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Chinese fast-fashion business Shein Global Holdings Ltd. was once worth more than the parent companies of H&M and Zara, giving its reclusive boss Sky Xu a net worth of more than $23 billion.
But Xu’s fortunes have turned in four short years as Shein battles tariffs, political scrutiny and growing competition. Shein is set to go public in Hong Kong on Tuesday at just over a quarter of the $100 billion it was worth in 2022. Xu’s personal wealth, based on his 30% stake, falls to about $8 billion at the listing price, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The more than $15 billion decline in Xu’s riches also comes down to poor timing. Chinese consumer brands that went public over the past year or so initially drew strong investor interest until a string of artificial-intelligence companies made their debuts, stealing their thunder and minting new billionaires.
“They definitely missed the window,” Sam Wyatt, an international-equities portfolio manager at U Ethical Investors based in Melbourne, said of Shein’s initial public offering. E-commerce is now a less attractive story to investors than AI, he said.
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