This article only represents the author's own views.
Back in January 2021, RLX Technology Inc. (RLX.US) co-founder and CEO Wang Ying was riding high as China’s latest female billionaire after the nation’s biggest e-cigarette maker raised $1.4 billion in a New York IPO. Fast forward two and a half years, when much has changed and Wang’s net worth is far smaller.
The company’s latest results issued last Friday, including an 83% revenue plunge, show just how tough life has become not only for RLX but for China’s once-vibrant vaping industry in general. The company faces a tough road in the current landscape, as it attempts to claw its way back not only from a massive government crackdown, but also a current market clouded by illegal vaping products that often have an edge over RLX’s legal vapes and are significantly cheaper because they don’t pay a new excise tax.