Labubu's fading magic knocks 22% off pop mart—just as the toy maker's u.s. blitz hits stride

Pop Mart built a toy empire on a single smirking doll. Now the smirk is cracking. Shares in the Hong Kong-listed toy phenom collapsed 22 percent on Monday after the company confessed that Labubu, the fanged heroine of its Monsters franchise, is aging faster than investors hoped—and no successor is ready.

Revenue soared 185%. the market yawned.

The numbers sound absurd anywhere else: 37.1 billion yuan in 2025 revenue, up 185 percent; net profit up 309 percent to 12.8 billion yuan. But analysts had penciled in 38 billion on the top line, and the slimmest of misses was enough to ignite a sell-off that wiped US$2.3 billion off the firm's valuation in a single session.

Jeff Zhang at Morningstar says institutional desks balked at a dividend payout ratio cut from 35 percent to 25 percent. "They wanted cash, not kawaii," Zhang told clients. Add a fourth-quarter deceleration and whispers that counterfeit Labubus are glutting second-hand apps from Guangzhou to Los Angeles, and suddenly a growth story feels like a race against shelf life.

Labubu still pays 4 of every 10 yuan that reach the till

The doll that once flipped for triple retail on eBay now sits in discount bins. Yet Pop Mart still relies on Labubu for 40 percent of sales, up from 23 percent in 2024. Monsters raked in 14.2 billion yuan—beating internal forecasts—but that only proves how lopsided the portfolio has become.

Twinkle Twinkle, Crybaby, Molly and other IPs trailed. Molly, once the crown jewel, missed targets so badly the company stopped giving unit guidance. Skullpanda saved some face with 3.5 billion yuan, a bright spot that today feels like a night-light in a warehouse.

America bought 42 stores, 748% revenue jump, one big question

Pop Mart's U.S. push is the only narrative still seducing money managers. Forty-two American stores later, stateside sales surged 748 percent to 6.8 billion yuan—18 percent of the total. The catch: opening costs are ballooning, and analysts warn margins could compress as the company air-freights blind-box pallets to satisfy TikTok unboxing frenzies.

Founder Wang Ning, now 17 billion euros richer than PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, insists the story is bigger than one doll. "Pop Mart offers much more than Labubu," he told investors last week. The market answer was a middle-finger chart.

Labubu isn't dead; she's just entering the collector's graveyard where hype goes to fossilize. Whether Pop Mart can mint a new icon before nostalgia becomes a balance-sheet liability will decide if today's 22 percent plunge is a buying opportunity—or the first chapter of a cautionary case study.