Wife of late SenseTime co-founder becomes billionaire following inheritance from husband

Yang received 6.9 billion unlisted Class A shares in August and later converted them into Hong Kong-listed Class B shares, accounting for about 20% of total issued shares across both classes, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing a regulatory filing in August.

Yang Qiumei, managing director and advisor to the CEO at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. Photo courtesy of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

The stake, which she inherited from her late husband Tang Xiao’ou, makes her the firm’s largest shareholder.

Yang is the managing director and advisor to the CEO at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), a role she took on in May 2022, according to an announcement on HKEX’s website.

Before that, she served as the Asia Pacific CEO at ICI Global, an association representing regulated funds globally, from 2013 to 2018 and the head of mainland development and deputy head of market development at HKEX from 2010 to 2013.

SenseTime was co-founded by Yang’s late husband, Tang Xiao’ou, in 2014 and later became one of China’s largest artificial intelligence firms.

It made a highly anticipated debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2021 and reported revenues of 3.4 billion yuan (US$483 million) last year.

Tang, who was a major shareholder of the firm with a 21% stake, passed away last December due to an undisclosed illness, Fortune magazine reported, citing information disclosed by SenseTime.

He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a professor in Hong Kong recognized as a pioneer in China’s AI sector.

His net worth was last estimated at $1.1 billion before his passing, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.