Profit Drops 20%, Beike Co-founder Makes Major 800 Million Yuan Real Estate Bet

Ask AI · Shell Founder’s Large Donations Focus on Supporting Service Providers

On March 16, Shell released its 2025 performance forecast: full-year net profit dropped sharply by 26.7%, with only 0.8 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of last year.

Over the past year, every battle in China’s real estate market has been exceptionally tough. Common understanding suggests that during tough times, companies and entrepreneurs tend to cut back on long-term investments, which is understandable. However, Shell’s two co-founders, Peng Yongdong and Shan Yigang, instead remained remarkably committed to another figure — donating over 800 million yuan.

There’s nothing new under the sun; what a company persists with during difficult times is what truly matters. The two co-founders do not take salaries but instead donate all to the industry. What are they trying to achieve?

The Secret Behind 41%

After a long period of rapid growth, China’s real estate industry has entered a new normal of deep adjustment. This is not just a simple cycle shift but a systemic reshaping of industry models, growth logic, and competition methods. By 2025, this adjustment has not only continued but deepened.

Shell’s financial reports clearly reveal this pressure. The inventory housing business, once seen as a safety net, is feeling the chill — despite an 11% increase in second-hand transaction volume throughout the year, there is a “GTV increase, net income decrease” divergence, with profit margins severely squeezed.

The reasons behind this are complex: possibly falling home prices reducing average commissions, while maintaining a large broker network incurs rigid fixed costs. It could also be Shell’s proactive choice at the bottom of the cycle to stabilize transactions, preserve the ecosystem, and maintain market share.

In addition to straightforward profit declines, Shell’s 2025 financial report also shows changes in business structure. The report indicates that “non-property transaction” revenue has risen to a record high of 41%. This means that as new and second-hand property transactions face volume declines and pressure, Shell is accelerating its shift from a single transaction platform to a more comprehensive “residential service platform.”

According to the report, in 2025, home renovation revenue exceeded 15.4 billion yuan, and rental net income was about 21.9 billion yuan, with the rental segment achieving profitability for the year, demonstrating that non-transaction businesses have developed self-sustaining capabilities.

In 2021, Peng Yongdong led Shell’s acquisition of Shengdu and subsequently proposed a “one body, two wings” strategic layout. Shell’s ability to stabilize its footing lies in not simply choosing between two options — sticking to inventory or blindly crossing into other fields — but in following the direction Peng Yongdong proposed years ago, completing the strategic shift from the “transaction track” to the “residential track.”

8 Billion for Home Sellers

Alongside business adjustments, the two founders of Shell have made significant donations.

According to publicly available information, in April 2025, Peng Yongdong announced donating 9 million Class A ordinary shares, valued at about 440 million yuan. Half of this was used for healthcare benefits for service providers, and the other half for tenant assistance. This was the first time since Shell’s listing that the founders sold shares, with all proceeds dedicated to public welfare.

In February 2026, Peng Yongdong and Shan Yigang jointly donated 10 million Class A ordinary shares, worth about 400 million yuan, establishing the “Healthy Home Shell Guardians Fund,” covering over 500,000 frontline service providers on the platform.

In less than a year, the two core executives’ total stock donations have approached 840 million yuan.

On the surface, these funds mainly support health security and public welfare assistance; but in the context of the industry environment, it also reflects Shell’s approach: during industry lows, continue to invest resources in people.

Whether it’s for sudden illnesses, accidents, or supporting family economic pillars and children’s education, these arrangements essentially serve to supplement frontline service providers’ risk protection, aiming to reduce individual and family pressures when facing unexpected situations.

From the results, such investments help ease practitioners’ worries, providing more long-term stability beyond short-term income; for a company highly dependent on service experience, reputation, and offline execution, investing in service providers is also a long-term strategic consideration. The ultimate impact of these investments remains to be seen over a longer period.

Self-Discipline in Difficult Times

Some Shell management have mentioned that these donations signify a certain change happening.

From Lianjia to Shell, the company has experienced multiple real estate cycles over the past two decades. But what’s special now is that market volatility and trust anxiety are deepening simultaneously, with consumers valuing professionalism, transparency, and certainty more than ever.

How does Shell plan to respond to these market changes?

From recent actions, whether it’s the continuous donations by co-founders or promoting the “Adhere to a Neutral Market View” initiative, these are not scattered measures but rather a form of self-restraint.

According to public disclosures, nearly 100,000 agents have voluntarily signed commitments based on the “Three Musts and Six Bans” code of conduct, emphasizing not to speak negatively, distort policies, or create anxiety, returning to professionalism and integrity. This is not just a slogan but a reaffirmation of professional boundaries amid rampant industry emotionalism.

Another more direct change appeared in March this year. Shell further relaxed internal talent mobility restrictions, giving more choices back to individuals. While this seems like an organizational adjustment, it actually reflects a shift in management philosophy: the platform no longer relies on closed constraints to retain talent but instead pushes itself to create better soil, better tools, and clearer development paths to attract and empower people.

At the 2025 performance meeting, Peng Yongdong said that China’s residential market remains one of the largest and most valuable in the world. The implication is that Shell remains optimistic about the long term. Since it’s a “long slope, thick snow,” why not continue to focus on scale?

According to Peng Yongdong, in 2025, Shell mainly did two things: improving governance and advancing strategic upgrades. The purpose is to create more space for long-term strategic transformation and to promote continuous progress in the housing industry; secondly, to focus more on transaction certainty, matching accuracy, and unit economic model improvements.

In this sense, what’s most worth watching now is not how much money Shell earned this year, but where it chooses to invest, build capabilities, and place its bets during the industry’s coldest times.