Unitree's IPO Creates Batch of Young Millionaires as Multiple Post-90s Tech Backbone Employees Surpass 100 Million Yuan in Wealth

Unitree Technology (688836-CN), hailed as China's "first humanoid robot stock," made its debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market on the 19th, opening at 1,100 yuan per share—an increase of 629.44% over the offering price—and achieving a total market capitalization of 444.9 billion yuan.

Not only did founder Wang Xingxing's personal wealth surge past 100 billion yuan, but a group of long-serving core technical employees also experienced dramatic increases in net worth, with many surpassing the 100-million-yuan threshold.

According to Jiemian News, Unitree established a two-tier employee wealth-sharing mechanism. The first tier is Shanghai Yuyi, a partnership-based equity platform set up prior to the IPO, used for early-stage option incentives. The second tier consists of two dedicated employee asset management plans created specifically for this IPO, participating in strategic allocations.

Before the listing, Shanghai Yuyi held 10.9414% of the company’s shares. Many early core R&D personnel indirectly hold equity through this platform, mostly stemming from early stock options granted at extremely low exercise prices. As early as 2017, the company signed option agreements with several key employees, setting the exercise price at just 1 yuan per registered capital unit.

Specifically, among the two employee asset management plans, Plan No. 1 targets a broader group of backbone employees: 159 employees participated, receiving 1.3561 million shares, with a 12-month lock-up period. Plan No. 2 is smaller in scale, involving only 10 senior executives and core technical staff who received 444,300 shares, subject to a longer 36-month lock-up period, primarily aimed at top-level technical leaders and management.

The list for Plan No. 2 includes founder Wang Xingxing, born in 1990, along with key R&D leads Zhang Yangguang, Yang Zhiyu, and Wu Jinze—all early technical pioneers who joined the company in its formative years.

Wang Xingxing holds a 28.30% share; Zhang Yangguang, Yang Zhiyu, and Wu Jinze each hold 16.98%; Chen Li and Shao Yecheng each hold 5.66%; Yuan Wenzhi holds 3.77%; and Zhao Yongzheng, Chen Zhongkai, and Meng Lingbo each hold 1.89%.

Additionally, Yang Zhiyu, Director of R&D Technical Architecture; Chen Li, Sales Director; and Zhang Yangguang, Director of R&D Technical Software, indirectly hold 0.49%, 0.26%, and 0.15% of the company’s shares respectively through Shanghai Yuyi. Based on a 350-billion-yuan valuation, the market value of their holdings amounts to 1.715 billion yuan, 910 million yuan, and 525 million yuan respectively.

Behind this wealth celebration, however, the humanoid robot industry is far from secure. According to unaudited financial data disclosed in the listing prospectus for the first half of 2026, while Unitree remains profitable, its non-GAAP net profit has declined by 19.34% year-on-year, with R&D and sales expenses continuing to rise.

In terms of revenue structure, Unitree still heavily relies on procurement from scientific research and education sectors, while large-scale commercial deployment in household and industrial applications remains uncertain. Meanwhile, Unitree faces intense competitive risks from Tesla’s Optimus and numerous domestic peers.

For these post-90s technical staff who became paper billionaires overnight, whether their paper wealth can be realized depends ultimately on Unitree’s ability to convert its technological advantages into sustained and growing commercial revenue. For the robotics industry to take over high-intensity, high-risk physical labor, technological breakthroughs are only the first step—the real test lies in large-scale industrial implementation.