Pop Mart is making a fortune, but the capital bubble has burst.

Ask AI · How Does Pop Mart Balance IP Hype and Market Expectations?

Produced by｜New Products, Slightly Finance

Author｜Wu Wenwu

The latest financial report shows that Pop Mart made a killing, but the capital market isn’t buying it—like Pop Mart’s capital bubble has burst.

No matter whether it is in the past, the present, or the future, Pop Mart will always need an appropriate amount of bubble, and this will not change.

01 Pop Mart Made a Killing

《New Products, Slightly Finance》 notes that on March 25, Pop Mart Group (09992.HK) released its annual results for the year ended December 31, 2025, with a number of key core financial indicators performing extremely well.

The financial report shows that in 2025, Pop Mart’s revenue was RMB 37.12 billion, up 184.7% year over year; this revenue also set a new historical high, whereas the same period last year was only RMB 13.04B. During the period, adjusted profit attributable to shareholders under non-IFRS was RMB 13.08 billion, up 284.5% year over year.

Pop Mart’s revenue set a new historical high, and in addition, the profit attributable to shareholders surged significantly year over year—so you could say Pop Mart made a killing.

The reason Pop Mart achieved such strong performance was actually already well within market expectations.

In the first half of last year, Pop Mart’s super IP, LABUBU, went viral, sparking a wave of a nationwide craze to抢 LABUBU. In the second-hand market, scalpers went wild抢ing too. Celebrities, consumers, and netizens all went抢ing LABUBU, staging a grand feast of a top-tier collectible toy IP.

When LABUBU went viral, it became the core driving force behind Pop Mart’s performance blowout in 2025, allowing Pop Mart to rake in huge profits.

The financial report shows that in 2025, Pop Mart had 17 artist IPs with revenue exceeding RMB 2.93B. Among them, the LABUBU family (THE MONSTERS) first broke through the RMB 10 billion mark, reaching RMB 14.16 billion, accounting for about 38.1% of total revenue.

In addition, Pop Mart’s SKULLPANDA, CRYBABY, MOLLY, DIMOO, Xingxingren, and HIRONO respectively achieved revenue of RMB 3.54 billion, RMB 2.78B, RMB 2.06B, RMB 1.74B, RMB 18.71B, and RMB 1.735 billion during the reporting period.

There’s no doubt that LABUBU became the pillar IP supporting Pop Mart’s 2025 revenue and performance.

What’s worth paying attention to is that Pop Mart’s most profitable business right now is not blind boxes, but plush toys.

The financial report shows that in 2025, the company’s plush product revenue was RMB 18.708 billion, up 560.6% year over year, and for the first time became the product category contributing the most to Pop Mart’s revenue.

Judging solely from the latest financial report data, Pop Mart really is making a killing!

Pop Mart is a leading company in the collectible blind box track, and its strong financial report performance directly reflects the surprising consumer power in today’s collectible toy IP track.

No wonder there are many followers behind Pop Mart, including Ye Guofu and his Miniso, as well as TOP TOY, which was spun off from Miniso and is seeking a listing.

02 But the Capital Bubble Has Burst

What’s surprising is that although Pop Mart delivered a set of financial results good enough to amaze the entire market, the capital market still isn’t buying it.

Although Pop Mart released a bright annual report, the stock price fell 22.53%, and its market value evaporated by more than RMB 60 billion. As of the close of trading on the 25th, the company’s share price was HKD 168.3, and its market value was HKD 225.6 billion.

The reasons given by the capital market are also simple: LABUBU contributes Pop Mart’s core profits; Pop Mart relies too heavily on a single IP, raising concerns that this could affect the company’s future performance.

For example, HSBC Global Research analyst Lina Yan noted in a recent report that “the ultra-fast growth brought by LABUBU will fade.”

However, in reality, Pop Mart has had different views from the outside and the market since it was founded, and it has always been multifaceted.

Pop Mart’s blind box collectible toy IP business is different from product sales in traditional retail. The main buying audience is young people. Essentially, it is a business of emotional value and self-reward consumption.

During a media interview, Yongping Duan said that he highly affirmed (Pop Mart). He said that although he doesn’t understand Pop Mart and wouldn’t invest in or buy its stock, the ability for Pop Mart to turn emotional-value products into such a result isn’t just random success—it can’t be attributed to luck.

So Pop Mart is destined to be difficult to shake off the doubts from the outside world, and even this company will always have bubbles.

After Pop Mart’s IPO, its share price has experienced multiple surges and plunges. Each time there are different reasons. Last year, when LABUBU went viral, it lifted Pop Mart’s share price to surge. After its heat cooled down, Pop Mart’s share price then saw a sharp decline.

Factors such as Pop Mart’s financial performance, changes in super-IP hype levels, business moves, the company’s operating decisions, and even changes in industry regulatory policies can all affect Pop Mart’s share price.

There are many views in the capital market that Pop Mart’s bubble is too large. Every time Pop Mart’s stock price surges or plunges, it’s as if Pop Mart’s bubble bursts again; and this time is no different.

Pop Mart’s business in blind box collectible toy IPs cannot escape the small cycle of IP going from explosive fame to premium pricing, and then to cooling off.

03 Pop Mart Will Always Need an Appropriate Amount of Bubble

When a listed company performs well and its prospects are promising, the capital market naturally looks favorably on it. Conversely, the capital market will vote with its feet.

But for Pop Mart, whose main business is blind box collectible toy IPs, in terms of both business operations and the capital market, it needs to approach things with fresh, new consumption thinking.

So when top-tier IPs like LABUBU go viral and get heavily hyped, bubbles are inevitable—indeed, all IPs have bubbles. This is an inescapable fact, determined by the product attributes of the industry.

When LABUBU goes viral, it can lift Pop Mart’s stock price, drive its performance to skyrocket. Once the hype cools down, many consumers and fans stop rushing to buy, and it gradually becomes clearly reflected in market sales.

《New Products, Slightly Finance》 believes Pop Mart needs a bubble, but the bubble can’t be too big. Therefore, Pop Mart needs to appropriately pop the bubble to reduce market expectations.

According to Huoxing (虎嗅), Pop Mart founder Wang Ning once held an internal company sharing about the LABUBU viral phenomenon, saying that from the product side, our goal is not to make LABUBU a popular symbol that explodes only for a moment, but to build an IP with long-term vitality.

For example, when LABUBU went viral last year and the market ran out of stock, Pop Mart chose to restock and take the initiative to cool things down and puncture the bubble.

To outsiders, Pop Mart appears to rely too heavily on a single super IP—this is a key question Pop Mart needs to answer.

《New Products, Slightly Finance》 believes Pop Mart doesn’t only need one hit LABUBU. Now it also needs to find the next “LABUBU,” and even more “LABUBUs.” In its operations, Pop Mart not only needs to do innovation, but also needs to do balance-control work for market supply and demand, and even needs to do timely decision-making on how to “create” bubbles, while also cooling things down and popping bubbles at the right time.

Today, Pop Mart’s business ambitions are getting bigger: it is launching theme parks, opening jewelry stores, planning to make films, and also entering home appliances—continuously expanding the boundaries of its business. Pop Mart wants to find more growth curves in additional business areas, and tell more new stories.

Looking at the long term, Pop Mart is still a super-leading company in its track, but it also has plenty of new questions to think about.

References:

[1] Pop Mart’s revenue sets a new historical high, but the stock price falls more than 20%, Jiemian News [

2] Pop Mart’s financial reports, Pop Mart

(This article does not constitute any investment advice.)

Author statement: personal views only, for reference