Tea Empress Holdings Limited (Emperor’s Tea Empress), which went public less than a year ago, has seen its market value evaporate by nearly 70%, with single store GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) declining for seven consecutive quarters. The company is facing a severe test.
According to a report from “Deep Web,” a subsidiary of Tencent Technology (Beijing) Limited on January 14, 2025, Tea Empress Holdings, founded 8 years ago, was listed on the US stock market in April 2025. Its market value soared to $7.5 billion (approximately 54 billion RMB). However, as of now, its market value has plummeted to $2.337 billion (approximately 16.3 billion RMB), marking a nearly 70% drop in less than a year since going public. The performance report shows that the company’s revenue and profit have been declining for three consecutive quarters, with single store GMV decreasing for seven quarters in a row. In particular, the average monthly GMV of stores in the China region has decreased from 574,000 RMB in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 378,500 RMB in the third quarter of 2025, a decline of more than one-third.
Some franchisees have indicated that the time to break even has extended from the initial estimate of 9-12 months to around 18 months.
The reasons for the decline in store performance include the brand’s refusal to participate in the price war on food delivery platforms, leading to a drop in sales. Since 2025, subsidies from food delivery platforms have become increasingly popular, but Tea Empress Holdings has remained steadfast in not participating. However, amidst competitors attracting customers with low prices, Tea Empress Holdings quickly lost price-sensitive consumers, leading to an inevitable decline in sales.
Furthermore, competition has intensified, with brands like Luckin Coffee, Gumei, and Hey Tea releasing drinks similar in taste to Tea Empress Holdings’ popular products. As more competitors offer lower-priced versions of Tea Empress Holdings’ core products, the company’s lack of new popular items has caused store performance to continuously decline.
Moreover, with China’s economy weakening, the overall growth rate of the new tea beverage industry has slowed down, adding pressure to operations. Data shows that the industry’s annual growth rate is expected to decrease from 21.7% from 2019 to 2024 to 11.8% from 2025 to 2028. According to Blue Whale News, as of January 12, 2026, the number of milk tea shops nationwide has decreased by 35,000 within a year.
Public records indicate that Tea Empress Holdings was founded in June 2017 and is a boutique freshly brewed tea beverage brand headquartered in Jinjiang District, Chengdu City. The brand’s products mainly include fresh milk tea made from original leaves, covering pure tea, freshly brewed tea series, fruit tea, and peripheral derivative products.