The murderer who poisoned Lynch was sentenced to death, what happened to Youzu in recent years?
出品|三言Pro 作者|Doraemon
There is the latest development in the case of the poisoning of Lynch, the former chairman of Youzu Network.
Today, the Shanghai Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court publicly announced the verdict in the case of Xu Yao's intentional homicide and disseminating dangerous substances, sentencing Xu Yao to death for intentional homicide and depriving him of his political rights for life, and sentencing Xu Yao to six years' imprisonment for the crime of disseminating dangerous substances, and deciding to carry out the death sentence and deprive him of his political rights for life.
After trial, the court found that Xu Yao had a conflict with Lynch over the company's operation and management. Between December 14 and 15, 2020, Lynch was poisoned in food items, resulting in Lynch's death from poisoning.
In addition, Xu Yao also had conflicts with Zhao Mou A and Zhao Mou B for work reasons, and from September to December 2020, he poisoned drinks and other items in the office of the two, until Zhao Mou A and Zhao Mou B were poisoned.
Leaving a "pile of troubles" after death
On December 25, 2020, Youzu Network announced on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that Lynch, the chairman and general manager, actual controller, and controlling shareholder, passed away on the same day due to ineffective treatment.
Lynch's poisoning immediately attracted a lot of attention, although the murderer Xu Yao was arrested shortly after, but in the three years since Lynch left, his posthumous affairs have not subsided.
On January 11, 2021, Youzu Network announced that after Lynch's death, his estate will be inherited by his three children, and his ex-wife Xu Fenfen will become the chairman and actual controller of the company.
Hanji 杀出 "Unmarried Child"
But the issue of the distribution of Lynch's estate has not been smooth.
After the relevant announcement of Youzu Network was issued, a netizen nicknamed "Sweet and Sour Tenderloin" soon broke the news that Lynch and his sister had a son, named Lin Zhengqing, and should also have the right to inherit.
The netizen who broke the news accused Youzu Network of deliberately concealing the matter, carrying out equity inheritance prematurely, concealing the information of Lynch's youngest son, and suspected of behind-the-scenes transactions. and also posted the birth certificate of Lynch's suspected illegitimate child and a lawyer's letter.
This matter immediately attracted a lot of attention, and the outside world speculated a lot about the identity of "sweet and sour loin" and the "sister" in its mouth, but on the one hand, Youzu Network responded that it had no comment, and on the other hand, the matter quickly subsided, but it is not clear how to solve it.
On January 15, 2021, Youzu Network announced that the 5.2 million shares held by the company's former controlling shareholder Lynch were frozen by the judiciary, and the application for freezing was made on January 13, 2021. In this regard, Youzu Network said that the applicant for the judicial freezing of equity has signed a "settlement agreement" with Lynch's close relatives on January 14, and according to the relevant agreement, the applicant will apply to withdraw the lawsuit and revoke all property preservation measures within 2 days after the agreement is signed.
The children have frequently become defendants, and their shares have been frozen
The issue of "inheritance rights for children born out of wedlock was not the only "trouble" after Lynch's death.
Before Lynch's death, many debt problems became "thunder", which were "detonated" after Lynch's children inherited equity.
Before Lynch's death, there was a large number of pledges of his shares in listed companies, and as the company's stock price fell, he faced a repurchase default. Therefore, the equity pledged by Lynch was frozen and forcibly reduced in a large area.
This has also led to Lynch's three children becoming defendants repeatedly.
On August 12, 2022, Youzu Network issued an announcement stating that some of the shares in the names of the company's shareholders Lin Qi, Lin Ruijing and Lin Xiaoxi were frozen by the judiciary. From August 11, a total of 4,806,900 shares of Lynch, Lin Ruijing, and Lin Xiaoxi have been frozen, and the expiration date of the freeze is August 10, 2025, and the applicant for freezing is the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
As of August 2022, the cumulative number of shares held by Lynch has reached 52.4908 million shares, accounting for 70.43% of his shareholding ratio and 5.73% of the total share capital of Youzu shares. Lin Li, Lin Ruijing, and Lin Xiaoxi were frozen a total of 19.326 million shares, accounting for 17.1% of the total shareholding ratio of the three and 2.11% of the total share capital of Youzu shares.
According to media analysis, the main reason for the repeated freezing of the shares held by Lynch and his children is that they have not fulfilled the relevant repurchase obligations in a timely manner.
In October 2022, Three-Body Universe (Shanghai) Cultural Development Co., Ltd. added a number of equity freezing information, and the executors were Lin Xiaoxi, Lin Ruijing, and Lin Li, shareholders of Three-Body Universe Company, and the related cases involved Ningbo Zhaocai Tengfei Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and other executions of Lin Xiaoxi, Lin Ruijing, and Lin Li, with the amount of frozen equity of 1 million yuan, and the enforcement case number was (2022) Fa Zhi Hu 01 Zhi Zi No. 1043.
In addition, in another case with case number (2022) Hu 01 Zhi No. 1031, Ningbo Zhaocai Tengfei Investment has applied for compulsory enforcement of 260 million yuan against Lin Xiaoxi, Lin Ruijing, and Lin Li.
In December of the same year, Youzu Network once again announced that some of the company's shares under the names of Lin Li, Lin Ruijing and Lin Xiaoxi had been judicially frozen, and a total of 93,716,800 shares were judicially frozen, accounting for 10.23% of the company's total share capital. The above three shareholders have accumulated 113 million frozen shares, accounting for 100% of their shares and 12.34% of the company's total share capital.
Just after the Spring Festival this year, on February 18, 2024, Youzu Network announced that Lin Xiaoxi, Lin Ruijing, and Lin Li held a total of 50.239 million shares of listed companies that have been judicially frozen by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
According to reports, the cause of action of the judicial case is other tort liability disputes, and the plaintiff is Shanghai Yiqi Leading Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership).
The equity has been frozen repeatedly, and Lynch's children have been defendants many times, which fully shows that while inheriting finances, Lynch's debts are also inherited.
Youzu's performance is poor, and Shanghai Jiayou has become the largest shareholder
Not only that, after Xu Fenfen took over the company, she was unable to recover the decline.
According to the financial report, in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the operating income of Youzu Network will be 4.703 billion yuan, 3.204 billion yuan, and 1.981 billion yuan respectively, a year-on-year change of 46.04%, -31.87%, and -38.19%, and the revenue will continue to decline. Net profit was -188 million yuan, 168 million yuan and -635 million yuan.
Not long after Xu Fenfen took over the company, there were rumors that Youzu Network would be sold, and potential buyers included Kuaishou, Bilibili, Sina, etc. Finally, in 2023, the rumor has come to fruition.
On January 2, 2023, Youzu Network announced that the three heirs of Lynch, the company's original controlling shareholder and actual controller, and his legal guardian signed the "Share Transfer Framework Agreement" with Shanghai Jiayou Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) (Shanghai Jiayou), intending to transfer 12.34% of the shares held by Lynch's three children to Shanghai Jiayou. After the completion of the transfer, Shanghai Jiayou will become the largest shareholder.
Regarding the impact of this transaction on the company, Youzu Network said that if the equity change is smoothly promoted and finally implemented, the company's largest shareholder will be changed to Shanghai Jiayou, and the company will continue to adhere to the strategic route of "global card +" in the future, focus on the development of the main game business, enhance the company's comprehensive strength and share the company's long-term value with shareholders.
In March 2023, after the completion of the share transfer, Xu Fenfen announced that she would resign as the chairman of Youzu Network for personal reasons.
After the Lin family withdrew, Wan Zheng, the largest shareholder and actual controller of Shanghai Jiayou, officially joined the Youzu. On April 21, 2023, the board of directors of Youzu elected Wan Zheng as the chairman. In the same month, Chen Fang, CEO of Youzu Network, revealed in an open letter that Wan Zheng joined the game industry after graduation and has nearly 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and investment.
In addition, it is reported that after Wan Zheng joined Youzu, he began to adjust the organizational structure. On the one hand, a large number of new school students were cut, and on the other hand, there were personnel changes in the management. Former executives Liu Wanqin and Sun Li left the board of directors and joined Wan Zheng and two post-90s directors, one of whom is former League of Legends professional player Misaya Ruofeng.
In recent years, Lynch's children have successively reduced their holdings of Youzu.
As of the end of 2022, Lin Xiaoxi, Lin Ruijing, and Lin Li all held 4.11% of Youzu's shares, and in March 2023, Lin Xiaoxi, Lin Ruijing, Lin Li and Xu Fenfen transferred their shares accounting for 11.72% of the total share capital of the listed company to Shanghai Jiayou through an agreement transfer.
In August 2023, Lynch's 7.76% stake was unbundled and later inherited to his three children, each of whom held about 2.59% of the shares as of the end of August 2023.
From September to December 2023, Lin Ruijing and Lin Xiaoxi reduced their holdings by a total of 17.86 million shares through block trading, and as of December 6, 2023, Lin Ruijing's and Lin Xiaoxi's shareholding ratios decreased to 2.29% and 0.93%, respectively.
"Three-Body Problem" IP: Comfort Lynch's spirit in the sky
Although Lynch left his family with high debts, he also left some valuable assets, such as the "Three-Body Problem" IP.
Lynch himself is a fan of Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" novel, so he specially bought the copyright of the novel, and also established the Three-Body Universe Company, focusing on the development of the "Three-Body Problem" project.
At present, the first season of "The Three-Body Problem" has been broadcast, and the response from all parties is good, and the attention is very high. However, from a certain point of view, Lynch's murder is also related to his high-hopeful "Three-Body Problem" project.
Because of the "Three-Body Problem" project, Lynch recruited Xu Yao in 2017 as the company's Chief Risk Management Officer; in 2018, Xu Yao served as the CEO of Three-Body Universe, responsible for the incubation and development of the "Three-Body Problem" IP.
In 2020, Xu Yao appeared as the CEO of the Three-Body Universe
However, it is rumored that because the "Three-Body Universe" has not improved for a long time, Lynch eventually lost confidence in Xu Yao, and at the same time, Xu Yao was dissatisfied with Lynch.
Lynch, the chief producer of the "Three-Body Problem" TV series, has been blackboxed.
On December 14, 2020, the "Three-Body Problem" TV series was completed, and Lynch was admitted to the hospital three days later and never came out of the hospital again.
On January 15, 2023, "The Three-Body Problem" premiered on Tencent Video. At present, the first season has ended, and it is still broadcast in the United States, Russia and other countries, and has been well received.
On March 21, the Netflix (Netflix) version of "The Three-Body Problem" was released, which is also the best consolation for Lynch, who has passed away for 3 years.