Most of us cringe when thinking about the prospect of dividing your marital assets with an ex-spouse. Who gets what and why? The process is too important to overlook but can be a painful headache if handled incorrectly. But few divorces can compare to a settlement recently announced in Chinese headlines.
Zhou Yahui, who is the current and respected chairman of an online gaming company, Beijin Kunlun Tech, is divorcing his wife. As part of the divorce settlement, he will be transferring her company stocks valued at around $1.1 billion. There are high-asset divorces and then there areextremely high asset divorces!
While $1 billion is certainly nothing to scoff at, Zhou will still keep the majority of his company’s stocks, keeping him in control of the firm and keeping him above water. In early 2016, the company’s total value was estimated around $3.5 billion. Furthermore, the transfer of stocks can be easier than actually moving money from one account to another in the way that it does not appreciably affect controlling interests; it can also divide corporate holdings without having to adjust for tax implications and potential fees.
Zhou made a sizeable portion of his fortune after buying the majority of the popular dating app, Grindr, which marked him as one of China’s many newly-founded billionaires. The country does not expect his divorce to be the last in the news, as the rate of divorces is on the rise in China.
Finally, it is worth noting that a $1.1 billion settlement is jaw-dropping but it is likely not record-breaking. Numerous billionaires have divorced in recent years but managed to keep their agreements out of the public’s eye; it is believed many ex-spouse’s collected a billion dollars or more in marital assets. And back in 2014, a Swiss court nearly made a Russian oligarch hand over $4.5 billion to an ex-wife, but the amount was reduced after an appeal.
If you would like more information about Zhou’s divorce, CNN Money posted an informative article online (click here to view). For divorce law information in Rhode Island, be sure to contactTJC • ESQ and our team of highly-experience Providence family law attorneys today.
