As of March 13, this round of war in the Middle East started by the United States and Israel has lasted for two weeks. The US President said that next week "violent air strikes" on Iranian and Israeli forces will continue to fight on multiple fronts.
On March 7, 2026, the 4th Ultrasound Club AI Open Day "Beijing Lobster Conference" was successfully held at the 360 headquarters. This is currently the largest lobster conference in Beijing. Before the event, we received nearly a thousand registration intentions from shrimp enthusiasts. After screening, more than 300 entrepreneurs in the AI field, well-known investors, technical leaders of major manufacturers, and lobster enthusiasts from various industries came to the event. The online live broadcast that was launched simultaneously also attracted more than 40,000 viewers. The shrimp enthusiast communities in various cities of the Ultrasonic Club also broadcast live and interacted with each other simultaneously.
In the roundtable forum with the theme of "Evolution of Efficiency: One Person Company (OPC) or Lobster Factory", Liu Xiaoying, founding partner of Eagle Fund, conducted in-depth discussions with Yang Zichao, founder of Ultrasound, Liang Zhihui, vice president of 360 Group and head of Nano AI, and other industry figures. They shared their core judgments on the entrepreneurial trends in the AI era, focusing especially on the development potential and core entrepreneurial competency requirements of One Person Company (OPC). The following is a compilation of the core contents shared by them.
Liu Xiaoying, founder of Eagle Fund
AI is undoubtedly the focus of a new era of global innovation and entrepreneurship. Its popularity and depth of application are exciting, and universal AI interaction has become the norm. Before the Spring Festival, domestic Seedance 2.0 and overseas OpenClaw were launched one after another, further expanding the boundaries of AI application scenarios. In Liu Xiaoying's view, what deserves more attention is how to rely on AI technology to create greater value for productivity. This is also the core original intention of his participation in this event.
Looking back on his venture capital career, Liu Xiaoying has witnessed many rounds of entrepreneurial waves. During the wave of PC Internet entrepreneurship in 2000, only one of the dozen Internet start-ups he invested in Hong Kong successfully listed on Nasdaq. This made him deeply aware of the high-risk characteristics of angel investment, and also confirmed that the high returns of high-quality projects are enough to cover all investments and achieve profitability.
In the Internet wave for so many years, he admitted that he had missed many high-quality projects and potential entrepreneurs. In his view, the core of angel investors is to capture outstanding early-stage entrepreneurs and not to be afraid of missing out. The key is to capture the new generation of unicorn founders. An excellent evergreen investor can accurately capture unicorn and even super unicorn projects through continuous misses. If he can invest in a project that earns hundreds of times or thousands of times returns in his lifetime, he can once again gain financial freedom.
Now that the AI era is coming, Liu Xiaoying has once again devoted himself to entrepreneurial practice. He wants to learn from Kai-Fu Li. As the chairman, he joins forces with the CTO to form a team to create an OPC super AI tool. At the same time, he has begun to lay out the Chinese version of "Lobster" and OPC-related fields. The Chinese version of "Lobster" he is concerned about has the ability to self-replicate and fission, and can create millions of concurrent agents (Agents).
1. In the AI era, the new trend of OPC entrepreneurship is accelerating.
Liu Xiaoying's attention to OPC first started two years ago. At that time, Pika Labs in the United States completed financing with a team of only four people and was valued at over one billion. This case gave him the idea that "a one-person company is expected to grow into a unicorn in the future." As early as before the concept of "lobster" and the term OPC had yet to appear, he had discussed the entrepreneurial possibility of one-person companies with Cai Wensheng and other venture capital colleagues. Cai Wensheng was also optimistic about the development potential of one-person companies in his investment layout in overseas, Web3.0, and AI fields.
Liu Xiaoying believes that OPC is the most suitable model for China’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. China has a strong entrepreneurial atmosphere. The starting point of the private economy is self-employment. However, the entrepreneurial model in the Internet era requires entrepreneurs to find partners, form a core team of 2-3 people, complete demo development and business plan writing before starting financing. At that time, founders often needed to rely on the professional capabilities of partners such as CTOs, product managers, and marketing directors to promote the implementation of projects.
With the support of AI technology and tools such as "Lobster", OPC's entrepreneurial process has ushered in an opportunity to accelerate. At present, the "Pitch. Entrepreneurship Studio" created by Zimi Culture invested by Eagle Fund has become the leading account on the Xiaohongshu platform and has accumulated 15,000 paying users, all of whom are quasi-OPC entrepreneurs.
At the same time, Pitch also cooperates with the government to build an OPC professional incubator, providing full-link supporting services for OPC entrepreneurs in the AI era, from technical resources such as computing power, knowledge bases, servers, to seed fund support.
2. AI lowers the threshold for entrepreneurship, but core capabilities are still the key to entrepreneurial success
In Liu Xiaoying's view, social class distribution has always existed, and the top wealth creators will always be a minority group. Under different waves of entrepreneurship, business opportunities and market size show step-by-step growth:
In the traditional entrepreneurial era after reform and opening up, a number of entrepreneurs with tens of billions of wealth were born in the fields of real estate, import and export, and distribution; in the PC Internet era, the market size jumped to the tens of billions of dollars, giving birth to leading companies such as BAT;
In the era of mobile Internet, the scenario of everyone being online has increased the market size by another 10 times. New tracks such as local life and smart travel have emerged in an all-round way. Benchmark platforms such as ByteDance, Meituan, and Didi have been born, forming highly representative new industrial forces;
Entering the AI era, the speed of technology iteration and industry integration has increased significantly, and the market potential has been released exponentially. Not only is it expected that more outstanding entrepreneurs like Zhang Yiming will be born, but unicorns will also be born at a rate far faster than before.
In the current AI era, a number of leading unicorn companies have emerged quickly in just a few years. Companies such as Zhipu AI, Minimax, and Manus have become industry benchmarks. They have formed core competitiveness in areas such as large-scale model research and development and AI-native product creation, demonstrating the strong explosive development power of the AI track.
And this is just the beginning. As AI technology continues to make breakthroughs and application scenarios continue to expand, the birth rate of unicorns in the AI field will further accelerate in the future, and entrepreneurial opportunities will become more diverse.
A phenomenon worth pondering is that many well-known entrepreneurs have not received higher education, but they have attracted many top students to join their teams as senior executives. Liu Xiaoying proposed that when top students master technologies such as AI tools and "lobster", the success rate of entrepreneurship will increase, but not everyone can become an excellent entrepreneur.
In the past, out of 100 executives from large companies who left their jobs to start their own businesses, at most 10 could become successful entrepreneurs. In the AI era, this proportion is expected to increase to 50%, but the ultimate success or failure still depends on the core capabilities of the entrepreneurs themselves.
He believes that the core competitiveness of entrepreneurship lies in the founder's structure, persistence, financial intelligence, emotional intelligence, strategic intelligence, adversity intelligence and continuous learning and iteration capabilities. Even if all employees of a 100-person technology company learn and use the "Lobster" tool and everyone registers the company to become an OPC entrepreneur, only a handful will eventually become a real boss. The core competition is still the comprehensive quality and business monetization ability of entrepreneurs - how to use AI tools to achieve profitability and complete business fission is the key issue.
AI has indeed significantly lowered the threshold for entrepreneurship and brought more people on the same starting line, but this does not mean that the probability of entrepreneurial success will be greatly increased. Therefore, continuous learning is crucial for entrepreneurs. They must not only improve their financial intelligence, master professional knowledge such as business administration, accounting, finance, etc., be able to read financial reports, master business financing logic, but also realize the construction of full-link capabilities: they must not only understand AI technology and entrepreneurial logic, but also be deeply involved in the industry track, have hands-on ability, and become an excellent commander of AI tools such as "lobster", able to coordinate multiple AI Agents to serve business operations and profitability.
Liu Xiaoying took a case around him as an example. A friend's junior high school student, who was relatively precocious, proposed to give up high school and devote himself to "catching lobsters" and starting an OPC business. He clearly expressed his opposition to this. In his view, children at this stage have not yet perfected their personality and knowledge structure. They should first complete high school, university and even master's education, accumulate knowledge and obtain more resources in colleges and universities, and build a complete ability link from the bottom to the middle and then to the upper level. In their spare time, they can also take into account entrepreneurial practice, learn while doing OPC, and polish high-quality products.
In the final analysis, in the new AI era, one day is equal to one year in the past. Only by learning quickly and continuously building new capabilities can one become the master of AI instead of being constrained by AI tools. This is also the core foundation for entrepreneurs to achieve long-term development under the OPC model.
Summit site
More AI companies are welcome to support the National Tour of the Ultrasonic Club AI Open Day Urban Lobster Conference, and let us start the AI era of universal lobster together.
Ultrasound Club currently has more than 2,000 top entrepreneurs in the AI field and connects more than 10,000 founders, CTOs, product managers, and venture capitalists in the AI field.
The Ultrasound Club regularly organizes internal sharing sessions for members, and also holds irregular open communication activities. The sharing content covers AI industry trends, technological innovation, products, and business.
This is an art scene without walls, and it is also a cultural exchange platform for the renewal and integration of Shanghai-style old houses. Based on the revitalization and renovation of the former residences of Zhang Taiyan and Tang Guoli, historical buildings in Huangpu District, the Daigo·Qinghai-Tibet Living Room was unveiled on the 13th in the East Terrace of Shanghai Xintiandi. Empowered by art and humanities, architecture is integrated into the urban renewal chessboard to build a community full of vitality.
The former residence where the reception room is located was originally No. 2 Yufuli, Lane 18, Zizhong Road. It had a three-story brick and wood structure, clear red brick exterior walls, and double-slope red tile roof. Zhang Taiyan and Tang Guoli moved here in 1922 and moved away in 1927. The old residence is a single-family house with a patio. It has witnessed Zhang Taiyan's experience in writing Sun Yat-sen's eulogy and founding the "Huaguo Monthly" to "carry forward the glory of the country". In the living room, historical pictures, books such as "The Long Chronicle of Zhang Taiyan" and videos connect Zhang Taiyan's life experience and his trajectory in Shanghai.
In his old residence, Zhang Taiyan completed "Farewell Notes on the Founding of the Qing Dynasty" to guide the public to reorganize their understanding of ethnic relations. In a series of works, he advocated incorporating the Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Qing into the Chinese historical system. The building completely preserves the historical features and spatial culture, reshapes the street facade intention of the "alley townhouses", and transitions the red bricks and metals of the historical buildings, old houses and new buildings, ensuring that the relocated old residences merge into the overall cultural atmosphere of Xintiandi Dongtaili.
In the 1930s, "developing the west" became a social craze. Artists such as Zhang Daqian, Wu Zuoren, Ye Qianyu, Chang Shuhong, and Guan Shanyue frequently went to the west to sketch and create, opening up a century-old connection between Shanghai artists and the Tibetan Plateau through visual art.
The ten-meter-high atrium of the old residence connects it with the traditional central space of Tibetan architecture. The highly saturated colors of the Himalayan region are refined into abstract slices. Inward window openings of different shapes are painted around the atrium, and frameless skylights are placed in the center. The flow of secular living space is transformed into a spiritual field for gazing at contemporary culture. After research, the renovation team restored the wooden roof trusses on the third floor roof, and the recycled old wood echoed the historical memory.
As the "Window of Tibetan Characteristic Culture·Shanghai" awarded by the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the first contemporary Tibetan cultural window in Shanghai, this landmark will long-term display of contemporary cultural and artistic creations inspired by the Tibetan Plateau. The space's first exhibition "Vertical Experiment: Altitude 0 to 8848 - Shanghai Artists and the Tibetan Plateau" was unveiled simultaneously. For the first time, it systematically presents the history of artistic and cultural exchanges between Shanghai and the Tibetan Plateau over the past century. It displays the works of contemporary Chinese artists who are from Shanghai or have deep connections with Shanghai, such as Zhuang Xueben, Chen Yifei, Zhou Chunya, Ding Yi, Xu Zhen, etc., and build a dialogue across time and space through documents, works and images.
The black and white photography at the entrance to the exhibition is eye-catching. In 1934, Zhuang Xueben, a young intellectual born in Gaoqiao, Shanghai, was inspired by the craze for "developing the west" and embarked on the "Westward Journey" with a camera in his arms. He recorded more than a thousand frontier images of great ethnographic value, which kicked off the journey of Shanghai artists to the plateau. Chen Yifei has traveled to Gansu, Qinghai, and Tibet many times, using the plateau as inspiration for his creations, and his rich sketches freeze the experience. Artist Zhou Chunya created a portrait of a Tibetan woman in 1981, which together with several manuscripts of sheep-shearing scenes, led the audience to experience the atmosphere of ethnic interactions at the beginning of reform and opening up. Works from different perspectives such as paintings, sculptures, and photography show the changes in ethnic relations and the continuous deepening of exchanges, exchanges, and integration over the past century.
IT House reported on March 14 that on March 13, local time, foreign media Engadget reported that Jeff Kaplan, the former director of "Overwatch" who had remained silent for a long time after leaving Blizzard, has now returned to the public eye. A game designer who once served as Blizzard's vice president, he's back with a new studio and a new project that players will soon be able to get their hands on.
The new game "The Legend of California" (IT House Note: Literally translated as "Legend of California") is an open-world action survival shooting game with an overall style similar to the combination of "Red Dead Redemption" and "Rust". The background of the game is set during the gold rush period, and the development team did not strictly pursue historical restoration. For example, California in the game is set as an island. However, the team still hopes that the overall atmosphere can reflect the "sense of the times."
Cowboys and gold diggers will appear in the game world. Players can hunt, build mines and stables, craft weapons and tools, manage their own homes, and attack enemy camps. The game offers four difficulty levels of PvE content, as well as optional PvP battles. Players can form a team with up to three friends to share resources, buildings and game progress.
Kaplan said that the world was hand-crafted by a team of 34 people, and the map still contains certain random mechanisms. For example, areas like the Mojave Desert may become novice areas or endgame areas in different servers.
The locations of certain iconic locations will also randomly change, such as the Alcatraz-inspired fortress, which may appear in an area similar to the San Francisco Bay Area in some maps, or in the snowy mountains in others.
The Legend of California is published by Dreamhaven. Dreamhaven was founded by Blizzard co-founder Mike Mohan. The game is expected to be released in early access on Steam and the Epic Games Store later this year, and closed alpha testing will begin soon.
Kaplan's way of announcing new games is also quite unique. The news wasn't revealed at the game's launch event, but instead was revealed during a five-hour interview on Lex Friedman's podcast. In the interview, Kaplan recalled his experience in developing "World of Warcraft", being responsible for "Overwatch" and participating in the "Titan" project.
Kaplan also publicly explained for the first time why he left Blizzard. Kaplan has worked at Blizzard for 19 years and had no plans to leave. However, the commercial pressure surrounding the Overwatch League and Overwatch 2 is gradually increasing. Kaplan revealed that at a meeting in 2020, Blizzard's chief financial officer said that if "Overwatch" did not reach the established revenue target, the company would lay off 1,000 employees, and the responsibility would be borne by Kaplan.
The Russian government continues to intensify its crackdown on critics of the Kremlin. On the 13th, the Russian Ministry of Justice included Nina Khrushcheva, the great-granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and a scholar now living in the United States, on the list of "foreign agents."
Former Soviet leader Khrushchev. (AP file photo)
According to Reuters, Russian state media TASS cited a statement from the Ministry of Justice saying that Nina Khrushcheva spread "false information" about Russia's policies and publicly opposed Moscow's so-called "special military operations" against Ukraine, that is, Russia's war against Ukraine in 2022, and was therefore included in the list of "foreign agents."
In Russia, the term "foreign agent" often carries the connotation of "engaging in espionage or anti-Russian activities." The Kremlin has frequently used the label in recent years to target critics of the government. As of the 13th, 1,164 people have been included in the list, including politicians, journalists, artists, non-governmental organizations and media organizations.
Nina, 62, is currently a professor at New School University in New York, USA. In response to an interview with Reuters, she said she was not surprised by this decision: "If they don't do this, they would be derelict in their duties." She also joked about her family background: "There is indeed some historical irony in this, but it is not shocking - when Stalin is re-respected, Khrushchev will naturally be devalued."
What Nina is referring to is that Russian society's historical evaluation of former Soviet leader Stalin has rebounded in recent years. Khrushchev led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and issued the famous "Secret Report" at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956, publicly condemning Stalin's reign of terror. Russia just commemorated the 70th anniversary of this speech last month, which once again triggered discussions on the historical evaluation of Stalin and Khrushchev.
Nina said it was still difficult to tell how much actual impact being classified as a "foreign agent" would have. However, according to relevant Russian laws, those included on the list must indicate their status as "foreign agents" on social media and public publications, and their income in Russia may also be restricted.
On March 13, the Dujiangyan Industrial Fund Investment Exchange and Project Promotion Conference "Yan Gathers Capital to Create the Future Intelligently" was held at the Chengdu Sunac International Conference Center. At the event, a number of industrial funds such as the "Tianfu Zhenshui No. 1 Fund", Dujiangyan Science and Technology Innovation Fund, and Low-altitude Economic Industry Fund were released, and a series of key projects were signed and implemented. This indicates that Dujiangyan City is using industrial funds as a powerful lever to mobilize social capital and accelerate the transformation of ecological resource advantages such as "Tianfu Precious Water" into brand competitive advantages.
At the scene, leading institutions such as LVMH Capital, Feng Shang Capital, Dachen Capital, and Hillhouse Capital, Shanghai investment institutions such as Fortum Capital and Guofang Capital, representatives of provincial and municipal investment institutions such as Sichuan International Economics, Sichuan Cultural Investment, Chengdu Communications Investment, Chengdu Cultural Tourism, and High-tech Ceyuan Capital, as well as representatives of 28 banking institutions and representatives of key industrial enterprises, witnessed the event.
Focusing on Dujiangyan's core areas of "Tianfu Precious Water", cultural tourism and health care, and low-altitude economy, combined with local resource endowments, the heads of Chengdu Dujiangyan Investment and Development Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dujiang Investment Group") subsidiaries such as Industry and City Group, Cultural Tourism Group, Tianshuyan Aviation Company, Urban and Rural Group, Xingshi Group, and Urban Transport Group have successively promoted the development direction of their respective characteristic industries and park carrier opportunities, providing a detailed "investment map" for investment institutions present.
During the on-site signing session, a series of cooperation projects were implemented intensively. The "Tianfu Zhenshui" fund was officially released, and Dutou Group, Fengshang Capital, and Huatian Cui signed a cooperation agreement on the "Tianfu Zhenshui No. 1 Fund" investment in the "Huatian Cui" project. Dutou Group, Sichuan Cultural Investment and Chengdu Communications Investment signed cooperation intention agreements for cultural tourism technology fund and low-altitude economic industry fund respectively. Dutou Group and LVMH Chengdu Fund signed a cooperation agreement.
"Today, we have brought a brand new project 'Huatian Cui', which is a leading company in the coffee industry. We will continue to deepen our cooperation with Dujiangyan and further integrate and utilize Dujiangyan's rich water resources and logistics advantages." said He Weishi, managing director of Fengshang Capital, who has been involved in the field of food and beverage investment for many years. Gao Jie, executive director of Fund of Funds Weekly, said that Dujiangyan's unique urban temperament is highly consistent with its current strategic industrial directions such as cultural tourism, health care, and Tianfu Precious Water. "We deeply feel that Dujiangyan has shown clear ideas and strategic determination in industrial investment. Based on these positive signals, we very much look forward to a deeper and more extensive cooperation with Dujiangyan in the future."
At present, Dutou Group is focusing on Chengdu's "Five Centers and Five Places" urban development positioning and Dujiangyan's "Five New Towns" construction blueprint to build an industrial landscape focusing on cultural tourism, urban-rural integration, industrial investment, urban operations, and people's livelihood security. It will consolidate and enhance four key industrial chains of cultural tourism, green food, medicine and health, new materials and new energy, and cultivate and strengthen four emerging industrial chains of silver economy, digital economy, low-altitude economy, and ice and snow economy.
-Investment News-
Yixian e-commerce received US$120 million in strategic investment
Recently, Yixian E-commerce received a strategic investment of US$120 million from founder Huang Jinfeng and Xinchen Capital. The funds will focus on R&D innovation and global layout, helping it to leapfrog from "China's cutting-edge" to a "global beauty group".
Yixian's e-commerce R&D transformation has achieved remarkable results. In 2025, its annual revenue will be 4.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.7%. The proportion of skin care revenue will rise to 61.1%, and it will achieve its first annual Non-GAAP profit since its listing. The company has built a 1-3-4-6-20 global R&D system and established independent R&D centers in Shanghai, Guangzhou, China, and Toulouse, France. It has invested nearly 700 million yuan in R&D and applied for 269 patents worldwide. (WWD)
Editor's comment:
This cooperation will integrate top resources such as Xinchen Capital Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Yixian E-commerce will continue to deepen the research and development of cutting-edge technologies, accelerate the integration of global resources, steadily promote overseas expansion, and steadily move towards the vision of "world-class beauty innovation pioneer".
Baylor Group invests $1.373 billion to expand U.S. cheese production capacity
Recently, Bel Group, the parent company of Babybel, announced that it will spend US$200 million (equivalent to approximately 1.373 billion) to expand the Brookings cheese production plant in South Dakota, USA. After the expansion, the factory's annual output will double to 20,000 tons.
Peter McGuinness, Bel Group's new North American business chief executive, said that the company is not currently facing supply constraints, but if the expansion project fails to proceed as planned, supply pressure may occur as early as next year. (foodbev& snack substitute)
Editor's comment:
Notably, this is Baylor's largest ever investment in its U.S. business, positioning the company to meet future growth in demand for snack foods, protein foods and portion-controlled foods.
Mondelēz invests nearly 600 million to expand Toblerone chocolate production capacity in Switzerland
Recently, Mondelēz International’s Toblerone (Toblerone chocolate) production line, which it previously invested 65 million Swiss francs (equivalent to approximately 571 million yuan), was officially put into production at its Swiss factory. The factory currently produces approximately 90% of Toblerone products, and the newly commissioned production line will promote the modernization of production capacity and further expand production scale to support brand growth. (confectionerynews)
Editor's comment:
The new line promotes production capacity modernization and scale expansion, supporting brand growth; at the same time, it strengthens the high-end positioning of Swiss manufacturing to cope with soaring cocoa prices and supply chain fluctuations, ensuring a stable supply of core products.
Meiji invests 447 million to expand factory in the United States
Recently, Meiji America announced an investment of US$65 million (equivalent to approximately RMB 447 million) to expand the production capacity of its factory in York, Pennsylvania, so that it can locally produce the popular Hello Panda biscuits.
The move is expected to increase the factory's overall production capacity by approximately 50% and create new job opportunities while expanding cooperation with regional suppliers. Renovation and equipment installation of the factory will begin in 2026, with packaging operations expected to start in 2027, with full production planned for 2028. (foodbev)
Editor's comment:
The investment will be used to add new production lines and upgrade equipment, with the aim of strengthening the supply chain, deepening cooperation with retailers and driving the snack brand's continued growth.
-Launch news-
Southern Dairy plans to list on Beijing Stock Exchange
On March 11, the official website of the Beijing Stock Exchange showed that Guizhou Southern Dairy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Southern Dairy") IPO will be held on March 18 to prepare for the exam. Southern Dairy is mainly engaged in the manufacturing and sales of dairy products and milk-containing beverages. The company's IPO was accepted on June 24, 2025, and entered the inquiry stage on July 17 of that year.
In this IPO, Southern Dairy plans to raise 550 million yuan. After deducting issuance expenses, all of it will be used for the Weining County Southern Dairy dairy breeding base construction project and the Guizhou Southern Dairy Co., Ltd. marketing network construction project. (Beijing Business Daily)
Editor's comment:
If successfully listed, Southern Dairy will become the first listed dairy company in Guizhou, and the funds will help build its own milk sources and upgrade cold chain logistics to enhance regional competitiveness. For the industry, the listing of regional dairy companies on the Beijing Stock Exchange is on the rise, and New Dairy, Sunshine Dairy, etc. may follow suit, but it is necessary to be wary of fluctuations in the breeding cycle and raw milk price risks.
Golden Wing Mau Fruit Industry plans to list in Hong Kong
Recently, Legend Holdings announced that in order to continue to promote the listing of Xinrongmao Fruit Technology Group Co., Ltd. (Xinrongmao), an indirect subsidiary that holds approximately 39.46% of the shares, and to open up the capitalization path of the group’s fruit sector, Joyvio and Xinrongmao’s management team, after multiple rounds of full consultations, plan to adopt Xinrongmao. The joint acquisition with Joyvio will push some shareholders to withdraw from Golden Wing Mau and Xinguo Jiayuan. After the repurchase is completed, the two parties will work together to promote the listing of Golden Wing Mau's Hong Kong stocks, helping the group realize the value of Golden Wing Mau. It will also help Golden Wing Mau and Xinguo Jiayuan promote the implementation of their established strategies and achieve rapid development. (Ryan Capital)
Editor's comment:
The listing of the Hong Kong stock market will open up the capitalization path of Lenovo's fruit sector, raise funds for the construction of a global procurement network and digital supply chain, and consolidate its leading position. For the industry, the birth of the first company in the fruit supply chain has raised sector valuations and forced Hongjiu Fruits, Baiguoyuan, etc. to accelerate capitalization and standardization. However, they have to face the challenges of high fresh food losses, seasonal fluctuations and e-commerce self-operated competition.
-Acquisition News-
Papa John’s receives new acquisition interest
Recently, the Wall Street Journal cited "people familiar with the matter" as saying that Qatar-backed investment fund Irth Capital Management has submitted a takeover bid to privatize Papa John's International.
"Informed sources" said that Irth proposed to acquire Papa John's at a price of US$47 per share, with an overall valuation of approximately US$1.5 billion (equivalent to approximately 10.299 billion yuan), a premium of approximately 50% over the stock price before the offer was submitted. (Wall Street Journal&Snack Agent)
Editor's comment:
Irth tried to join forces with Apollo Global Management to acquire Papa John's last year, but the negotiations eventually broke down. This independent attack shows that it is optimistic about the pizza industry in the long term. After privatization, Irth can lead strategic restructuring, accelerate digitalization and internationalization, and get rid of short-term performance pressure.
-Brand News-
Kudi Coffee suspends joint venture applications from provincial capitals and above cities
On March 12, it was reported that Kudi Coffee would no longer accept franchises or joint ventures in key cities (municipalities, provincial capitals, etc.). In response, Kudi Coffee officially responded that starting from March 1, joint venture applications will be suspended in provincial capitals and above cities, and a number of direct-operated model image stores will be established to better enhance customer experience. (Shandong Morning News)
Editor's comment:
This move marks Kudi's shift from rapid franchise expansion to a quality-first model. The suspension of franchises can alleviate vicious competition and optimize the single-store model; at the same time, the directly-operated model stores set standards for the sinking market, export operational experience, and support the realization of more store goals.
-Personnel updates-
Harris Reed steps down as creative director of Nina Ricci
Recently, Puig’s brand Nina Ricci announced that Harris Reed will step down as the brand’s creative director. The brand's fall 2026 collection was released in Paris on March 6, his last show for the brand.
Harris Reed joined Nina Ricci in 2022, becoming the youngest creative helm in the brand's history, at the age of 26. Since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2020, Harris Reed has collaborated with jewelery brand Missoma, wallpaper specialist Fromental and whiskey brand Royal Salute, among others. (WWD)
Editor's comment:
After Harris Reed steps down, Nina Ricci needs to find a new creative direction, or further shrink the ready-to-wear line and focus on fragrances and accessories. For the industry, the celebrity aura of young designers cannot match the business reality, and the risks of the speed-matching model between brands and creative directors are highlighted.
Etro creative director resigns
Recently, Etro announced the end of its cooperation with creative director Marco De Vincenzo. In the past four years of working together, Marco De Vincenzo has made many important contributions to the new development of the brand's aesthetic language. During his tenure, Marco De Vincenzo led the brand's creative direction and created a series of works that interpreted and refreshed Etro's core brand identity, accompanying the brand through an important process of growth and style innovation.
Etro sincerely thanks Marco De Vincenzo for his dedication, professional performance and creative contributions over the years, and sincerely wishes him smooth development in his future endeavors. (brand official)
Editor's comment:
This personnel adjustment is in line with Etro's new strategic development stage. In the future, the brand will also consolidate and implement the brand's consistent innovation concepts and core values through a new leadership structure.
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