"Second Generation" Li Hanqiong Takes Over Yageer with 70 Billion Yuan, Fashion Main Business Profits Less Than 100 Million, Brand Reshaping Awaits Breakthrough

Can AI · Can the New Brand Matrix Save Core Business Profits?

Changjiang Business Daily News ● Changjiang Business Reporter Wang Jing

“The Yangtze River’s later waves push the earlier waves forward. This time, with the board leadership change, a new generation will be responsible for YOUNGOR’s operations.”

At the end of April 2026, 75-year-old YOUNGOR (600177.SH) founder and chairman Li Rucheng wrote in a letter to shareholders in the company’s 2025 annual report. At the same time, the board resolution announcement released showed that YOUNGOR’s current vice chairman and president, Li Ruoqun—Li Rucheng’s only daughter—had been nominated as a candidate for non-independent director of the new board, while Li Rucheng himself did not appear on the list of candidates. This was seen as an official signal of the second-generation succession at YOUNGOR.

Li Ruoqun, the “YOUNGOR princess” who started in grassroots retail roles, completed her leap from the frontline market to vice chairman and president in 15 years. Through three major deals—Alexander Wang, Intime Department Store, and BONPOINT—she demonstrated her decisiveness and determination to lead the company’s transformation.

What has drawn significant market attention is that YOUNGOR’s annual report performance was poor. In 2025, YOUNGOR achieved net profit attributable to the parent of 2.447 billion yuan, of which the investment business contributed 2.471 billion yuan. As for the fashion segment, the company’s core business, it earned less than 100 million yuan, with profit falling 77.75% year-on-year.

At the moment of taking over, Li Ruoqun is faced with a YOUNGOR that urgently needs a breakthrough.

Long Experience Within the YOUNGOR System

“Studied abroad, highly educated, broad-minded, quick-witted”—this was what Li Rugang, Li Ruoqun’s uncle and former vice chairman of YOUNGOR, said about his niece. But within YOUNGOR, Li Ruoqun is not the typical second-generation executive parachuted in with a silver spoon; instead, she is a hands-on veteran who has worked her way up from the most basic market and retail roles, grinding through challenges along the way.

Li Ruoqun was born in 1977. According to Li Rucheng’s recollection, when her daughter was born, it was during the “harsh winter” that was the most difficult period in his early entrepreneurship. The name “Ruoqun” (Hanqiong) carries the implication that “cold will pass and spring will arrive as promised.” This kind of symbolism almost runs through Li Ruoqun’s growth path. Three years after her birth, Li Rucheng founded the “Youth Clothing Factory,” and step by step, he turned this small workshop into YOUNGOR, China’s first men’s wear brand.

As her uncle Li Rugang put it, Li Ruoqun’s educational background is impressive. She studied business administration at California State University in the United States for her undergraduate degree, and later obtained an EMBA from CEIBS. Like many second-generation heirs who do real business in family enterprises, after finishing her studies and returning to China, she did not immediately enter YOUNGOR’s management team; instead, she started from grassroots market and retail positions, accumulating solid practical experience.

In 2011, Li Ruoqun first entered YOUNGOR’s board as a director. Five years later, her promotion path began: in 2016, she concurrently served as the company’s general manager; in 2017, she was promoted to vice chairman; from 2019 to 2020, she served as vice chairman and general manager; from 2021 to 2022, she served as vice chairman; and from 2023 to present, she has served as vice chairman and president, fully taking charge of the company’s operations.

In addition, she also serves as chairman and general manager of YOUNGOR Fashion (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., chairman of YOUNGOR Apparel Holdings Co., Ltd., and executive director and general manager of YOUNGOR Investment Co., Ltd., among other key roles.

Worth noting is that under the YOUNGOR system, Li Ruoqun has held important positions in multiple investment companies. Her early experience at YOUNGOR (Hong Kong) Industrial Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Kaisi Investment Management Co., Ltd. laid key foundations for her later leadership of capital operations. Such a complete resume spanning apparel manufacturing, brand operations, and capital investment is not common among successors of her generation.

What truly helped Li Ruoqun establish her footing within the YOUNGOR system were two types of abilities she displayed: one is a sharp instinct for consumers and the market, and the other is the skills of a decisive capital operator.

In 2015, Li Ruoqun led the launch of a YOUNGOR Winter Olympics special-edition shirt. Within minutes after the announcement that the bid for the Winter Olympics had succeeded, it was released via the official WeChat account. With a global limited edition of 2,015 pieces, it sold out in a short period of time. This has been regarded as YOUNGOR’s fastest response event marketing in its history. Later, when reflecting on this experience, Li Ruoqun said plainly, “This made me firmly believe that understanding consumers, understanding channels, and understanding products are the foundation of a fashion enterprise.”

Also in those years, Li Ruoqun pushed YOUNGOR to boldly break the men’s wear single-brand intensive strategy it had pursued for more than 30 years, and launched women’s wear and children’s wear series. After that, the pace of her moves in brand acquisitions and channel expansion—along with the size of the capital involved—repeatedly caught the market’s attention. In 2022, YOUNGOR co-invested with the Challenger Capital of Tang Binsen, founder of Yuanqi Forest, to invest in the U.S. high-end designer brand Alexander Wang. In 2023, YOUNGOR spent about 1.34 billion yuan to take over multiple core business district store locations from Metersbonwe, including Guiyang Zhonghua Middle Road and Wuhan Optics Valley World City. In December 2024, YOUNGOR acquired Intime Department Store equity from Alibaba for about 7.4 billion yuan, and the person representing YOUNGOR on stage to sign the agreement was Li Ruoqun. In January 2025, she also led and completed the acquisition of the French luxury children’s wear brand BONPOINT (Little Cherry), with an acquisition amount of about 200 million euros. This helped YOUNGOR make its first formal foray into the children’s wear, international, and luxury segments.

“Second Generation” Leading Brand Reshaping

From investing in brands to moving into physical business, Li Ruoqun’s moves have been more daring than her father Li Rucheng’s.

But there is one key fact that cannot be ignored: her “ammunition” is largely built on the foundation laid by her father’s decades of capital operations. Long ago, Li Rucheng set YOUNGOR’s strategy of three “engines”—clothing + real estate + investment. It is these three engines, especially the investment business, that have kept YOUNGOR moving up to today.

Based on annual report data, in 2025 YOUNGOR’s revenue was 11.582 billion yuan, down 18.37% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 2.447 billion yuan, down 11.57%. On the business front, the real estate business recorded a loss of 106 million yuan for the first time. End-of-period pre-sale revenue fell 68.46% year-on-year, and the company has no new projects to launch—exiting real estate is now clear. Although the fashion segment completed revenue of 7.433 billion yuan, up 9.33%, net profit attributable to the parent was only 95.93 million yuan, down 77.75% year-on-year.

In the same period, YOUNGOR’s investment business generated net profit attributable to the parent of 2.471 billion yuan, while the company’s total net profit attributable to the parent was only 2.447 billion yuan. In other words, without investment profit support, YOUNGOR’s profitability would already have been zero and even turned negative.

And Li Ruoqun’s series of acquisition layouts, in essence, is paving the way for the “fashion main business” using the investment gains accumulated by her father.

However, it seems Li Ruoqun’s layout is also starting to pay off.

In 2025, YOUNGOR’s brand matrix formed by multiple brands including BONPOINT and UNDEFEATED contributed a total revenue of 1.627 billion yuan, accounting for 24.54% of the fashion segment’s total revenue. That is to say, nearly one quarter is now contributed by new brands, and the diversification “pie chart” has begun to take shape.

Regarding this, Li Ruoqun said, “We have broken the long-standing pattern of focusing only on men’s wear… By acquiring international brands such as UNDEFEATED, Helly Hansen, Alexander Wang, and BONPOINT, we are building a multi-tier fashion matrix covering sports, outdoor, luxury, and children’s wear.” In addition, at the end of 2023, she also pushed a listed company renaming from “YOUNGOR Group Co., Ltd.” to “YOUNGOR Fashion Co., Ltd.”

Even Li Rucheng, at a 2024 shareholders’ meeting, had been frank in saying that YOUNGOR’s “old three items”—suits, shirts, and trousers—have “aged.” He also acknowledged, “For high-end business professionals, YOUNGOR is seen as a mid-tier brand and cannot meet high-end demands; for young people, YOUNGOR’s pricing lacks cost-effectiveness.”

For the investment business, Li Ruoqun’s approach appears to be directing investment funds toward strategic allocations that are highly related to the fashion main business.

In 2025, YOUNGOR exited four financial investment projects and reduced holdings to recover 7.714 billion yuan in cash. During the investor communication on April 30, 2026, the company explicitly listed “focusing on brand acquisitions and cooperation related to the fashion main business” as the second largest direction for the investment segment, right after investment returns.

In the first quarter of 2026, YOUNGOR’s profits returned to growth. Operating revenue was 2.882 billion yuan, up 3.10%; net profit attributable to the parent was 922 million yuan, up 14.73%. At period-end, the company’s total assets reached 70.407 billion yuan, and the asset-liability ratio was 39.45%, improved year-on-year.

In the shareholder letter, Li Rucheng wrote: “I earnestly hope that you will continue to care for, protect, and be understanding toward the work of the new board, ensuring YOUNGOR’s founding business remains evergreen and grows even stronger.” And standing on the shoulders of giants, Li Ruoqun is also sending a clear signal with her own step-by-step footsteps: the so-called princess has grown into someone who rolls up her sleeves and goes into battle.