Three Squirrels lost ¥20B in market cap — the snack king that peaked too early

Three Squirrels, once China's most iconic online snack brand, rode the e-commerce boom to a 2020 peak stock price of ¥87.63 and a market capitalisation of over ¥30 billion. Its cute mascots and aggressive Tmall presence made it a household name. But the model that built it — heavy reliance on platform traffic, a sprawling offline store network, and thin product differentiation — began to crack as competition intensified and the cost of online traffic rose.

By 2025, the stock had fallen to ¥19.30, a 77% decline from the peak, wiping out over ¥20 billion in market value. The company closed roughly 710 of its 1,043 offline stores. Net profit fell 22.5% year-on-year in Q1 2025, and cash flow collapsed by 1,075%. Even with over ¥100 million in government subsidies, net profit for the full year was down nearly 70%. Food safety complaints — foreign objects in products — added to the brand damage.