“We were like a novice driver who had just learned to operate a car, suddenly thrust into the cockpit of a Formula 1 racer; anyone would become extremely tense,” Wang Ning described to China Entrepreneur the state of mind at POP MART following the explosive popularity of LABUBU. Reflecting on 2025, POP MART founder Wang Ning characterized it as a "dreamlike year." In the first half of 2025, POP MART's revenue reached 13.88 billion yuan, a staggering increase of 204.4% year-over-year. “(Full-year 2025 revenue) should be able to surpass 30 billion yuan,” Wang Ning stated with a calm demeanor during the interim results briefing. The breakout success of LABUBU, the soaring performance, and the skyrocketing stock price have propelled this post-85s generation entrepreneur to heights he never imagined. Before high school, Wang Ning had scarcely visited any major cities. Today, POP MART stores have expanded from Beijing's Taikoo Li to Paris, London, and New York, and Wang Ning's ambition has grown into "building a global POP MART."
Bathed in the intense glare of the spotlight, Wang Ning feels more anxious than ever, yet also more compelled to exercise restraint and maintain composure. He candidly admitted that POP MART has the opportunity to genuinely become a world-class consumer goods company, but a momentary lapse in focus at this juncture could be perilous. This vigilance is ingrained in Wang Ning's DNA; for many years, his social media signature has been a quote from the Spring and Autumn period statesman Guan Zhong: "Affairs are born from careful consideration, succeed through diligent effort, and fail due to arrogance." For POP MART, 2025 brought both applause and bewilderment almost simultaneously. However, Wang Ning believes that independent thinking and perseverance over the company's 15-year history have been instrumental in achieving its current success. “This has been my most anxious year; the entire company is shouldering increasingly heavy responsibilities. We hope to address problems before they arise and make ourselves stronger.”
The year 2025 saw LABUBU create a sensational phenomenon not only in China but across the globe. In April 2025, the global launch of LABUBU's "Warning: High Energy" series was met with immense popularity, winning the favor of countless consumers worldwide and propelling POP MART's market capitalization to a peak of 300 billion Hong Kong dollars. POP MART also led to a re-evaluation of the value of潮流玩具 (trendy toys), attracting a flood of competitors into the space. “Any company's moat is either a hard barrier or a soft barrier,” Wang Ning acknowledged. He stated that POP MART's soft barrier lies in its culture, while its hard barrier is the operational moat built over more than a decade through the accumulation of countless details. “If you cover a brand's logo and you can't tell who it is, then it probably isn't a true brand. If you want to build a genuine brand, you need to return to physical retail, creating an immersive environment that engages sight, sound, smell, and more. Once successfully crafted, this becomes incredibly valuable.” Wang Ning emphasized that his role involves "overseeing the biggest matters and the smallest matters," intervening less in mid-level operations because “I have an excellent team to share the load, freeing up much of my time.”
The smallest matters involve the accumulation of innumerable details. For instance, Wang Ning has conducted extensive research on in-store lighting, discerning whether 3000K or 3500K is more effective at attracting customers (a higher K value indicates a higher color temperature). Wang Ning revealed that he has recently been focusing on the design of POP MART's shopping bags and logistics boxes. “Any enterprise, whether delving into AI or running a dumpling restaurant, ultimately boils down to the details of daily operations.” This pursuit and accumulation of detail also fuels Wang Ning's confidence in competition: “Competition comes from all sides, but we have confidence in ourselves.”
In 2025, LABUBU became one of China's largest pop culture icons. Its rapid ascent also sparked market concerns that its IP value might diminish as the hype subsides. Wang Ning, however, does not view LABUBU's success as sudden, “because it's already 10 years old.” In his view, the core reason for LABUBU's explosion in popularity is simply that the product is excellent. “The launch of the LABUBU vinyl plush category made more people fall in love with LABUBU. Our initial idea was to create a perfect LABUBU, and on that foundation, we discovered that plush fabric would better suit LABUBU's animal characteristics. We firmly believe that IP companies can have great longevity; a company may experience many cycles and fluctuations, but the value of an IP can endure forever.”
Similar to LABUBU, Wang Ning sees POP MART's story as one of gradual growth. “Even if others are equally smart and work just as hard, they would still need to invest the same amount of time.” He observes that many failures stem from either a lack of respect for time or a disregard for the intricacies of management. “Success in the trendy toy industry isn't purely about competing with capital, resources, or operations alone.” Since the early days of entrepreneurship, Wang Ning has consistently reminded employees to slow down. “You can only outperform others by spending more time than they do in narrower fields, achieving superiority through accumulation.” However, after POP MART entered a phase of rapid growth, "slowing down" became exceedingly difficult, and Wang Ning has had to exercise extreme restraint. Since the April 2025 launch of LABUBU's "Warning: High Energy" series, POP MART has only introduced a mini-series within the LABUBU plush category. The company has refrained from aggressively pursuing collaborations and merchandise, which could rapidly deplete the IP's value. Wang Ning believes that the exploration of LABUBU's value has only just begun.
In POP MART's current narrative, overseas markets have become the primary driver of growth. When POP MART listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2020, its international business was relatively inconspicuous. Although overseas expansion began in 2018, it is only in the last two years that international operations have come to represent a significant portion of group revenue. In POP MART's announced third-quarter 2025 results, revenue surged 245%–250% year-over-year, with overseas markets experiencing explosive growth of 365%–370%. As of June 30, 2025, POP MART operated 571 stores across 18 countries, including 40 new physical stores and 105 new robotic stores added during the period. Wang Ning indicated that POP MART's employee count has just exceeded 10,000, with over 3,000 being foreign nationals. “The American market remains our fastest-growing market currently, and we are still in the early stages in many European countries. Our future strategy for overseas store openings is to establish larger stores in superior locations with enhanced designs, creating culturally immersive retail spaces offline.”
In 2018, when POP MART established its overseas business division, Wang Ning expressed a hope that international revenue would eventually account for 50% of domestic revenue. “At the time, almost no one believed it, but our development in recent years has proven that our IP and products are capable of global expansion,” recalled a senior POP MART executive. Wang Ning appreciates the adage: “Our present form is determined not by what we have done, but by what we have chosen not to do.” He shared that POP MART has always been a company that says "NO" more often than "YES," adding, “When good news is everywhere, people should pay attention to the bad news.” He has consistently been “rejecting many opportunities”—deciding against opening certain stores or entering certain product categories, which he identifies as an area where competitors find it difficult to catch up.
Over the past year, Wang Ning has devoted most of his contemplation to organizational structure. “How to organize everyone to undertake greater endeavors—that is the bigger challenge.” Wang Ning's ambitions are expanding, yet his desires are becoming simpler. On November 17, 2025, POP MART released a video retrospective for its 15th anniversary. The concluding scene featured Wang Ning from approximately 20 years ago, riding a tricycle to stock his grid-style retail stall—the very place where his dream began. Wang Ning hopes that he can always remain like a youth—unrestrained, genuine, and calm—guiding POP MART steadily toward the destination of their dreams.
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