25-year Hearst license ended by Trends Group's internal war after founder passed

Trends Group, founded by Liu Jiang in 1993, became China's most powerful fashion magazine publisher. Through licensing agreements with Hearst Magazines, it published Cosmopolitan (since 1998) and Esquire (since 1996) in Chinese, building two of the country's best-known media brands over 25 years. The relationship was structured with three entities: Trends Magazine Co. Ltd held the license, Beijing Shi Zhi Shang Advertising Co. sold and managed the advertising, and Trends Group oversaw both.

When Liu Jiang died suddenly in 2019, the carefully balanced partnership collapsed. Without its founder, internal control battles erupted between Trends Magazine Co. Ltd and Shi Zhi Shang. In June 2022, Trends Magazine unilaterally terminated the 25-year advertising partnership, was found in breach of contract, and ordered to pay substantial penalties. By July 2022, Shi Zhi Shang had stopped operating the brands. Hearst terminated both license agreements in November 2023, but Trends Magazine continued publishing Cosmopolitan and Esquire without authorization.

A Netherlands arbitration in May 2025 found that Trends Magazine had admitted it was not even a party to the original license agreements — it was only a sub-licensee. Hearst filed a lawsuit against Trends Publishing House in Shanghai Pudong District Court on November 7, 2025; the case was accepted on November 10. The 25-year partnership that built two of China's most recognised fashion media brands was destroyed by internal governance failure after the founder's death.