Baijiu

Wuliangye’s performance fluctuation this time was not merely an ordinary dip; it directly disrupted the long-held unspoken norms within the baijiu industry. According to its 2025 annual report, the company reported full-year revenue of 40.529 billion yuan and net profit attributable to owners of 8.954 billion yuan. What is even more striking is that the company also conducted prior accounting error corrections for the first quarter, half year, and third quarter of 2025. Simply put, many figures from 2025 that initially looked impressive were later recalculated.

My judgment on this matter is straightforward: It’s not simply an “earnings crash,” but rather Wuliangye telling the market that their past approach of relying on channel pressure and reporting through future reserves can no longer be sustained.

This matter deserves separate discussion because it directly impacts how we view Maotai. Previously, many people treated Maotai as an eternally rising consumption myth, and whether young people drank it or not was just a minor factor. Now, that is no longer the case. It is true that young people naturally have little interest in Baijiu (Chinese liquor), but this is more like a slow-moving variable. The sudden turnaround reported in the annual report appears to be driven by the contraction of an entire old system: obsolete business demands, traditional wealth distribution methods, and established status-driven consumption patterns.