On June 23, mainland Chinese actor Ren Jialun announced on Weibo that his contract with “Huanrui Century” had expired and would not be renewed, sparking discussions online. The topic “Ren Jialun officially leaves Huanrui Century” quickly became the number one trending topic on Weibo.
Ren Jialun, who is 35 years old this year, had a colorful journey before his debut. He started practicing table tennis at a young age and was once teammates with the current world champion Ma Long, but had to retire due to health reasons. He then went to South Korea to train as a trainee and spent 3 years training abroad.
Currently working as both an actor and singer, Ren Jialun is dubbed as an “all-around artist” and has over 25 million followers on Weibo. Since signing with “Huanrui Century” in 2017, he has collaborated with them on popular dramas such as “The Glory of Tang Dynasty,” “Under the Power,” and “The Legend of White Snake.” Especially after top stars like Yang Mi, Yang Yang, Li Yifeng, and Yang Zi left the company, he and Cheng Yi have been leading the artist management sector of “Huanrui Century.”
According to the semi-annual report of “Huanrui Century” in 2023, the top 5 main income earners of the company include two artists. “Artist One” earned nearly 20 million yuan, accounting for 20.74% of the total income, while “Artist Two” earned nearly 15 million yuan, accounting for 15.65%. According to the Chinese media “Daily Economic News,” these two artists brought in a total income of approximately 34.83 million yuan in the first half of the year, which accounted for 82.5% of the total artist management revenue of Huanrui Century. Industry insiders believe that these two artists are likely Cheng Yi and Ren Jialun, who are currently the hottest artists at “Huanrui Century.”
“Huanrui Century” is a film and television group company listed on the A-share main board. The company’s official website shows that its business covers investment, production, and distribution of film and television dramas, as well as artist management, development of derivative products, and more. Apart from producing popular period dramas such as “The Lost Tomb,” “The Glory of Tang Dynasty,” “Under the Power,” “Liuli,” “The Cicada,” “Mountain and River Moon Bright,” and “Falling Fragrance Like Dust,” they also participated in investing in films like “The Revolutioner,” “The Battle at Lake Changjin,” “The Guard,” and “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth.”
Financial data disclosed by “East Money” showed that the performance of “Huanrui Century” declined in 2023, with a net loss of 397 million yuan, and a staggering 2312% year-on-year decrease in net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company; in terms of revenue, “Huanrui Century” generated 336 million yuan in operating income last year, a decrease of 43.67% year-on-year. Among the revenue composition, apart from the increase of 13.18% in artist management revenue, other sectors experienced declines, such as a 48.89% decrease in revenue from drama sales, a 100% decrease in variety shows, and a 70.44% decrease in e-commerce.
The first-quarter report of “Huanrui Century” in 2024 showed that the company achieved operating income of 71.8463 million yuan, a 32.41% year-on-year increase; with a net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company of 14.8818 million yuan, an 88.32% year-on-year increase, marking a positive start for the year 2024. However, “Huanrui Century” attributed the performance improvement to an increase in artist management revenue and the sale of intellectual property rights.
The stock price of “Huanrui Century” has been fluctuating and on a downward trend this year. As of the close of June 21, the stock was priced at 2.53 yuan per share, a decrease of over 38% within the year, with the company’s latest market value estimated at around 2.5 billion yuan. Data from Wind showed that since the second quarter, the number of shareholders of “Huanrui Century” has been decreasing, with the total number of shareholders dropping to 37,000 as of June 20, a decrease of 286 shareholders compared to the previous period (June 7, 2024), with an average holding of only 48,000 yuan per shareholder.
Previously, “Huanrui Century” had experienced a period of meteoric rise in market value, leading to a significant increase in the wealth of many celebrities. However, in 2019, the company was penalized by the Chongqing Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission for financial fraud amounting to hundreds of millions of yuan over four consecutive years, along with the company and related responsible persons.
Although Ren Jialun’s next steps are uncertain, a search on “Tianyancha” shows that he has been the legal representative of 6 companies in the past. Currently, two companies, Shanghai Zhihe Culture Media Co., Ltd. and Xiangshan Pingpong Culture Media Studio, are still in existence, while the other four companies have been deregistered.