Yaowang Tech sold the shoe company it was born from to keep betting on livestreams

Saturday listed on the A-share market in 2009 as China's 'first women's shoe stock' — ¥880 million of revenue and ¥114 million of net profit that year — but by 2017 profit had collapsed 1,789% under inventory and a heavy-asset model. The answer was a pivot: in 2018 the shoe maker bought 88.57% of livestream-commerce MCN Hangzhou Yaowang Network with cash and shares, and the stock rose sevenfold in three months. By 2022 internet marketing was 91.64% of revenue against 8.15% for shoes, and that December the company renamed itself Yaowang Technology.

The pivot bought revenue but no profit. Net losses: ¥700 million in 2021, ¥265 million in 2022, ¥1.05 billion in 2023, ¥1.001 billion in 2024, ¥415 million in the first three quarters of 2025 — more than ¥3.4 billion in total. The mechanics showed in the procurement ledger: in 2024 Yaowang paid Douyin ¥3.158 billion for traffic, 68.86% of its annual procurement and up 37% year-on-year, while its social-commerce gross margin ran at 2.08%. Revenue peaked at ¥4.777 billion in 2023, fell 34.65% to ¥2.613 billion; at end-September 2025 cash was ¥208 million against ¥730 million of short-term debt.

On December 2, 2025 the company announced it would list 100% of Foshan Saturday Shoes for sale on the Guangdong Equity Exchange at a floor price of ¥453 million — the shoe unit lost ¥55.02 million in 2024 and ¥49.13 million in the first eight months of 2025. The purpose: focus on digital marketing, cut the debt ratio, improve cash flow. What remains is a pure-play livestream company whose next bets are brand incubation — the personal-care label Duowei — and an offline 'X27' project, with no brick-and-mortar business left as a buffer.