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TuSimple co-founder and former CEO Xiaodi Hou is on the warpath until Friday’s annual shareholder meeting, which will decide the composition of the company’s board of directors.
Over the past few weeks, Hou has sued TuSimple to control voting rights. he demanded the company is immediately liquidated and returns all remaining cash to the shareholders and called to block the courts TuSimple’s ability to send money to China.
Now Hou is pushing shareholders to change the board, even if it means fighting outside the annual meeting. Monday, Hou wrote open letter to notify shareholders of plans to initiate a written consent process to remove the current board of directors and replace them with those who will support the termination. This means that even if the six current board directors are up for re-election at the upcoming annual meeting, shareholders who want to see a change will have the opportunity to try again.
Meanwhile, TuSimple has asked shareholders ahead of its annual meeting to re-elect its current directors and approve a plan to shake up the board. This second proposal, if approved, would block future attempts to oust all board members at once.
TuSimple did not respond to TechCrunch in time for comment.
Howe is pushing for the written consent requirement because it would allow shareholders to remove directors outside of the annual meeting period with the support of a majority of outstanding voting power, he argued in the letter.
TuSimple has been involved in drama since its autonomous trucking company It was introduced to the public in 2021. This latest chapter began after the startup shut down its US operations and delisted In early 2024. TuSimple said it planned to restart AV testing in China, but instead parted ways with most of the self-managing team earlier this year. Now it appears that TuSimple is trying to use its US funds – investor money – which is highly valued before its earnings after the delisting – to pay for a new business unit in AI animation and games. And Shareholders like Hou are not happy.
“I am writing to you today not only as an investor, but as a co-founder who has devoted seven years of passion, energy and personal commitment to making TuSimple a world leader in autonomous driving,” Hou wrote in his letter to shareholders. “Unfortunately, under the company’s current management and board of directors, the company’s chances of achieving this vision are rapidly diminishing. Given the extensive list of issues under the current management team at TuSimple… I believe that a liquidation that could return $1.93 (or more) per share represents the fairest way forward for all of us.
Shares of TuSimple were trading at $0.40 on the over-the-counter market on Monday. Hou’s estimate of earnings of about $2 per share is based on a previous TechCrunch report that found TuSimple had about $450 million in cash remaining in the U.S. as of September.
It was Hou kicked out In 2022, he left his executive position and resigned from the board in 2023. accusations he said he was trying to poach workers for a new venture. Hou said he was fired without cause. And he said resigned from the board in protest amid his successor’s high salary package massive layoffs in the company.
At the end of November Hou sued TuSimple and the company’s co-founder, executive producer and director Mo Chen to regain control of the voting rights. Hou argued that the 2022 voting agreement that gave Chen control of his Class B shares expired in 2024, thus returning his voting rights to him.
TuSimple and Chen argued that even though Hou may currently own the shares, he must still vote as Chen controls.
The dispute over Hou’s 27.9% stake will not be resolved until the first quarter of 2025, when a hearing is scheduled.
