(Yicai Global) April 4 -- The chief executive officer of Chinese takeout titan Meituan, who has cashed in USD53.6 million worth of shares in Li Auto in the past two weeks, is selling his personal stake in the Chinese electric vehicle startup and it only amounts to a tiny proportion of his total holdings, The Paper reported today, citing the carmaker.

Wang Xing, who is also a co-founder of Meituan, has pared his stake in Li Auto to 22.35 percent from 22.57 percent in nine separate sell-offs since March 20, the report said. He has only sold equity he owns, and not any that belongs to Beijing-based Meituan. Precise shareholder information will be released later in its 2022 annual report.

Wang Xing offloaded 400,000 shares in Li Auto on March 30 at an average price of HKD97.74 apiece, bagging HKD39.1 million (USD5 million), according to the Hong Kong stock exchange website.

This was Wang Xing’s ninth transaction since March 20. In total, the business mogul has secured USD53.6 million, raising HKD310 million (USD39.5 million) from six share sales in Hong Kong and USD14.1 million from three in New York.

It could be that Wang Xing is raising cash as he prepares for another venture. Wang Xing said early last month that he will participate in the Series A fundraising of another Meituan co-founder Wang Huiwen’s artificial intelligence startup Guangnianwai Technology.

Wang Xing and Meituan were early investors in Li Auto. In 2019, Wang Xing led the Beijing-based firm’s Series C round, contributing over half of the USD530 million raised. The following year, Meituan invested USD500 million of the USD550 million secured in the D round. And when Li Auto went public in July 2020, Meituan and Wang subscribed to USD300 million and USD30 million worth of shares, respectively.

Li Auto’s share price [HKG:2015] closed down 3.5 percent at HKD93.95 (USD12) today, giving it a market capitalization of HKD184.3 billion (USD23.4 billion). In New York, the stock [NASDAQ:LI] finished the day down 2.5 percent at USD24.32 yesterday.

Editor: Kim Taylor