The company with strong ties to the Taiwanese Mandopop king swung into the red last year, blaming slower content launches and impaired trade receivables
Key Takeaways:
- Star Plus Legend said it lost up to 52 million yuan last year, reversing a profit of 50.2 million yuan in 2024
- The company, closely tied to pop star Jay Chou, reported declining revenues for its IP business in the first half of last year, but has been aggressively diversifying since then
Taiwanese singer and songwriter Jay Chou has sold more than 30 million records and is regularly likened to an Asian edition of Taylor Swift, with 16 spiders and an asteroid named after him and his songs. He was the first Asian singer to top the global album charts with his 15th studio album, Greatest Works of Art, in 2022. But at 47, the “King of Mandopop” isn’t getting any younger.
That may be a problem for Star Plus Legend Holdings Ltd. (6683.HK), which is closely tied to the superstar, and last week warned that it lost up to 52 million yuan ($7.5 million) last year, marking a sharp reversal from its 50.2 million profit in 2024.
Star Plus blamed the reversal of fortune on restructuring as well as a slower pace of content launches and impairment provisions on trade receivables – showing some of its clients aren’t paying their bills in China’s slowing economy. “The group is currently at a critical stage of upgrading its business structure and strategy,” it said.
Perhaps many of the company’s investors are Jay Chou fans, which might explain why they shrugged off the news and rewarded the stock with a 13% rise over the week after the announcement, taking it to a four-month high.
Star Plus makes money from a coffee brand endorsed by Chou and licensing rights to his cartoon alter ego, Chou Chou. A social media influencer, Liu Genghong, notorious for wearing a tight-fitting Aquaman costume on his livestreaming fitness program, is another Star Plus frontman, but Chou is by far the company’s superstar when it comes to its revenue makeup.
In the business world, Chou’s fans include the Shanghai Museum, which staged an exhibition last October on Chinese culture aimed at attracting young people with Chou’s avatar as its main attraction. Another fan is Pop Mart (9992.HK), the company behind the Labubu sensation, which …