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She is offloading 259 million shares through a family trust holding vehicle at a discount of around 6% or more to the previous closing price, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The move surprised Morgan Stanley analysts as Zhang Yong had bought more shares in May, the report said, adding that the latest move sent the firm’s stock down as much as 12%.

The sale follows China’s announcement in July that it would start taxing offshore trusts set up by its citizens, closing a long-running loophole that wealthy families have used for asset protection and succession planning.

The shares being sold represent 4.6% of Haidilao’s outstanding stock and 12.2% of its free float, amounting to roughly 9% of the couple’s combined holdings.

Shu Ping, a co-founder herself, control a 50% stake in the business with her husband through discretionary trusts held via holding companies, per a May 2026 company filing.

Haidilao was co-founded by the couple and two other partners in 1994 as a restaurant with just four tables in a small town in China’s Sichuan province.

It has since grown into one of the most globally recognized Chinese restaurant brands and turned all its co-founders into billionaires.

The group posted a 7.9% year-on-year increase in revenues to 22.34 billion yuan (US$3.32 billion) in the first half of this year, as core operating profit rose 4.4% to 2.51 billion yuan.

It has been expanding businesses beyond hotpot like sushi brand Nyoisushi and burger chain Fresh Burger, which launched last month, according to the South China Morning Post.

Zhang and Shu Ping are both naturalized citizens of Singapore, where they rank as the 12th richest with a combined net worth of $7.2 billion, according to Forbes’ Singapore rich list released last week.