{"text":[[{"start":9.2,"text":"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."}],[{"start":39.14,"text":"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."}],[{"start":63.22,"text":"https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2026/0306/2026030601489.pdf"}],[{"start":82.86,"text":"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."}],[{"start":106.71000000000001,"text":"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."}],[{"start":123.35000000000001,"text":"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."}],[{"start":148.19,"text":"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 sells Chou Chou figurines in its trademark blind boxes. Both organizations go through Star Plus, which said it had exclusive rights for 10 years to all Chou-related IP at the time of its IPO."}],[{"start":184.03,"text":"Even so, Star Plus Legend’s results from the first half of last year show the Jay Chou brand may be aging. The company’s revenue rose 33% year-on-year to 354.5 million yuan, largely thanks to its new retail business, whose revenue nearly doubled to 210.7 million yuan from 110 million yuan a year earlier. But revenue from its IP segment sagged by 8.2% to 144 million yuan."}],[{"start":221.57,"text":"The IP slowdown was a reversal from a much stronger 2024, when revenue from IP and content creation grew by 65.1%, raising questions about the company’s overwhelming reliance on the shaggy-haired Chou."}],[{"start":239.95999999999998,"text":"Chou set up Star Plus in 2017 with Yang Chun-Jang, his manager, Yeh Hui-mei, his mother, and Chen Zhong, one of his artistic managers. Although Chou has no direct shareholding in the company, he made it an investor and production agent for his own company, JVR Music, which is also owned 5% by his mother. Chou owns 40% of JVR and Yang owns 45%."}],[{"start":271.04999999999995,"text":"New initiatives"}],[{"start":273.29999999999995,"text":"New retail, one of Star Plus’ two main business lines, mainly consists of a low-carbohydrate coffee business under the company’s Modong brand, but also includes skincare products and a separate line of matcha powder. Its IP business includes event management and content creation, which both rely heavily on Chou’s star power."}],[{"start":297.22999999999996,"text":"At the time of its 2023 Hong Kong IPO, the company’s prospectus noted the risk of over-dependence on Chou’s popularity. In 2019, his “promotional effect” accounted for 83% of the company’s new retail segment revenue, gradually declining to 45.2% by 2022. Revenue from content creation centered on Chou grew from 5.7% to 13.3% of the total over that time."}],[{"start":330.11999999999995,"text":"Analysts seem to think the company is taking necessary steps to address its Jay Chou overreliance through the reorganization mentioned in last week’s announcement, which may explain the post-announcement stock gains. Last December Huayuan Securities wrote: “We believe the company has successfully infused the emotional value of its IP into diverse touchpoints, ranging from offline physical stores to online interactions, and from cultural experiences to technological products.”"}],[{"start":364.65,"text":"Huayuan projected the company’s revenue would grow 36.2% last year to 795 million yuan, and forecast even faster growth through 2027. “The company is transforming from a traditional ‘IP creator and operator’ to a ‘communicator of happiness’ through a series of strategic deployments,” it said, rating the stock as “overweight.”"}],[{"start":390.33,"text":"Star Plus has been busy over the last nine months trying to expand its scope. It has invested in Galaxy Corp., a 1 trillion won ($676.2 million) South Korean unicorn that positions itself as an AI-plus-robotics-plus-entertainment content firm. Like Star Plus Legend, Galaxy banks on a single artist, G-Dragon, sometimes called the “King of K-Pop” and the trade name for rapper Kwon Ji-yong, for most of its brand value. In January this year, the pair expanded their agreement into a partnership, with Galaxy announcing plans to work with Star Plus to increase its presence in China."}],[{"start":433.56,"text":"More recently, Star Plus has signed deals with other high-profile Korean artists, including Kim Joong-kook and Song Kangpho. It is also considering a U.S. IPO on the Nasdaq according to Korean media reports."}],[{"start":450.36,"text":"Last September the company also purchased 1.17% of the shares in Beijing’s Bird Nest National Stadium, becoming the only private shareholder in the central venue for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. And it is partnering with robotic sensation Unitree, a creator of the crowd-pleasing robots from China’s last two “Spring Festival Gala” TV programs, in a joint venture to develop character-based robots, starting with a robot dog."}],[{"start":479.04,"text":"The initial announcement of the tie-up with Unitree parent Yushu Technology last July caused Star Plus Legend’s stock to surge, as investors got excited about the potential for a major new revenue source. The two sides formalized their relationship in November with announcement of a 50-50 joint venture. That same month, Star Plus announced one distribution agreement with Adata Technology involving 1,000 quadruped robots and 20 million yuan, and another with Cloud Factory Technology involving 5,000 quadruped robots and 100 million yuan."}],[{"start":520.34,"text":"How is it paying for its new series of deals? Last November, the company announced two new stock issues involving about 130 million new shares, raising a combined HK$760 million ($97 million). Those followed another sale in August when the company raised HK$324 million through the sale of 37.5 million shares."}],[{"start":547.0400000000001,"text":"All this shows that Star Plus is thinking about the next steps as Jay Chou’s star inevitably fades, and has built up its war chest to pay for its new ventures. Now, investors will be waiting to see if some of those new initiatives can bring back some of the star power to Star Plus’ business."}],[{"start":579.1700000000001,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1773396278_2144.mp3"}