(Yicai Global) Dec. 23 -- The sale of holdings in an affiliate of Zhihu by two units of Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings is a normal shift in corporate governance and does not affect the shareholding structure of the question-and-answer platform, China News reported today, citing Zhihu.

Ten investors, including Tencent’s private equity arm Shenzhen Litong Industrial Investment Fund and its search engine Sogou, withdrew a 78.1 percent stake from Beijing Zhizhe World Technology on Dec. 21, according to corporate platform Tianyancha. Litong Industrial offloaded 9.66 percent equity and Sogou 3.14 percent.

The sale does though change the ownership structure of Zhizhe World, giving Beijing-based Zhihu a majority stake. Zhihu founder Zhou Yuan now holds 99.3 percent of Zhizhe World, up from 21.2 percent previously. And Zhizhe World’s legal representative Li Dahai owns 0.7 percent.

Zhihu was summoned by regulators on Dec. 20 for data security breaches. The company, which went public on the New York Stock Exchange in March, saw its stock plunge 9 percent that day.

Tencent will distribute 460 million shares it holds in e-commerce platform JD.com as an interim dividend to shareholders, the Shenzhen-based firm said earlier today. The move will reduce Tencent’s stake in JD.com to 2.3 percent from 17 percent, a further indication that the internet giant is trying to offload some of its investments.

Zhihu’s share price [NYSE:ZH] closed up 1.68 percent yesterday at USD5.44.

Editor: Kim Taylor