A CO-FOUNDER of SenseTime Group Inc lost almost half of his fortune after shares of the artificial intelligence giant plummeted as much as 51% on Thursday.

Tang Xiao’ou, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate and information engineering professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has a 21% stake in the company. His net worth plunged by about US$2.3 billion (RM10.12 billion) to US$2.9 billion, based on the intraday share price, dropping him off a list of the world’s 500 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The fall of SenseTime occurred after the lock-up period on a portion of shares held by cornerstone investors and stakeholders expired a day earlier. Some executives, including CEO Xu Li, pledged to extend the lock-up of their shares until Dec 29.

The tech company completed a Hong Kong listing in December despite US sanctions, and surged as much as 23% on debut. Thursday’s slump dragged the stock below the IPO price for the first time.

SenseTime’s technology has been deployed in a range of areas, including assisting police in China, providing product placements in films and creating an augmented reality scene in a mobile game by Tencent Holdings Ltd.

SenseTime reported revenue of 4.7 billion yuan (RM3.1 billion) and a loss of 6.9 billion yuan last year.

The company dropped to trade at as low as HK$2.91 (RM1.63) apiece, the lowest ever and below its initial public offering price of HK$3.85. A lock-up on a portion of the stock owned by cornerstone investors and shareholders — amounting to 23.4 billion of shares — expired on Wednesday.

“SenseTime’s average liquidity looks very low, and it’s also subject to US sanctions. That means its investor base is probably more concentrated, so the impact of lockup expiry is higher,” said Vey-Sern Ling, senior analyst with Union Bancaire Privée.

SenseTime joined a list of technology companies that have seen insiders selling their shares after a strong rebound since mid-March. This week, Tencent Holdings Ltd’s major backer announced it will further cut its stake in the company. In May, JD Health International Inc.’s controller Richard Liu sold his stake in the company.

Selling pressure is not removed for SenseTime as another block of shares owned by its shareholders is set to expire near the end of this year, Bloomberg-compiled data show. The stock has rallied 18% since mid-April through Wednesday.

It shows that stakeholders are not optimistic on Sensetime’s outlook said Marvin Chen, a strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. “There were concerns on growth outlook and earnings potential during the IPO. Also, early IPO investors in Sensetime should have been well aware of the potential risks and volatility due to potential US blacklists and bans.”

Chen does not think SenseTime’s move has broad implications on China tech.

SenseTime, China’s most valuable private AI firm, was one of the highest-profile targets of sanctions from Washington aimed at containing China’s tech rise. Like Huawei Technologies Co and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, the company was regarded as a national champions, a leader in a burgeoning field considered key to establishing China’s tech credentials globally.

SenseTime’s plummet takes the on-paper loss for SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which holds about 4.7 billion shares, to about $1.5 billion in a single day, Redex Research analyst Kirk Boodry estimated.

Bloomberg reported in December that SenseTime secured funding from nine cornerstone investors including state-backed Mixed-Ownership Reform Fund and Shanghai Xuhui Capital Investment Co.

SenseTime went public at the end of December after the original share-sale schedule was derailed after a move by the US Treasury Department to sanction the company for its alleged role in creating facial-recognition software used in the oppression of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang autonomous region of western China. — Bloomberg