Wang Ning Wants Pop Mart's "Skyrocketing Bubble" to Go Back for "Factory Maintenance"

What internal adjustments are hinted at by AI Wang Ning’s F1 racing metaphor?

Reporter | Ma Yue

Editor | Ya Hanxiang

“We’re like a rookie racing driver suddenly thrown into the F1 circuit. At such high speeds, whether as a driver or the car itself, there’s immense pressure, but the whole process is exciting and full of gains, experiences, and lessons.” During the March 25th performance release event for Pop Mart’s 2025 annual results, the company’s founder, Chairman, and CEO Wang Ning expressed his emotional state over the past year.

This company, which provides emotional value through collectibles and dolls, has repeatedly faced emotional shocks in the capital markets.

In 2025, Pop Mart achieved its best-ever growth: revenue of 37.12 billion yuan, up 184.7% year-over-year; this also set a new record, compared to 13.038 billion yuan in the same period last year. Adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders was 13.08 billion yuan, up 284.5%.

However, on the day of the annual report release, March 25th, Pop Mart’s stock price plummeted about 20%, closing at HKD 168.3.

Over the past half year, Pop Mart’s stock price, after reaching a high of HKD 339.8, has been fluctuating and retreating. Morgan Stanley commented before the earnings release that Pop Mart’s stock might first rise then enter a range-bound oscillation, as market opinions are highly divided, with large differences between bulls and bears, but profit expectations remain unchanged.

In reality, the high performance but sharp stock decline reflect many short-term market sentiments, such as valuation adjustments, capital profit-taking, and concerns over macroeconomic conditions.

Noticing this, at the 2025 performance conference, management including Wang Ning appeared restrained and cautious.

They repeatedly stated that “last year’s explosion was unexpected,” and Wang Ning emphasized the hope to maintain linear, healthy growth. Despite the high base, 2025’s results far exceeded the revenue guidance of 30 billion yuan given in mid-2024, leading Wang Ning to adopt a relatively conservative growth expectation—aiming for no less than 20% growth in 2026.

This contrasts with the multi-fold growth of the past two years, creating a sense of disappointment if 2026’s growth falls short, further impacting the stock price.

Sanrio Collaboration Series LABUBU Photo: Jiemian News Ma Yue

But the sharp decline in stock price also offers an opportunity to reassess Pop Mart’s fundamentals.

“As a group, we are not pursuing a sprint for speed or focusing on how fast we can grow now or in recent years. We prefer to view development and opportunities with a long-term strategic perspective,” Wang Ning said at the earnings conference. As a young company approaching its 16th year, Pop Mart still has many lessons to learn.

Wang Ning said, “Like F1, we hope 2026 will be a year of pit stops—refueling, tire changes. After rapid development, we want to make some adjustments.”

A key point is that Pop Mart has repeatedly mentioned the importance of continuously strengthening internal capabilities through organizational restructuring.

“Last year, we said ‘repair the roof in sunny weather.’ Although we’ve achieved good results, everyone shouldn’t be complacent. We need to think more about our problems,” Wang Ning stated.

In 2025, Pop Mart established offices in 21 countries and regions worldwide, with over 11,000 employees, nearly 4,000 of whom are non-Chinese nationals.

Globalization has brought unprecedented organizational and operational challenges, such as rapid setup of overseas stores, supply chains, and marketing teams, along with increased complexity in local talent recruitment, retention, and cultural integration. With a team of thousands, Pop Mart needs to be cautious that the agility, focus, and “say NO more than YES” culture from its startup days might be diluted.

This has led to organizational restructuring.

Jiemian News learned that Wend Yi recently took on the role of Chief Growth Officer.

He was previously appointed to a different position in April last year, serving as co-COO alongside Si De, responsible for global management and operations. The two have distinct roles: Wend Yi oversees Asia-Pacific and Europe, while Si De manages Greater China and the Americas. Wend Yi, a Korean executive who joined Pop Mart in 2018, was instrumental in building the company’s overseas business from scratch.

His appointment as Chief Growth Officer suggests that, beyond expanding overseas, Pop Mart may be considering a more comprehensive global growth strategy.

Additionally, Jiemian News further learned that Pop Mart plans to allocate more senior management to oversee the overall management of overseas and Chinese markets.

An insider close to Pop Mart told Jiemian that the growth trajectory of overseas markets will gradually align with that of China. “The systematic operational capabilities, IP ecosystem matrix, and user insight systems built in China are core assets for global expansion,” the source said.

From China’s experience, the Chinese market has not aggressively expanded store numbers but has been restrained in opening new stores, focusing more on team development and strengthening retail fundamentals, which led to a revenue growth of 135.2%.

Star People Photo: Jiemian News Ma Yue

Pop Mart China President Chu Yin emphasized at the results conference that in 2026, the number of store upgrades and renovations will far surpass 2025, with more flagship stores opening. She noted that in 2025, the area of upgraded stores increased by only about 30-40%, with some stores expanding by 50%, but these upgraded stores’ sales nearly doubled the national average.

This strategy of upgrading key locations and creating flagship landmarks will also be applied to future overseas store layouts.

Wend Yi, Chief Growth Officer, stated at the earnings conference that this year, the company will focus on expanding into the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and South America, steadily broadening its global footprint. COO Si De also emphasized that the U.S. is a key market, with plans to open over 100 stores by 2026. If progress goes smoothly, Pop Mart’s flagship stores in Times Square and Fifth Avenue in New York are expected to open in Q4 this year.

LABUBU Photo: Jiemian News Ma Yue

“The first quarter of this year is relatively slow for the European and American markets. During this period, we redefined our strategic goals and worked on team building,” said Si De, COO, at the earnings conference. The U.S. omnichannel team now has nearly 2,000 people, and they have also updated the U.S. headquarters’ office.

In the future, the U.S. office will not only handle North American operations but also explore more artists and produce derivative content. He noted that with the slowdown in high-growth traffic from last year, the biggest challenge this year is how to leverage operations and offline store expansion to capture the large flow of traffic.

Pop Mart’s overseas moves will undoubtedly face new tests in organizational management, brand operation, logistics, and supply chain resilience.

For example, in the face of geopolitical uncertainties, how to control logistics timeliness and costs; how to localize site selection, operations, and fine management; how to control the costs of opening large stores; and as new IP-related businesses multiply, how to maintain core focus—these are likely to be more important valuation considerations than short-term market sentiment.