Duan Yongping, often hailed as the Warren Buffett of China for his disciplined value-investing approach, has sent ripples through Asian markets by liquidating his long-held position in China Shenhua. The legendary investor announced on the Xueqiu social platform that he has fully rotated his capital out of the state-owned coal giant and into Pop Mart, the leader of China’s 'trendy toy' phenomenon. This move marks the end of a 15-year relationship with Shenhua, a company that served as a cornerstone of Duan’s A-share strategy alongside the spirits behemoth Kweichow Moutai.
The shift is jarring for many because of the stark contrast between the two assets. China Shenhua is the quintessence of stability—an integrated energy titan with a 78% dividend payout ratio and a near-monopoly on its supply chain. For over a decade, it represented 'Right Business, Right People, Right Price' for Duan, acting as a defensive shield against cyclical volatility. However, the market’s focus is shifting as traditional dividends are increasingly viewed as a floor rather than a fuel for future expansion.
Pop Mart, conversely, represents the volatile 'new consumption' sector that Duan admittedly 'could not understand' as recently as late 2024. The transformation of his sentiment followed a fiscal 2025 performance that saw Pop Mart’s revenue jump 184% to 37.1 billion RMB, with net profits nearly tripling. This explosive growth, driven by a pivot from domestic 'blind boxes' to a diversified global IP portfolio, forced the veteran investor to re-evaluate his skepticism and commit to a deep-dive research phase.
Central to Duan’s conviction is the human element, specifically Pop Mart’s founder, Wang Ning. Duan has praised Wang’s youth and potential for a 25-year leadership horizon, comparing the entrepreneur’s vision to the compounding power of a high-quality asset. Furthermore, Duan’s boots-on-the-ground observation of Pop Mart’s London stores—where 90% of the clientele were local non-Chinese consumers—convinced him that the brand possesses the rare DNA required for true global scalability.
This reallocation also reflects a diverging reality within China’s elite consumer market. While Kweichow Moutai reported its first-ever revenue and profit decline in 2025, signaling a plateau for traditional prestige goods, Pop Mart’s plush toy segment alone surged by 560%. By selling Shenhua to buy Pop Mart, Duan is not signaling a loss of faith in coal, but rather a strategic preference for high-growth IP over low-growth dividends in an era where global expansion is the only clear path to outsized returns.