The line outside Pop Mart’s flagship on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue stretched from one end of the block to the other before dawn on April 25l. Some fans had camped out since 2:30 a.m., hoping to snag a grinning Labubu plush before the day’s limited allotment disappeared. “They sell out in seconds online,” one shopper told NBC Chicago.
That scene now symbolises a bigger story playing out on trading screens in Hong Kong and wealth rankings in Beijing. The sudden fervour of American collectors for Pop Mart International Group’s “ugly-cute” figurines has lit up the company’s share price and, by extension, the fortune of its 36-year-old founder-chairman Wang Ning.
On April 28, a single trading session added roughly US $1.6 billion to Wang’s personal net worth, according to Forbes. The publication estimates that surge pushed the entrepreneur further up the global billionaire ranks, all because U.S. collectors suddenly can’t get enough of a pocket-sized rabbit-monster.
Pop Mart’s Hong Kong-listed shares have already soared more than 70 percent year-to-date, after rocketing 340 percent in 2024. The latest catalyst was the company’s full-year earnings: profit nearly tripled to 3.13 billion yuan (about US $431 million), while revenue more than doubled to 13.0 billion yuan on the back of its blind-box business. Citi analysts called the outlook “faster-than-expected,” and investors piled in.
The frenzy is visible in secondary markets too. Resale platform StockX reports some Labubu variants changing hands for several hundred dollars, part of a broader “kidult” boom that has turned plushies into fashion accessories. “Toys are basically the new sneakers, and people are buying up pieces to resell,” journalist and consultant Tora Northman told Vogue Business.
Why Americans are suddenly queuing for toys
Retail psychologists point to three converging forces. First is nostalgia: millennials who once collected Pokémon cards now have disposable income and crave comfort objects. Second is the “ugly-cute” aesthetic, an internet meme that challenges conventional ideas of beauty; Labubu’s snaggle-toothed grin fits right in. Third is the thrill of randomness. Opening a blind box is effectively a low-stakes lottery, and social media rewards dramatic reveals.
Those factors dovetail with U.S. consumers’ post-pandemic hunger for shareable experiences. A $15 mystery figurine that might flip for $100 on eBay offers both bragging rights and potential profit. Pop Mart also benefits from a distribution model built on vending machines—more than 2,000 worldwide—that keeps overhead low and demand high.
From mall kiosks to Main Street
Pop Mart began life in 2010 selling a curated mix of lifestyle goods in Beijing malls. The turning point came when the firm doubled down on so-called “blind boxes”—shrink-wrapped figurines sold sight-unseen. Wang later licensed independent artist Kasing Lung’s Labubu character, a mischievous woodland creature with serrated teeth and cult appeal in Asia. What followed resembles sneaker culture: surprise drops, scarcity marketing and ferocious resale premiums.
Wang bet that those dynamics would resonate in the United States. The strategy has been textbook viral marketing: limited runs, TikTok unboxings, and celebrity sightings (Blackpink’s Lisa has been photographed clutching a Labubu). The result is the sort of queue Chicago saw in April and similar lines reported outside Pop Mart’s Los Angeles store earlier this spring.
Cashing in on the climb
Not everyone is hanging on for the ride. Just hours after Pop Mart stock hit a fresh record above HK$198, an undisclosed investor unloaded 4.1 million shares in a block trade worth US $101 million, accepting only a 2.5 percent discount to the previous close, according to Bloomberg. The rapid flip underscored how quickly the market has re-rated Wang Ning’s company—and how tempting it is for early holders to lock in profits.
Still, Wang himself shows no sign of paring back. His stake of roughly 40 percent is now valued in the mid-single-digit billions, and he’s ploughing cash into overseas expansion. In a recent internal memo obtained by the South China Morning Post, Wang outlined plans to set up regional headquarters in Greater China, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, noting that overseas revenue already accounts for nearly 40 percent of sales.
To be clear, a $1.6 billion one-day windfall is unusual even in the boom-and-bust world of Hong Kong growth stocks. Wang’s pop in net worth rivals single-session moves seen by electric-vehicle founders during 2020’s SPAC mania. Whether it sticks will depend on Pop Mart’s ability to convert viral moments into lasting sales—a lesson other fad-driven consumer companies have learned the hard way.
Early signs are promising. Pop Mart reported overseas sales more than doubling in 2024 and says North America is now its fastest-growing region. The firm is scouting sites for additional U.S. flagship stores and continues to license new characters to broaden its intellectual-property bench.
Pop Mart’s next set of quarterly results will land in July, giving investors a fresh reading on U.S. sell-through. Management has guided for over 50 percent top-line growth in 2025 and “triple-digit” expansion overseas. Meeting—or missing—those numbers will determine whether Wang Ning’s latest wealth spike is a plateau or a launchpad.
