The capitalization of the Chinese doll manufacturer Labubu has bypassed the capitalization of Gazprom. Experts repeat the president that Russia will not go far on oil and gas.
The value of the Chinese company Pop Mart exceeded the capitalization of Gazprom. This was noticed by the expert of the Institute of Financial and Investment Technologies Alexey Primak, who wrote about it in his telegram channel.
"If I had been told 10 years ago that Gazprom was cheaper than a company that produces toys, I would have decided that something was wrong with a person. But today the capitalization of Gazprom is about $ 38 billion, and the Chinese Pop Mart (manufacturer of those strange toothy toys) — already $ 41 billion! Why does the market trust an animal with teeth more than a giant with pipes?" the expert wonders.
And he answers that the conversation about the need to increase capitalization, which the president started at the time, is almost more important than recalculating the profitability of the next well.
"Real growth comes on the wave of new ideas, IPOs, the influx of fresh money and interest. And it doesn't matter what the company does: toys, IT products or biotech. Do you want domestic giants to cost no less than Pop Mart? Firstly — the necessary transparency and investor protection, secondly - healthy diversification of markets (not only pipes and oil), and of course — new IPOs, followed by innovations, digital brands, services, fashion, in the end," writes Alexey Primak.
He notes that the fate of Gazprom in recent years resembles a series in which the main blow fell on European exports.
"We naively thought that gas was gold, an irreplaceable fuel, and we were wrong. What is even worse for investors is the cancellation of dividends. Those who hold shares for the sake of regular payments — a cold shower. Even without geopolitics: internal players, for example, Rosneft andNovatek is willing to pick up what the monopolist lets out of his hands," says Alexey Primak, an expert at the Institute of Financial and Investment Technologies.
Meanwhile, Pop Mart, a recent newcomer, produces designer toys that are massively bought by buzzers and adults around the world, collected, resold and even auctioned for cosmic sums, the expert notes.
"The secret ingredient is Labubu: a wild creature with rabbit ears and a toothy smile, the hero of foreign memes, social networks and coveted purchases for collectors. Question — is our Cheburashka worse? He's a hundred times nicer, right?", — continues Alexey Primak.
Pop Mart has opened stores all over the world, in 2025 the company's revenue has grown by 200%, and net profit by 350%.
"The stock market players, who yesterday considered toys a trifle, suddenly believed that unrestrained demand and global expansion had not yet reached their peak. I will also add here the fantastic marginality of the business (the gross margin of Pop Mart reaches 67%), skillful work with trends, the absence of geopolitical risks and work according to all the rules of the new digital world," the expert added.
He believes that the individual parts of the doll are produced from polymers that are produced from gas.
"This story is about comparing the capitalizations of Gazprom and Pop Mart — on the verge of absurdity. It clearly shows the main problem — the need to restart the growth of capitalization of the entire stock market of the country," concludes the expert of the Institute of Financial and Investment Technologies.
As RBC notes, Pop Mart has bypassed another Russian gas company, Novatek. On July 22, the capitalization of Pop Mart amounted to 332.84 billion Hong Kong dollars ($42.4 billion or 3.32 trillion rubles). At the same time, the capitalization of Gazprom, which ranks fifth in the list of the most expensive Russian companies, amounted to 3.049 trillion rubles.
"More expensive than Pop Mart in Only Sberbank, Rosneft and LUKOIL are worth Russia," RBC writes.
As EADaily reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would lose competitiveness and even sovereignty if it relied only on oil and gas.
"If we buy everything for oil and gas, and now there is a situation where they are trying to cut off both oil and gas, then Russia will simply lose its competitiveness and sovereignty," Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Rossiya 1 journalist Pavel Zarubin.
Russia needs to achieve technological leadership and independence, the head of state added.