Marubi rode China's eye cream boom to a ¥92 stock — then brand aging cut it down to ¥19

Marubi was founded in 2002 as an eye care specialist and built itself into China's leading domestic eye cream brand. Its anti-aging positioning resonated with women over 35, a demographic that foreign brands had underserved. By the time of its IPO the brand was known as the 'eye cream king,' with a single product category generating the majority of its revenue.

Marubi listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on July 25, 2019, at a valuation that reflected investors' hunger for domestic beauty brands. The stock surged to an all-time high of ¥92.89 by May 2020, giving it a market capitalization of roughly ¥37 billion. L Capital, the private equity arm of LVMH, had invested in Marubi in 2013, adding international prestige to the brand's domestic credentials.

The decline was driven by a problem the IPO could not solve: Marubi was perceived as a brand for older women. Younger consumers gravitated toward Perfect Diary, Florasis, and other digitally native C-beauty brands that marketed on social media, not television. Marubi's single-product dependency on eye cream became a liability as competitors launched full skincare ranges. By 2025 the stock had fallen 79% from its peak to roughly ¥28, with a market cap of ¥11.2 billion on annual revenue of ¥3.44 billion and net profit of ¥247 million.