In response to recent online rumors, on May 7, 360 Company issued a statement saying that there was no financial difficulty and that it would investigate legal responsibility for false rumors according to law.
It is worth noting that on May 7, Zhou Hongyi's live broadcast trial ride on a flying car exploded again, and finally received more than 10 million viewers. On the same day, the 360 share price also rose by the intraday limit. As of the end of the day, the share price was 9.42 yuan, up 7.53%. The company's latest market value was 67.3 billion yuan.
360's response: there is no financial difficulty
It is understood that with the flow of Zhou Hongyi, the founder and chairman of 360 Group, "going out of business", there was a rumor that he was "struggling in the capital market" on the Internet a few days ago, and investors asked the company to respond to the rumor that "President Zhou borrowed 20 billion yuan during the privatization of the company, all shares held are currently pledged, and there are liquidity problems".
On May 7, 360 company issued a statement on the microblog platform that the company successfully delisted from the US stock market in July 2016 and returned to A-share market in February 2018. In order to complete the privatization M&A, Tianjin Qixin Zhicheng Technology Co., Ltd., the largest shareholder of the company, lent 3 billion US dollars (about 20.13 billion yuan at that time) to China Merchants Bank, and pledged its 3600 shares.
According to the announcement disclosed by 360, the principal and interest of the loan had been fully paid off as early as June 30, 2023, and the share pledge had been fully released on July 31, 2023. As of March 31, 2024, 360 million has about 26.9 billion yuan in monetary capital, and there is no financial difficulty. For false rumors fabricated out of thin air, 360 will resolutely pursue legal responsibility.
Live broadcast the test flight car, denying that it is the top stream of the circle
Following the live auction of Maybach, on May 7, Zhou Hongyi launched a live trial flight car.
During the live broadcast, Zhou Hongyi, Zhao Deli, founder of Xiaopeng Huitian, Jing Long, member of the China Light Aircraft National Team, and other guests jointly discussed the industrial value and development prospects of low altitude economy, and discussed flight control rights, data transmission security and other issues.
Zhou Hongyi said in the live broadcast that with the development of the national new energy automobile industry, the industry has accumulated a lot of technology and supply chain in the fields of motors, batteries, etc. These provide opportunities for the development of low altitude economy. In the future, intelligent aircraft will become a revolutionary product.
However, due to the failure to complete the relevant flight test procedures, Zhou Hongyi failed to take off the flying car he piloted, leading to his hat falling "mad" during the live broadcast, and said: "No recording, aren't you fooling me?"
From the perspective of communication effect, topics such as "Zhou Hongyi's live broadcast was angry" and "Zhou Hongyi's test drive of a flying car could not take off" once hit the hot search on that day, and the live broadcast finally received more than 10 million viewers.
On May 7, Zhou Hongyi posted several microblogs saying that he had experienced the charm of a low altitude economy. This was his first time to take a small plane and changed his prejudice against small planes. At the same time, "some netizens said that I was angry, and some netizens said that my anger was also a 'script arrangement', which was harmless."
However, Zhou Hongyi's response to the netizen's suggestion of "changing from car to plane" was "nonsense". He preferred to change the car. He thinks that China is just around the corner to become the first camp in the new energy intelligent connected vehicle, and the next step is the low altitude economic aircraft.
In addition, Zhou Hongyi also said that he was really not the top driver of the car circle and would not be a car critic. "I just want to choose some new energy vehicles for myself, and also drive more entrepreneurs to refuel and power up domestic new energy vehicles."
