Shanghai Jahwa lost its founder and four CEOs in a decade after Ping An's takeover

Shanghai Jahwa traces its roots to 1898 and is China's oldest cosmetics company, owning iconic domestic brands including Liushen (六神, the country's top body-care brand), Herborist (佰草集, a premium herbal skincare line that entered the French market in 2008), Maxam (美加净, a mass-market brand dating to the 1960s), and Gf (高夫, a men's grooming line). Under founder Ge Wenyao, who ran the company for 28 years, Jahwa was a rare Chinese consumer-goods company that could compete with multinationals on its home turf.

In November 2011, Ping An Insurance acquired a 100% stake in Jahwa's parent group for 5.1 billion yuan through its Ping An Trust subsidiary, gaining control of the 26.78% stake the group held in the listed company. The relationship soured quickly. In May 2013, Ping An removed Ge Wenyao as chairman and general manager of the parent group, and by September he had resigned from the listed company entirely. The boardroom battle was public and bitter, with Ge accusing Ping An of short-termism and Ping An accusing Ge of mismanagement.

The ouster triggered a decade of management churn. Xie Wenchen, Zhang Dongfang, Pan Qiusheng, and Lin Xiaohai each served as chairman for roughly three years between 2013 and 2024, and each brought a different strategy — premiumization, digital transformation, cost-cutting. Every reversal disrupted the brand portfolio. Herborist, Jahwa's flagship premium brand, lost ground to younger C-beauty competitors, and the company's stock fell significantly from its 2013 peak. The case became a textbook example of how private equity ownership can destroy value in a consumer-goods company.