control through high leverage was essentially a bet on the company's future value. However, what followed for Century Huatong was not just the expansion of its gaming business but also the aftermath of mergers and acquisitions, goodwill impairment, and regulatory penalties.
In 2019, Century Huatong completed a significant asset restructuring with Shengqu Games, after which its goodwill scale once soared. The China Securities Regulatory Commission's administrative penalty decision revealed that Century Huatong's annual reports from 2018 to 2022 contained false records, involving issues such as goodwill impairment testing, disclosure of goodwill original value, segment reporting, and revenue recognition. In 2024, the company was ordered to make corrections, given a warning, and fined 8 million yuan; Wang Ji, as a relevant responsible person, was warned and fined 1.9 million yuan.
In other words, after Wang Ji bet on gaining control of Century Huatong, the company has been dealing with accounting and compliance issues left by past aggressive mergers and acquisitions while waiting for its gaming business to regain performance elasticity. By 2025, Century Huatong finally delivered a reversal in its financial report.
In 2025, the company achieved total operating revenue of 37.898 billion yuan, net profit attributable to shareholders of 5.605 billion yuan, and net cash inflow from operating activities of 8.564 billion yuan. Entering the first quarter of 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of 11.01 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.19%; net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.027 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50.18%, with revenue growth in the online gaming segment during the reporting period.
Two narratives currently coexist for Century Huatong: one is the renewed growth of its gaming business and high profits; the other is the planned substantial share reduction by the actual controller for debt repayment, with the ledger from past high-leverage control acquisition not yet fully closed. What the market truly cares about may not be how much the 220 million shares ultimately sell for, but whether the high-leverage control chain between Wang Ji and Century Huatong can truly cool down after the 3.5-billion-yuan reduction.