A real-life stock-picking story turned into him trading his way into becoming a major shareholder—so big that he’s just one step away from becoming the largest shareholder! Duan Yongping, who keeps averaging down without ever getting trapped, has now secured the position of the second-biggest owner of Pop Mart, the company’s “second boss.”

It’s unclear whether he’s eager to get out of his bind, but Lao Duan has repeatedly made high-profile public declarations of affection for Wang Ning! Recently, he finally met up with her in person offline, only to fail to draw much attention; Pop Mart’s stock price also hasn’t moved up.

Recently, a netizen posted an exclusive leak on a social platform: Pop Mart founder Wang Ning met offline with well-known investor Duan Yongping. In the related video footage, Long Jiasheng also appears, and the three are seen together on camera.

On May 25, Duan Yongping, via H&H International Investment Limited controlled by him, bought 9.82M shares of Pop Mart’s ordinary shares. Together with persons acting in concert, their total shareholding ratio reached 5.69%, making Duan the second-largest shareholder, just behind Pop Mart founder Wang Ning (holding about 44.85%).

On the evening of May 25, Duan Yongping replied to the netizen on the social platform: “I think Wang Ning’s understanding of his own product, and his pursuit, is at the same level as Jobs—at least in the future it will be. Wang Ning’s understanding of business seems to be a little stronger than Jobs’s.”

Earlier, when Duan Yongping discussed Wang Ning and Pop Mart’s business model, he said that Wang Ning’s understanding of business is top-tier—she’s an entrepreneur who is both diligent and good at thinking, and who pays attention to details—and he added, “I really appreciate Wang Ning and his team.”

Later, Duan Yongping even directly stated: “I’m a fan of Wang Ning.”

In December last year, during an interview with Wang Shi, Duan Yongping said: “I highly recognize the ability to turn products with emotional value into something like this. It’s not just random success, and it can’t be attributed to luck.” At the time, he added, “I can’t understand Pop Mart, so I won’t invest in it or buy its stock.”

But this year, in March, his stance toward Pop Mart took a major turn. On March 30, Duan Yongping changed his tone: “I retract the idea of not investing. It’s been a long time since I felt this excited.”

On April 2, a netizen asked Duan Yongping on an investment exchange platform, “Should we take a deeper look into whether Pop Mart’s internal accounting would fabricate records?”

On April 3, Duan Yongping responded: “I don’t think they would make fake accounts. If you listen to Wang Ning’s remarks, you’ll probably understand.” $POL
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