1 April 2020
In November 2019, Canaan completed its initial public offering (“IPO”), selling 10 million American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) priced at $9.00 per share. Then, on February 20, 2020, an investment analyst publishing under the pseudonym Marcus Aurelius published a short report entitled “Canaan Fodder.” The report alleged, among other things, that Canaan was engaged in several undisclosed related-party transactions that lacked economic substance, including the sale of $150 million worth of equipment to a small Hong Kong company with an undisclosed relationship with a significant Canaan shareholder.
