Times have truly changed...

Who would have thought that one day, Wang Ning, who sells Labubu figurines, would accumulate wealth surpassing Jack Ma, the founder of the Alibaba commercial empire.

According to Forbes' real-time billionaires list, following recent stock price surges, POP MART founder Wang Ning's net worth has reached $27.9 billion USD, equivalent to approximately 199.8 billion yuan. Wang Ning has also entered the top 100 on Forbes' global rich list, ranking 77th.

Meanwhile, former China's richest man Jack Ma's latest net worth stands at $27.1 billion USD, approximately 194 billion yuan, placing him 81st on the Forbes rich list. BYD founder Wang Chuanfu's latest net worth is $25.5 billion USD, approximately 182.6 billion yuan, ranking 86th on Forbes' rich list.

This means Wang Ning's wealth has officially surpassed both Jack Ma and Wang Chuanfu. Currently, Wang Ning's wealth ranks only behind Zhong Shanshan, Zhang Yiming, Ma Huateng, Huang Zheng, Ding Lei, Zeng Yuqun, Lei Jun, Li Ka-shing, and He Xiangjian, making him China's 10th richest person.

Wang Ning's wealth surge is inseparable from POP MART's soaring stock price. Over the past two years, the explosive popularity of IP characters like Molly, Nezha, and Labubu has enabled POP MART to reap substantial profits. Last year, POP MART earned 3.3 billion yuan. The first half of this year was even more remarkable, with net profits of 4.574 billion yuan in six months—nearly a 5-fold increase! This directly surpassed luxury brands like GUCCI and YSL.

A blind box costing 100 yuan with production costs of 30 yuan yields a 70% gross margin business—isn't this essentially a luxury product?

With outstanding performance and momentum building, POP MART's stock price has soared. Just this year alone, the company's stock price has risen from HK$88.76 to HK$335.40, an increase of 278%.

With the stock surge, Wang Ning naturally becomes the biggest beneficiary. After all, Wang Ning holds 48.73% of POP MART's shares, while Jack Ma holds only about 6.6% of Alibaba shares and 20.55% of Ant Group shares. The Wang Chuanfu family holds only 25% of BYD shares.

Of course, it is indeed remarkable that a company with annual revenue under 30 billion yuan and net profits under 10 billion yuan (estimated based on half-year reports) has seen its market value surge to over HK$450 billion—a several dozen-fold increase!

It's worth noting that Wang Ning isn't the only one catching up to Jack Ma and Wang Chuanfu. Cambricon's founder Chen Tianshi, whose stock has recently shown signs of potentially surpassing Moutai, is also "eyeing the prize."

Forbes' real-time billionaires list shows Chen Tianshi's net worth has reached $22.2 billion USD, approximately 159 billion yuan, ranking 102nd and about to break into the top 100! Chen Tianshi's wealth has also successfully surpassed Muyuan Foods founders Qin Yinglin and his wife, making him China's 13th richest person.

A few more trading limits for Cambricon, and Chen Tianshi surpassing Jack Ma's wealth wouldn't be impossible. However, today the "Cambricon King's" stock price pulled back slightly. The future direction remains uncertain.

But overall, the newcomers are indeed formidable. The e-commerce king and electric vehicle king can't compete with someone selling figurines. In this era, emotional value truly represents the greatest value.