Vitasoy lost $500M in a day after a leaked memo and a response that pleased nobody

On July 1, 2021, a Vitasoy employee stabbed a Hong Kong police officer in Causeway Bay and then killed himself. An internal Vitasoy memo expressing condolences to the attacker's family leaked online. Mainland Chinese consumers accused the company of sympathising with violence and launched a boycott. Two Chinese brand ambassadors, actors Gong Jun and Ren Jialun, cut ties within days.

Vitasoy responded by calling the memo 'extremely inappropriate' and unauthorised, condemning violence, and affirming support for the national security law. The response satisfied neither audience: in China it was seen as too little too late, while in Hong Kong local critics accused the company of capitulating to pressure from Beijing. The brand was caught between its two largest markets.

Vitasoy's shares fell 14.6 per cent on July 5, the biggest single-day drop since its 1994 listing, wiping out approximately $500 million in market value. Mainland China accounted for 62 per cent of the company's revenue, making the boycott an existential threat to the business.