Public documents show: Wu Jihan is no longer the legal representative of Bitmain.

According to a recent public registration document, Jihan Wu, co-founder of Bitmain, is no longer the legal representative of the company.

According to data from the corporate information database Tianyancha, Wu Jihan no longer serves as the legal representative of Bitmain starting from January 2. Meanwhile, Liu Luyao, who has been the CFO since 2018, will take over as the general manager and legal representative of the company.

Top Management Shake-up

Reports indicate that since October last year, Bitmain has been undergoing a series of power struggles internally. Wu Jihan first returned to Bitmain, removed co-founder Micree Zhan, and sent an email to employees:

Bitmain co-founder, legal representative, and executive director Wu Jihan has decided to immediately dismiss Micree Zhan from all positions. No employee shall have any contact with Micree Zhan or attend any meetings organized by him. Depending on the circumstances, Bitmain may terminate the employment contracts of personnel who violate this notice.

By December, this personnel struggle had entered a new phase. Micree Zhan filed a lawsuit against Bitmain, seeking to invalidate the shareholder resolution that led to his removal and regain control of Bitmain.

Plans for Another Large-scale Layoff

In addition to the personnel struggles, Chinese media reports that Bitmain is considering a "personnel optimization plan." However, "plan" is just a euphemism for layoffs, as the mining giant is set to carry out a large-scale layoff before its annual meeting in mid-January.

In response, Micree Zhan posted on Weibo on January 6, expressing strong opposition to the layoffs. In an open letter, he stated:

Compared to competitors' thousand-member teams, Bitmain's AI business line has less than 800 people, and the company's funds and asset reserves can withstand the expenses of this business line.

In fact, back in December 2018, Bitmain had already undergone a large-scale layoff, affecting approximately 50% of its employees. At that time, Bitmain stated that the layoffs were part of building a sustainable business and that they would continue to recruit outstanding talents from various backgrounds in the future.

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