Market capitalization shrank by over 27 billion, and Dongpeng Beverage, betting on Zhang Xue's motorcycle, plummeted.

Why did the stock price fall despite AI and Dongpeng Beverage’s traffic explosion?

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Introduction: Dongpeng Beverage bet on Zhang Xue Motorcycle, who dares to bet on Dongpeng Beverage?

Dongpeng Beverage just staged a highly polarized “drama.”

Many media reports say Zhang Xue Motorcycle won two consecutive championships at the WSBK Portugal round, directly breaking the decades-long monopoly of Ducati, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and other European and American brands in this category. Zhang Xue Motorcycle even trended on social media headlines, flooding the entire internet.

Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s overnight rise to fame also boosted the sponsor “Dongpeng Special Drink,” with netizens exclaiming “Dongpeng made a huge profit this time.”

But while the internet celebrated, Dongpeng Beverage’s stock markets in both A+H shares “dropped out”: on March 31, the company’s A-shares hit the daily limit down, and Hong Kong stocks continued to decline, with market value shrinking significantly.

That day, Dongpeng Beverage’s A-share stock opened lower and fell further, once dropping over 9%, and closed at the daily limit down, with a closing price of 205.27 yuan per share, down 9.97%, and a total market value dropping to 115.9 billion yuan.

Hong Kong stocks performed similarly poorly. On February 3, Dongpeng Beverage (9980.HK) debuted on the HKEX with a slight 1.53% increase, with a market cap of about 27.24B HKD. But after two days of gains, it entered a downward channel. By the close on March 31, Dongpeng Beverage’s Hong Kong stock closed at 201.8 HKD, with a intraday low of 200 HKD, and a market cap of about 114 billion HKD, shrinking by 20.88B HKD from the first day of listing.

As of April 1, after the market close, Dongpeng Beverage’s A-shares rebounded slightly by 2.5%, with a price of 210.4 yuan per share; H-shares recovered to 217.2 HKD per share.

Financial data shows that in 2025, the company achieved revenue of 4.42B yuan, up 31.8% year-over-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 50k yuan, up 32.72%. It still maintained a high growth rate; however, after breaking down the structure, issues such as slowing growth of core flagship products, the second growth curve not fully taking off, and ongoing investments in overseas markets have gradually surfaced.

Meanwhile, factors like cash flow pressure, high debt, high dividends, and shareholder reductions continue to influence market expectations. Despite “winning big” in traffic, why did Dongpeng Beverage face a “crash” in the capital market?

Dongpeng “riding” a “global-level” traffic miracle

If we were to pick the “luckiest” marketing case of 2026, Dongpeng Special Drink sponsoring Zhang Xue Motorcycle would likely rank in the top three.

The origin of this event even carries a “joking tone.” In November 2025, Zhang Xue Motorcycle publicly sought sponsors, and netizens collectively “tagged” Dongpeng Special Drink on social platforms. Unexpectedly, the company actually took on this deal. Rumors say the sponsorship cost was only 50k yuan, but the result was—an encounter with a historic event.

On March 28-29, 2026, Zhang Xue Motorcycle won two consecutive SSP class championships at the WSBK Portugal round, breaking the long-standing monopoly of European and Japanese brands in this category. More importantly, the repeated appearances of the Dongpeng logo in the footage made it more than just a racing event.

One race put the brand in front of viewers in over 150 countries and regions.

Industry estimates suggest this exposure was worth over 50 million yuan, amplified by a thousand times. Even more “ridiculous”: related topics on short video platforms exceeded 50k views, thousands of viewers flooded live streams, limited-edition merchandise sold out quickly, and some netizens even designed co-branded packaging.

The comment section was filled with enthusiasm—“This 50k yuan generated 50 million yuan worth of effect,” “Initially just riding the hype, now the main character,” “Dongpeng just took the stage.”

For a functional beverage company whose core mental model is “Drink Dongpeng Special Drink when tired or sleepy,” this kind of naturally fitting “speed, stimulation, and extreme sports” event is an ideal platform. But in the past, such international events were almost exclusively dominated by brands like Red Bull.

This time, Dongpeng entered almost by “chance” or “leverage.”

Beyond this “50k for 50 million” viral hit, Dongpeng Beverage has long regarded sports marketing as a key long-term strategy.

In recent years, the company has almost systematized “where young people exercise, put the brand there.”

In racing scenarios, Dongpeng Special Drink has sponsored the FIA F4 China Championship, embedding the brand into the core narrative of speed and adrenaline; in basketball, it has promoted “Dongpeng Hydrate”—from CBA professional leagues to youth tournaments like NYBO and CHBL, and urban basketball events, creating a full chain from youth training to professional levels.

The key to this approach is “positioning”: energy drinks align with high-intensity confrontation scenes, while electrolyte water addresses sports hydration needs—repeatedly reinforcing the subconscious “运动$1东鹏” (sports = Dongpeng) at different consumption moments.

Compared to continuous placements in badminton, marathons, tennis, etc., which are more about filling scene gaps, this approach keeps the brand constantly visible among sports audiences through intensive, long-term, and relatively restrained investments, treating sports IP as a channel.

This is why Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s “unexpected popularity” is particularly interesting—it’s not an isolated incident but a “traffic lever” on top of a comprehensive sports marketing system.

When a brand has already laid a foundation across various sports scenarios, catching a global event by chance amplifies not just exposure but the entire brand perception’s acceleration. That’s the real value of Dongpeng’s 50k yuan.

Dongpeng’s “luck explosion” also lies in hitting a “globalization node.”

Strategically, Dongpeng’s actions are not accidental. When the company was preparing for its HKEX IPO, it explicitly planned to use part of the raised funds for overseas expansion and set up subsidiaries in Southeast Asia. By 2025, its products had entered 32 countries and regions, gradually establishing localized operations in markets like Indonesia and Vietnam, and even partnering with Indonesia’s Sanlin Group.

But previously, these moves were mostly about “channel expansion,” with relatively weak brand strength.

Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s victory helped Dongpeng fill a “brand recognition” gap. Compared to other companies following the “low price + high cost-performance + channel penetration” path, this approach of leveraging international events to amplify voice essentially copies a mature route.

The question is, can this traffic translate into long-term sales?

Traffic exploded, stock price collapsed

While the “Dongpeng won big” topic flooded social media, the capital market responded very differently.

On the day of the March 31 financial report release, Dongpeng Beverage’s A-shares hit the daily limit down, with a price of 205.27 yuan, and market value fell to 115.9 billion yuan; Hong Kong stocks also came under pressure, with market cap dropping from about 140 billion HKD at listing to around 114 billion HKD, evaporating over 27 billion HKD in just two months.

Image source: Tonghuashun

Is this because the market is re-pricing Dongpeng Beverage’s growth logic?

In 2025, Dongpeng Beverage achieved total revenue of 50k yuan, up 31.8% YoY; among them, Dongpeng Special Drink contributed 50k yuan, dominating the total revenue. But the problem is, this “engine” is slowing down—the Q4 growth was only 8.5%, compared to nearly 20% in previous periods.

For a company relying heavily on a single flagship product, this signal is critical—it directly hits the nerve of the market’s biggest concern: is the flagship Dongpeng Special Drink showing signs of deceleration?

From an industry perspective, this isn’t surprising. The domestic functional beverage market has entered a mature stage. Dongpeng’s market share continues to grow, but it’s approaching the “ceiling.” As room for share expansion shrinks, growth naturally slows.

So, the company is betting on the “second curve.”

Electrolyte drinks like “Hydrate” performed well in 2025, with revenue reaching 20.88B yuan, nearly doubling (+120%), and their share increased to 15.7%. Additionally, products like Guozhi Tea and Dongpeng Daka are also growing rapidly.

But the size remains small.

“Hydrate” is only one-fifth the scale of Dongpeng Special Drink, making it difficult to fill the gap caused by the slowdown of the core product in the short term. The worst scenario for Dongpeng Beverage is a “transition period” where old engines slow down before new engines fully take over.

More tangible challenges come from costs.

To promote new products, Dongpeng Beverage’s sales expenses in 2025 reached 15.6B yuan, up 27%. Among them, channel promotion costs were 3.27B yuan, a 57.55% increase, mainly due to increased freezer investments.

In recent years, the company’s channel promotion efforts have been substantial, covering many small cities. The author saw in a small county in Hebei that local convenience stores also stocked Dongpeng Special Drink and other products. The store owner said they didn’t choose this brand a few years ago, but recently it’s sold better, though “Red Bull” remains the preferred choice.

Besides the surge in channel costs, Dongpeng Beverage’s employee compensation expenses reached 3.4B yuan, up 23.04%, mainly to expand sales teams as part of its national expansion strategy.

Overseas markets are another “distant water.”

Although Dongpeng’s products are sold in 32 countries and regions, based on regional sales proportions, in 2025, overseas and other channels contributed only 700 million yuan, accounting for just 3.55% of total sales.

Other: mainly includes online, overseas, and catering channels

High dividends, high debt, and share reductions: the other side of cash flow

On the books, Dongpeng Beverage remains a “highly profitable” company—2025 net profit margin exceeded 21%, and operating cash flow reached 1.23B yuan.

But the debt pressure is also significant.

As of the end of 2025, the company had 5.68 billion yuan in cash, but short-term liabilities reached 6.63 billion yuan, with liquidity pressures from notes payable and accounts payable; the debt-to-asset ratio was 64.73%. Notably, cash and cash equivalents fell to 1.37B yuan, the lowest in nearly three years.

Meanwhile, Dongpeng still maintains high dividend payouts. According to the 2025 profit distribution plan, cash dividends were about 6.17B yuan, with net profit attributable to shareholders of about 2.74B yuan, resulting in a high payout ratio of 61.42%. Over the past three years, total cash dividends amounted to about 2.71B yuan, with an average net profit of about 6.01B yuan, leading to a dividend payout ratio of 184.39%.

Image source: company financial report

High payout ratio and steady rhythm are typical features of “cash cows,” but under rising debt, market concerns about reinvestment capacity also grow.

More subtly, actions at the shareholder level have been ongoing since the lock-up shares were released. Multiple shareholders have been reducing holdings.

According to the “Changjiang Business Daily,” since the lock-up period ended in 2022, several shareholders of Dongpeng Special Drink have been reducing their holdings.

Among them, the second-largest shareholder, Junzheng Venture Capital, which once held 9%, has completed four rounds of reductions, cashing out 3.26B yuan; in 2023, Dongpeng Yuandao, Dongpeng Zhiyuan, and Dongpeng Zhicheng, through secondary market sales, cashed out a total of 4.15B yuan. These are employee shareholding platforms of Dongpeng, with investment proportions of 33.83%, 1.32%, and 4.31%, respectively.

In February 2025, Dongpeng announced that Kunpeng Investment, a limited partnership, planned to reduce no more than 7.1689 million shares. The main shareholder of Kunpeng Investment, Lin Yupeng, is the son of Lin Muqin, and they hold about 63% of the shares in Kunpeng Investment.

By May 2025, Dongpeng announced that Kunpeng Investment had terminated its reduction plan early but had already sold 7.1678 million shares, totaling about 1.07B yuan, representing about 1.38% of total shares.

Additionally, as mentioned earlier, Dongpeng has maintained a high dividend payout since listing, with the largest shareholder still being Lin Muqin’s family, so most dividends flow back to their “wallets.”

Combined with stock price fluctuations, wealth swings are also dramatic. In 2025, Dongpeng’s A-shares once peaked at 336 yuan, but now have shrunk by about 39%. The wealth of the actual controller, Lin Muqin, has also decreased accordingly.

On March 5, 2026, Hurun Research Institute released the “2026 Hurun Global Rich List,” ranking Lin Muqin and Lin Yupeng at 299th with 1.91B yuan; whereas in October 2025, the Hurun Rich List listed their wealth at 77B yuan. In just over four months, their wealth shrank by 140 billion yuan.

This is the most realistic side of the capital market—it doesn’t reward “past growth,” only “future expectations.”

On Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s track, Dongpeng used 50k yuan to win a “super overtaking” race; but on this longer race track of the capital market, the race has just entered a bend.