Liu Qiangdong is not one for empty talk; once he sets his mind on something, he acts decisively. A person's vision and ambition often trace back to their childhood. Born in Suqian, Jiangsu, Liu Qiangdong's parents were long engaged in water transport business. His father once spent 2,000 yuan on a 9-ton cargo ship, ferrying coal and porcelain between Xuzhou and Yangzhou. As the business prospered, the family's boat grew larger and larger, from 9 tons to 20, then 80, and eventually 100 tons. However, no matter the tonnage, there was always only one vessel. In elementary school, Liu Qiangdong asked his parents why they kept trading up for bigger boats instead of buying several, and why they didn't establish a shipping company. In his imagination, he envisioned owning a thousand ships that would sail out of the canal and into the open sea. His parents laughed, dismissing it as a child's fantasy. Years later, Liu Qiangdong realized his dream on his own. "I hope to one day have a 100,000-yuan yacht that ordinary working-class people and everyday citizens can afford," he said. With this simple aspiration, Liu Qiangdong embarked on his yacht business.
Liu Qiangdong Secures a Yacht Giant
Liu Qiangdong's yacht business empire is becoming increasingly clear. Media reports recently revealed that Sea Expandary, a yacht brand personally invested in by Liu Qiangdong, has completed the acquisition and handover of an 80% equity stake in OceanWalker Yachts. The company stated that this acquisition will expand yacht manufacturing capacity, fill gaps in smaller vessel types, enhance smart manufacturing capabilities, and accelerate its vision of becoming "the world's largest green and intelligent yacht full-industry-chain ecosystem group." This marks Liu Qiangdong's first acquisition with clear industrial synergy value since entering the yacht industry. The manufacturing entity behind OceanWalker is Fujian OceanWalker Yacht Co., Ltd., with its factory located in Zhangzhou, Fujian. Unlike projects still in the planning and construction phase, OceanWalker already boasts a fully operational production base, mature product lines, and an overseas distribution network. The brand was established in late 2022, with main products including the S60 series power catamaran yachts and the X53 and X62 monohull flybridge yachts. Currently, the company has established a multi-tiered exclusive dealer network covering North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Manufacturing, products, and channels are precisely the three pieces of the puzzle that a new yacht brand needs most to complete. For a new entrant to the yacht industry, the journey from design and prototyping to airworthiness certification, then to production delivery and channel development, requires lengthy experience accumulation. Even building a modern factory does not guarantee immediate stable production. Through this acquisition, Sea Expandary can directly gain access to a mature manufacturing team, existing products, delivery capabilities, and overseas channels, significantly shortening the cycle from investment and construction to product launch. Combined with previous layouts in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dalian, and Qingdao, Liu Qiangdong's yacht business now covers R&D, manufacturing, sales, leasing, port services, and customer operations, with an increasingly clear blueprint. In February 2026, Liu Qiangdong officially launched the Sea Expandary brand, announcing an investment of approximately 5 billion yuan to establish the China headquarters for his yacht business in Shenzhen and build a high-end yacht manufacturing base in Zhuhai. In March, Sea Expandary signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Dalian municipal government, with a total investment of 15 billion yuan for the Tanhai yacht manufacturing base and yacht operation project to be located in Dalian. According to the plan, the Dalian base will build customized high-end yacht production lines, conduct R&D, design, and manufacturing of large yachts and accessories, and operate a yacht city lounge and comprehensive service home port. The two major projects in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Dalian represent a combined investment of 20 billion yuan. Dalian Tanhai Yacht Co., Ltd. was established with a registered capital of 100 million yuan, covering recreational and sports boat manufacturing in its business scope. In July, Sea Expandary established its first branch in Qingdao, with business scope covering yacht sales, yacht leasing, ship leasing, port services, marine services, and equipment rental. With the acquisition of OceanWalker, a north-south coordinated yacht industry structure is gradually taking shape. If the goal were merely building a few yachts, such a complex layout would be unnecessary; Liu Qiangdong aims to build infrastructure covering the entire industry chain. To create a 100,000-yuan yacht with sufficient space, making yachts as accessible as cars to more families, and affordable for ordinary working-class people and everyday citizens, is no easy feat. From a market perspective, data from the Ministry of Transport shows that newly registered yachts accounted for 54.7% in the past three years, indicating that the domestic yacht market is still in an expansion phase with new demand continuously being released. However, while consumer demand heats up, the manufacturing side remains weak. In 2024, China's yacht manufacturing output value was only 12.8 billion yuan, with exports of about 600 million US dollars. Demand has risen, but industrial scale and manufacturing capabilities have not fully kept pace, leaving significant room for development between supply and demand. Traditionally, yachts have long been viewed as luxuries for the few, with not only high purchase prices but also costly subsequent berthing, maintenance, insurance, management, and captain training fees. Lowering the boat's price is only the first step; without docks, maintenance, leasing, and operations systems, even if a yacht can sell for 100,000 yuan, ordinary consumers may still face the problem of "can afford to buy, but can't afford to use." To achieve this goal, traditional yacht production methods may need to change. High-end customization, low volume, long delivery cycles, and multi-tiered sales determine that traditional yachts are difficult to lower in price. Through modular design, scaled procurement, automated production, and supply chain integration, it may be possible to compress costs into a new price range—this is precisely Liu Qiangdong's most familiar territory.
Liu Qiangdong, the Ruthless Operator, Accelerates His Expansion
Tanhai Yacht is a personal investment by Liu Qiangdong and has no direct business or capital ties to JD.com. However, behind both lies the same business methodology. Over the past two decades, JD.com's operations in home appliances, 3C products, and even daily necessities have essentially repeated similar approaches: reducing intermediate links, improving product circulation efficiency, reorganizing warehousing, logistics, and after-sales processes, and ultimately allowing consumers to purchase products at lower costs. JD.com's Q2 2026 earnings report shows quarterly revenue of 346.4 billion yuan, down 2.9% year-over-year, beating the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 342.1 billion yuan. While revenue faced some pressure, JD.com's profitability efficiency has notably improved. In Q2, JD.com's operating profit reached 4.5 billion yuan, compared to a loss of 900 million yuan in the same period last year; under non-GAAP accounting, operating profit grew from 900 million yuan to 5.5 billion yuan. Meanwhile, cash flow also improved concurrently. In Q2, JD.com's retail revenue reached 295.4 billion yuan, down 4.7% year-over-year, yet operating profit reached 13.5 billion yuan, with operating margin rising further from 4.5% to 4.6%, a record high for the promotional season; JD.com's services revenue reached 79.3 billion yuan, up 6.8% year-over-year, significantly outperforming product revenue. Platform and advertising services revenue reached 30.9 billion yuan, up 8.3% year-over-year; logistics and other services revenue reached 48.4 billion yuan, up 5.9% year-over-year. For the first half of the year overall, JD.com's services revenue grew 12.9% year-over-year, also notably faster than product revenue. Management stated that margin improvement mainly came from gross margin gains in key categories and relatively rapid growth in platform and advertising revenue. During the 618 shopping festival, approximately 2,000 fashion brands saw their transaction volumes double year-over-year, and Chanel's flagship store opened on JD.com, further expanding the company's footprint in the fashion and luxury sector. While internet giants like Alibaba and Meituan are shifting from endless wars to limited wars, retrenching fronts, controlling investments, and prioritizing cost reduction, efficiency gains, and asset deleveraging, Liu Qiangdong is again heading down a different path. He still believes in heavy assets and remains willing to pour money into businesses with long cycles, large investments, and slow returns. Now, he has set his sights on yachts, hoping to leverage supply chains, scaled manufacturing, and service systems to disrupt this traditional industry long regarded as a "niche luxury." This contrast is not a whim but a consistent business choice by Liu Qiangdong. More than two decades ago, when JD.com decided to build its own logistics, it was equally misunderstood by the outside world. Warehouses, delivery stations, and couriers—every element required real capital investment. In an era when asset-light models prevailed, JD.com chose to hold the most arduous and heaviest links in its own hands, once criticized for dragging down profits with an overly heavy model. Time proved that it was precisely this heaviest logistics system that built JD.com's most defensible moat. Fast delivery and stable service ultimately became key reasons countless consumers chose JD.com. Now, with his bet on yachts, we can once again see the familiar shadow of Liu Qiangdong the determined operator.
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