How Labubu Doll Earned Wang Ning a Place in China's Top 10 Billionaires List?

He created Labubu as part of an illustrated series 'The Monster,' inspired by Nordic folklore. Thus the character first appeared in Lung's book in 2015.

Later Wang Ning, 38, founder, chairman and CEO of Pop Mart brought the sketch to life and it exploded in pop culture across the world.

In 2023, the toy was first entered into the commercial market through the blind box format of Pop Mart.

In 2024 Labubu rose to its global fame when Kisa, K-Pop star from the girl band BLACKPINK, shared her love for the toy. "If I fly to New York, I go to Miami, I try to find PopMart there. Paris, everywhere. Kind of like finding treasure," Lisa said in a Vanity Fair Interview. The singer was also spotted with a toy quite some times.

After Lisa's endorsement, may international celebrities such as Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Kim Kardashian were seen with the doll, which boosted its appeal.

As stated by Emily Brough, the head of licensing for Pop Mart North America, the toy genrated sales exceeding 419 million dollars in 2024, marking a remarkable 726 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The Labubu craze has taken hold in many parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States, with people spending fortunes on a single doll. Recently, the life-sized variant of this toothy monster figurine was auctioned for a shocking 1.08 million Yuan ($150,275.51), which was valued at over 1.2 crores rupees by an auction house in Beijing.

The erratic and mischievous looking doll was a blind box toy that evolved swiftly into a cultural craze, and made Wang Ning, the youngest billionaire in China.

As per the reports by the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, the net worth of the 38-year-old increased from 7.59 billion dollars in 2024 to 22.1 billion dollars in June 2025, marking a fourfold increase.

The sales of Labubu just surged within a year, and Wang Ning is now counted among one of the Top 10 Billionaires in China.