Toy Mogul Wang Ning Loses Almost $3 Billion As Shares Of Labubu Maker Pop Mart Drop On Overseas Slowdown |
Shares of Chinese toymaker Pop Mart International Group sank over 22% in Hong Kong on Wednesday after the company released full year results for 2025. The drop wiped out $2.7 billion from founder Wang Ning’s net worth as investors were spooked by a slowdown in overseas growth during the final quarter of last year implied in the annual numbers.
The 39-year-old mogul now has a fortune of $13.6 billion that is largely based on his company stake, according to Forbes estimates. Last year, sales grew 184.7% year-on-year to 37.1 billion yuan ($5.4 billion), beating the billionaire’s earlier estimate of 30 billion yuan in revenues. Net profit almost quadrupled to 13 billion yuan from a year ago.
Yet investors parsed the numbers to identify a growth slowdown in overseas markets during the final quarter of 2025. The company didn’t announce results for the three months that ended in December, but based on previous quarterly updates, there is a “significant deceleration” in growth rate outside mainland China compared with the third quarter of the year, when total sales went up by around 245%, says Ke Yan, Singapore-based head of research at DZT Research.
Investors might be thinking that the hype over Pop Mart’s signature Labubu toys, or the rabbit-like doll sporting jagged teeth and a mischievous smile, is over – especially as even the Christmas shopping season failed to ignite triple digit growth in overseas sales, adds Ke. Jeff Zhang, a Hong Kong-based equity analyst at research firm Morningstar, says sales from the company’s Molly and Crybaby series have also slowed year-over-year as the frenzy over the collectible toys cools down.
“We think the hype has cooled in major overseas markets due to a lack of new product launches,” Zhang says in an emailed note. “For older series, sales growth has slowed as more people have owned the products.”
A Pop Mart spokesperson says the company doesn’t comment on its share price. During a livestreamed conference on Wednesday, Wang, who serves as Chairman and CEO of the company, predicts that total revenues will grow 20% year-on-year in 2026. “We aren’t going after very aggressive revenue growth at the expense of our profit,” he said. “We aim to achieve healthy growth over the long run.”
Yet the growth rate, already down significantly from last year's triple-digit growth, is also below a market consensus of 33% for 2026. During the conference, executives also say they will invest more in boosting the longevity of popular intellectual property, including doubling down on theme parks and promoting related accessories. Last week, Pop Mart and Sony Pictures announced that they are developing a Labubu movie that will combine live action and computer-generated animation.
The company might be saving new product releases for this year, including a Labubu 4.0 series that might be launched soon, according to a March 12 research note from Deutsche Bank. But Sammi Xu, an analyst at the bank, also sounded a note of caution. “Going to 2Q26, Pop Mart is set to introduce several new collections from its popular Labubu (The Monsters) series,” Xu wrote. “However, based on social media discussion and the sales trajectory post previous mini-Labubu series, we expect the demand for these new releases may not match the strength in Labubu 3.0.”