Chinese YouTube Influencer Li Ziqi Sues Partner Company After Three-Month Absence

Famed Chinese YouTube influencer Li Jiajia, known online as Li Ziqi, has officially moved to sue her Multi-Channel Networks (MCN) partner company on Monday after she stopped updating videos three months ago.

According to Tianyancha, Sichuan Ziqi Culture Communication Co., Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Hangzhou Weinian Brand Management Co., Ltd. which owns her image, as well as the company’s legal representative Liu Tongming. The lawsuit was filed to the Intermediate People’s Court of Mianyang city in Sichuan Province.

Sichuan Ziqi Culture Communication Co., Ltd. is owned by Hangzhou Weinian Brand Management Co., Ltd. and Li Ziqi, each owning 51% and 49% respectively. The major shareholder of Weinian is Liu Tongming, whose shareholding ratio is 19.45%. Li Ziqi is not on the list of Weinan’s shareholders.

Li Ziqi started shooting short videos of food in 2015 and formally set up a team in 2017 to create her personal brand. In July 2017, Li Ziqi and Weinian jointly established Ziqi Culture. Li Ziqi represented herself as legal counsel while also generating video content for the channel.

With the support of a professional team and traffic, Li Ziqi’s videos began to explode in popularity on the Internet, and the number of her fans grew rapidly. According to the latest data, Li Ziqi’s fans around the world have exceeded 100 million.

However, after her video titled”Firewood, Rice, Oil, Salt, Soy Sauce, Vinegar, and Tea” was released in July, Li Ziqi stopped publishing new content for three months, fuelling speculation that Li and Weinian had legal disputes between them.

Li Ziqi’s assistant once mentioned on Weibo that Li Ziqi currently has no brokerage contract with Weinian since the establishment of her own company in December 2017. Li Ziqi is in the process of sorting out problems between hercompany and third-party companies, the assistant said.

SEE ALSO: ByteDance Puts Money Behind Influencer Li Ziqi, Marching into New Consumption Field

Earlier, Li Ziqi said in an exclusive interview with CCTV that food and traditional culture are the reasons why her videos became so popular. She went on to say that she will continue to spread the intangible traditional culture of the country in the future, hoping to share the interesting and positive aspects of her homeland with children through short videos.