Pop Mart Shares Sink 21% on Doubts Firm Can Grow Beyond Labubu

Tiger Newspress
Mar 25

POP MART shares tumbled as much as 21% after the company posted full-year revenue growth still largely reliant on sales of Labubu, disappointing investors counting on other franchises to sustain its success.

Revenue surged 185% to 37.1 billion yuan ($5.4 billion) in 2025, narrowly missing of the 38 billion yuan consensus, the Chinese pop toy maker reported Wednesday. Net income climbed 309% to 12.8 billion yuan, slightly exceeding the forecast of 12.6 billion yuan.

“Second-half sales leaned heavily on Labubu figures, even more than in the first half,” said Ke Yan, an analyst at DZT Research Private Ltd. The decline marked the stock’s steepest intraday drop since April 2025.

Pop Mart has leaned on the global appeal of Labubu, the snaggle-toothed monster doll that has become a worldwide collectible phenomenon and remains its primary growth driver. The company is now seeking to diversify its intellectual property portfolio and sustain momentum through new releases, positioning emerging characters such as Twinkle Twinkle as standalone draws with their own fan bases rather than alternatives to Labubu.

Even so, Labubu remains central to performance. The Labubu-led Monsters series generated 14.2 billion yuan in revenue in 2025, beating estimates of 12.5 billion yuan. The character accounted for about 40% of total revenue last year, up from 23% in 2024.

While heavily marketed Skullpanda topped estimates with revenue of 3.5 billion yuan, other high-profile figures including Crybaby and Molly posted weaker-than-expected sales. The performance of Molly — the company’s original flagship character — underscores the challenge of sustaining legacy franchises, with revenue of 2.9 billion yuan well below the 4.6 billion yuan consensus.

“After a stellar 2025, we believe 2026 could shape up to be more of a transition year with more normalized growth,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Peter Tang and Monica Si wrote in a post-earnings note.

Labubu went viral in 2025, helping propel Beijing-based Pop Mart into overseas markets including the US. But as supply increased and counterfeit products spread, resale premiums narrowed and the frenzy cooled. The company is now betting that other characters can extend the collectible boom sparked by Labubu, testing its ability to evolve into a durable IP powerhouse capable of competing with players such as Sanrio Co., the owner of Hello Kitty.

Concerns persist, however, that the Labubu craze could fade, weighing on the company’s Hong Kong-listed shares since their August peak. In response, Pop Mart has stepped up its promotion of other characters while seeking to reignite interest in Labubu through a planned movie with Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.

Pop Mart said it was in the “expansion period” in the key Americas market, with a strategic focus on the US. Americas saw 42 stores added and surged 748% for 6.8 billion yuan in revenue last year, 18.3% of Pop Mart’s total.

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