MiniMax and Z.AI Lose $150 Billion in Market Value

MiniMax Group Inc. and Z.AI Co. have lost a combined $150 billion in market value since their respective peaks following January market debuts. MiniMax shares fell below their IPO price on Thursday, erasing a 650 percent gain recorded in March, while Z.AI shares dropped 81 percent from a June high.

The selloff stems from aggressive price wars on token costs and intense competition. Global leaders OpenAI and Anthropic reduced token prices to minimize the cost advantage of Chinese models. Additionally, investors are reacting to the threat of upcoming initial public offerings from rivals DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, which could divert capital away from currently listed pure plays.

Both firms remain unprofitable and trail U.S. leaders in intelligence despite releasing new models, including MiniMax's M3.1 Flash and Zhipu's GLM-5.3-FlashX. Further market pressure is expected in January when share lockup expiries will make approximately 178 million Z.AI shares and 25 million MiniMax shares eligible for trading.