Wang, who also serves as Pop Mart’s chairman and CEO, entered the ranks of China’s wealthiest tycoons for the first time, standing alongside figures like ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, Nongfu Spring’s Zhong Shanshan, and Tencent’s Ma Huateng, Forbes reported.
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Several large-sized Labubu are on display in a Pop Mart retailer store inside the Jing’an Kerry Center shopping mall in Shanghai, China, on June 13, 2025. Photo by NurPhoto via AFP |
The Hong Kong-listed toy maker has surged to a market capitalization of over HK$300 billion (US$38.2 billion). Its shares hit a record high of HK$252.60 on Thursday, almost three times their value at the end of 2024.
It is the strongest performer on the MSCI China Index, which tracks Chinese companies listed at home and abroad, so far in 2025 after ranking among the top gainers on the index last year.
The soaring demand for the firm’s monster dolls is fueling sales prospects. Central to this surge is Labubu, the star of the company’s THE MONSTERS blind-box series, which brought in over 3 billion yuan (US$418 million) last year, nearly a quarter of Pop Mart’s revenue, as reported by Bloomberg.
Created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, Labubu has become a global sensation after it shot to fame overseas last year when Thai-born Blackpink star Lisa appeared with one in an Instagram photo.
The catch? These dolls are sold in sealed “blind boxes,” meaning buyers do not know which character they will get, prompting fans to snap up boxes to find their favorite characters. Despite their eagerness, these boxes are in short supply, creating a scarcity that only heightens their appeal.
When Pop Mart released the third edition of its Labubu doll in April, scuffles reportedly broke out in a London store as fans jostled to buy the product. The Labubu hype has been so intense that the toy maker has had to suspend in-store sales across the U.K. for safety reasons, according to Business Insider.
Similar scenes have played out in the U.S., where TikTok users have shared videos of customers arguing and physically clashing over the sought-after toys.
In its home market, a human-sized Labubu doll was sold for 1.08 million yuan (US$150,000) during a Tuesday auction in Beijing.
Labubu has also recently caught on in Saudi Arabia, where it was once relatively unknown, with Google search interest peaking during a week in May.
The frenzy surrounding the viral character has driven Pop Mart’s explosive international growth. In the first quarter, the company’s overseas revenue soared by 475-480% year-on-year, according to an April financial report cited by the South China Morning Post. The U.S. led the charge with gains of up to 900%, while sales in Europe jumped more than 600%.
In 2024, the company generated about 13 billion yuan in sales, with overseas revenue jumping nearly fivefold to 5 billion yuan, driven largely by demand in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the U.S., Nikkei Asia reported.
This year, Pop Mart has projected that its full-year revenue could grow by more than 50% to over 20 billion yuan.
