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Business Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Mystery US$33 billion Chinese medicine fortune collapses in days
[HONG KONG] When Yat-Gai Au was worth US$33 billion on paper, he was not in his Hong Kong office. One week later, when his net worth plunged to US$10.1 billion, he was not around either. Officers at the headquarters of Regencell Bioscience Holdings said both times that Au only takes short visits there, before turning away reporters. The firm, a Nasdaq-listed, Cayman Islands-incorporated traditional Chinese medicine company, occupies the whole 9th floor of a tower in Hong Kong's bustling Causeway Bay, including a reception area with a large table-tennis table. Little is still known about the tiny, money-losing company whose shares exploded 82,000 per cent higher and suddenly made Au, its chief executive officer with an 86 per cent stake, richer on paper than some of the city's tycoons like Li Ka-shing. The fleeting nature of its rip-roaring rally has captivated and mystified observers from the US to Hong Hong. Morning Brew, a popular business account on X, flagged its stock move and wondered: 'Is there something I'm missing?' Regulators in the US, which closely monitor wild swings in stock prices, might soon be asking the same question, according to experts. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the watchdog for broker-dealers, has repeatedly warned that small, cheap stocks are more susceptible to fraud. These companies can be targets for pump-and-dump schemes in which fraudsters inflate the stock price and quickly sell their shares. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The US Securities and Exchange Commission, meanwhile, has been increasingly wary about companies listed on US exchanges that are based overseas – and Regencell checks both boxes. The regulator on June four called on the public to weigh in on whether the agency needed to amend the definition of what's called a foreign private issuer, potentially limiting the number of companies that qualify for special status that lets them avoid filing quarterly financial reports or disclosing when executives buy or sell company shares. 'This is an example of very unusual movements in share prices,' said Richard Harris, founder and chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management in Hong Kong. 'These movements could certainly trigger interest by investigators.' The SEC and Finra declined to comment on whether they were monitoring Regencell's moves. Finra's mission is to protect investors and safeguard market integrity, spokesperson Rita De Ramos said. 'In line with that mission, Finra continues to monitor the market for unusual trading activity, as part of our normal course of action.' Regencell did not respond to emails and phone calls for comment on its stock performance and its founder's fortune. The company's shares have retreated 74 per cent from their peak, shrinking Au's stake to about US$8.6 billion as of Jun 26. Founded in 2014, Regencell's main line of business is marketing and licensing traditional treatments for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder developed by the founder's father, Sik-Kee Au. It has exclusive rights over his traditional medicinal formulas, trademarked under the name Brain Theory. The firm posted net losses of US$4.4 million and US$6.1 million, respectively, for the fiscal years ended June 2024 and 2023, according to filings. Its chief medical officer position has been vacant since the last doctor to hold the job resigned in 2022. The younger Au attended the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and worked at Deutsche Bank in the late 1990s. He suffered from learning disorders and speech problems, had poor grades and an uncontrollable temper, according to a video post on the company's Instagram account. Regencell's mission is to 'improve and save lives using a natural and holistic TCM formula to treat ADHD and ASD,' according to the same video. The company's official Instagram account has more than half a million followers. BeOne Medicines Ltd., the largest healthcare firm listed in Hong Kong, has just over 2,500. Regencell built out a following with the help of social-media campaigns on the platform that offered free tickets for Taylor Swift concerts in the US and Asia. The company's second-largest shareholder is Digital Mobile Venture, a firm ultimately owned by Taiwan's Samuel Chen and his wife Fiona Chang. Chen was an investor whose early investments in Zoom Video Communications made him a fortune when the company's stock soared almost 1,500 per cent during the pandemic. Chen, Chang and their children own a 55 per cent stake in Taipei-based Polaris Group, a biotechnology company developing anti-cancer drugs. He's also the biggest shareholder of Sonix Technology, a provider of integrated circuits listed in Taipei. Bloomberg News received no reply to emails sent to Polaris and Sonix seeking comments from Chen. While monitoring for wild price swings used to be done manually, the SEC and Finra now have programmes to automatically detect market anomalies, according to Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. They can also compel companies to share if they know why their stock price soared or crashed or whether insiders cashed in at the peak. The absence of profits or revenues at Regencell isn't an automatic red flag; plenty of early-stage pharmaceutical companies have similar finances, he said. On Jun 18, two men and a woman arrived at Regencell's Hong Kong office seeking information about treatment for ADHD and dementia. They said they read about the stock's surge before arriving. The visitors were also turned away. An employee said its staff were not doctors, and directed them to the company's website. 'Early stage pharma companies can jump from a dollar to four dollars in 90 seconds if there's some news about one of their drugs under development doing well in a clinical trial,' Gordon said. In this case, 'what's interesting is there's no news.' BLOOMBERG
Time of India
11 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Mystery $33 billion Chinese medical fortune collapses in days
When Yat-Gai Au was worth $33 billion on paper, he wasn't in his Hong Kong office. One week later, when his net worth plunged to $10.1 billion, he wasn't around either. Officers at the headquarters of Regencell Bioscience Holdings Ltd said both times that Au only takes short visits there, before turning away reporters. The firm, a Nasdaq-listed, Cayman Islands-incorporated traditional Chinese medicine company, occupies the whole 9th floor of a tower in Hong Kong's bustling Causeway Bay, including a reception area with a large table-tennis table. Little is still known about the tiny, money-losing company whose shares exploded 82,000% higher and suddenly made Au, its chief executive officer with an 86% stake, richer on paper than some of the city's tycoons like Li Ka-shing. The fleeting nature of its rip-roaring rally has captivated and mystified observers from the US to Hong Hong. Morning Brew, a popular business account on X, flagged it's stock move and wondered: 'Is there something I'm missing?' Regulators in the US, which closely monitor wild swings in stock prices, might soon be asking the same question, according to experts. Live Events The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the watchdog for broker-dealers, has repeatedly warned that small, cheap stocks are more susceptible to fraud. These companies can be targets for pump-and-dump schemes in which fraudsters inflate the stock price and quickly sell their shares. The US Securities and Exchange Commission, meanwhile, has been increasingly wary about companies listed on US exchanges that are based overseas — and Regencell checks both boxes. The regulator on June 4 called on the public to weigh in on whether the agency needed to amend the definition of what's called a foreign private issuer, potentially limiting the number of companies that qualify for special status that lets them avoid filing quarterly financial reports or disclosing when executives buy or sell company shares. 'This is an example of very unusual movements in share prices,' said Richard Harris, founder and chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management in Hong Kong. 'These movements could certainly trigger interest by investigators.' The SEC and Finra declined to comment on whether they were monitoring Regencell's moves. Finra's mission is to protect investors and safeguard market integrity, spokesperson Rita De Ramos said. 'In line with that mission, Finra continues to monitor the market for unusual trading activity, as part of our normal course of action.' Bloomberg Regencell didn't respond to emails and phone calls for comment on its stock performance and its founder's fortune. Founded in 2014, Regencell's main line of business is marketing and licensing traditional treatments for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder developed by the founder's father, Sik-Kee Au. It has exclusive rights over his traditional medicinal formulas, trademarked under the name Brain Theory. The firm posted net losses of $4.4 million and $6.1 million, respectively, for the fiscal years ended June 2024 and 2023, according to filings. Its chief medical officer position has been vacant since the last doctor to hold the job resigned in 2022. The younger Au attended the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and worked at Deutsche Bank AG in the late 1990s. He suffered from learning disorders and speech problems, had poor grades and an uncontrollable temper, according to a video post on the company's Instagram account. Regencell's mission is to 'improve and save lives using a natural and holistic TCM formula to treat ADHD and ASD,' according to the same video. The company's official Instagram account has more than half a million followers. BeOne Medicines Ltd., the largest healthcare firm listed in Hong Kong, has just over 2,500. Regencell built out a following with the help of social-media campaigns on the platform that offered free tickets for Taylor Swift concerts in the US and Asia. The company's second-largest shareholder is Digital Mobile Venture Ltd., a firm ultimately owned by Taiwan's Samuel Chen and his wife Fiona Chang. Chen was an investor whose early investments in Zoom Video Communications Inc. made him a fortune when the company's stock soared almost 1,500% during the pandemic. Chen, Chang and their children own a 55% stake in Taipei-based Polaris Group, a biotechnology company developing anti-cancer drugs. He's also the biggest shareholder of Sonix Technology Co., a provider of integrated circuits listed in Taipei. Bloomberg News received no reply to emails sent to Polaris and Sonix seeking comments from Chen. While monitoring for wild price swings used to be done manually, the SEC and Finra now have programs to automatically detect market anomalies , according to Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. They can also compel companies to share if they know why their stock price soared or crashed or whether insiders cashed in at the peak. The absence of profits or revenues at Regencell isn't an automatic red flag; plenty of early-stage pharmaceutical companies have similar finances, he said. On June 18, two men and a woman arrived at Regencell's Hong Kong office seeking information about treatment for ADHD and dementia. They said they read about the stock's surge before arriving. The visitors were also turned away. An employee said its staff were not doctors, and directed them to the company's website. 'Early stage pharma companies can jump from a dollar to four dollars in 90 seconds if there's some news about one of their drugs under development doing well in a clinical trial,' Gordon said. In this case, 'what's interesting is there's no news.'
Straits Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Mystery $42 billion Chinese medical fortune collapses in days
Hong Kong – When Mr Au Yat-Gai was worth US$33 billion (S$42 billion) on paper, he was not in his Hong Kong office. One week later, when his net worth plunged to US$10.1 billion, he wasn't around either. Shares of Regencell Bioscience Holdings, the Nasdaq-listed company he founded, have plunged to US$20.19 as at June 27 from a high of US$78 on June 17. Officers at the headquarters of Regencell Bioscience Holdings said both times that Mr Au only takes short visits there, before turning away reporters. The Cayman Islands-incorporated traditional Chinese medicine company, occupies the whole ninth floor of a tower in Hong Kong's bustling Causeway Bay, including a reception area with a large table-tennis table. Little is still known about the tiny, money-losing company whose shares exploded 82,000 per cent higher and suddenly made Mr Au, its chief executive officer with an 86 per cent stake, richer on paper than some of the city's tycoons like Li Ka-shing. The fleeting nature of its rip-roaring rally has captivated and mystified observers from the United States to Hong Hong. Morning Brew, a popular business account on X, flagged it's stock move and wondered: 'Is there something I'm missing?' Regulators in the US, which closely monitor wild swings in stock prices, might soon be asking the same question, according to experts. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra), the watchdog for broker-dealers, has repeatedly warned that small, cheap stocks are more susceptible to fraud. These companies can be targets for pump-and-dump schemes in which fraudsters inflate the stock price and quickly sell their shares. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), meanwhile, has been increasingly wary about companies listed on US exchanges that are based overseas – and Regencell checks both boxes. The regulator on June 4 called on the public to weigh in on whether the agency needed to amend the definition of what's called a foreign private issuer, potentially limiting the number of companies that qualify for special status that lets them avoid filing quarterly financial reports or disclosing when executives buy or sell company shares. 'This is an example of very unusual movements in share prices,' said Richard Harris, founder and chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management in Hong Kong. 'These movements could certainly trigger interest by investigators.' The SEC and Finra declined to comment on whether they were monitoring Regencell's moves. Regencell didn't respond to emails and phone calls for comment on its stock performance and its founder's fortune. Founded in 2014, Regencell's main line of business is marketing and licensing traditional treatments for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder developed by the founder's father, Au Sik-Kee. It has exclusive rights over his traditional medicinal formulas, trademarked under the name Brain Theory. The firm posted net losses of US$4.4 million and US$6.1 million, respectively, for the fiscal years ended June 2024 and 2023, according to filings. Its chief medical officer position has been vacant since the last doctor to hold the job resigned in 2022. The younger Au attended the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and worked at Deutsche Bank in the late 1990s. He suffered from learning disorders and speech problems, had poor grades and an uncontrollable temper, according to a video post on the company's Instagram account. Regencell's mission is to 'improve and save lives using a natural and holistic TCM formula to treat ADHD and ASD,' according to the same video. The company's official Instagram account has more than half a million followers. BeOne Medicines, the largest healthcare firm listed in Hong Kong, has just over 2,500. Regencell built out a following with the help of social-media campaigns on the platform that offered free tickets for Taylor Swift concerts in the US and Asia. The company's second-largest shareholder is Digital Mobile Venture, a firm ultimately owned by Taiwan's Samuel Chen and his wife Fiona Chang. Mr Chen was an investor whose early investments in Zoom Video Communications made him a fortune when the company's stock soared almost 1,500 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Chen, Ms Chang and their children own a 55 per cent stake in Taipei-based Polaris Group, a biotechnology company developing anti-cancer drugs. He's also the biggest shareholder of Sonix Technology, a provider of integrated circuits listed in Taipei. On June 18, two men and a woman arrived at Regencell's Hong Kong office seeking information about treatment for ADHD and dementia. They said they read about the stock's surge before arriving. The visitors were also turned away. An employee said its staff were not doctors, and directed them to the company's website. 'Early stage pharma companies can jump from a dollar to four dollars in 90 seconds if there's some news about one of their drugs under development doing well in a clinical trial,' Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said. In this case, 'what's interesting is there's no news.' BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Advisors Can Harness Media to Reach Gen Z
Meeting digital natives where they're at isn't always easy. But with more than a third of Gen Z investors citing influencers as a 'major factor' in their decision to buy, experts say that advisors — an aging demographic, by all accounts — need to be attuned to younger generations' habits. Nearly half of Gen Z uses social media as a primary source of investing information, compared with 42% of Millennials and 26% of Gen X, according to recent research from Finra and the CFA Institute. '[Social media is] where younger people are,' said Kyla Scanlon, an influencer and founder of the financial education company Bread. 'That can be difficult for a lot of [older advisors], where they're like, 'Oh, I prefer to do everything the old-fashioned way,' and that doesn't work with younger people … They get all their information on social media.' READ ALSO: Financial Uncertainty Spurs Anxiety and Depression and Most Americans Question Online Financial Information Rising costs of living and stagnant wages have contributed to feelings of financial nihilism — someone's sense that they'll never be financially stable, or homeowners, or retirement-ready — in every generation, but particularly Gen Z: Less than one in three Gen Zers is currently saving for retirement, a Bankrate survey showed, with 30% of this demographic 'feeling behind' on retirement savings. This generation is also twice as likely as the general population to say they don't know where to find an advisor, despite being, on average, 13 percentage points more likely to want one. There are several ways advisors can harness the power of the internet to expand their reach. Taking a 'personal approach' is key in an age of branding, since Gen Z is wary of ulterior motives in advertising and online financial advice, Scanlon said. 'The way that [advisors] should approach it is that character-based approach,' she said. 'It's not like, 'I will have Blackrock ETFs and VanEck ETFs.' It's, 'I am a person who's going to help you through this.'' Utilizing client testimonials can also be a powerful tool in the review-centric era of sites like Yelp. The company Wealthtender makes use of the SEC's lifting of the testimonial rule, which CEO Brian Thorp thinks advisors still aren't taking advantage of. Even though testimonials have been allowed since 2021, only 9.3% of SEC-registered firms are using them, he said. Into the Pod-verse. Podcasts can also be a key way for advisors to build out their Gen Z books, gain an online following, and establish credibility. Six out of 10 Gen Zers say that it's 'important that podcasts provide them with good tips and advice,' according to data from SiriusXM. Mitlin Financial founder Larry Sprung said his firm's podcast — whose guests are asked what brought them joy that day — has helped the firm establish its core message and set itself apart. 'We started leaning into it. We created shirts… We feel like, especially in the world today, there's so much divisiveness,' he said. 'Joy is somewhat universal. It has resonated with a lot of people.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive financial advisor news, market insights, and practice management essentials, subscribe to our free Advisor Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Supreme Court Lets Finra Case Proceed in Test of Wall Street's Self Regulation
(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Court let the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority proceed with disciplinary proceedings against a brokerage accused of stealing from customers in a case testing Wall Street's longstanding reliance on self-regulatory organizations. Billionaire Steve Cohen Wants NY to Expand Taxpayer-Backed Ferry Where the Wild Children's Museums Are The Economic Benefits of Paying Workers to Move Now With Colorful Blocks, Tirana's Pyramid Represents a Changing Albania At London's New Design Museum, Visitors Get Hands-On Access The justices without comment turned away an appeal from Alpine Securities Corp., which argued that a lower court didn't go far enough when it blocked Finra from expelling the brokerage until the Securities and Exchange Commission weighs in. Alpine said the federal appeals court should have stopped proceedings altogether while the legal fight goes forward. The rebuff is a win for Finra on one aspect of a broader fight that threatens to undercut the authority of self-regulatory organizations. Alpine is pressing multiple arguments that Finra's powers and structure are unconstitutional. The rejection follows Chief Justice John Roberts's decision in March not to immediately halt the Finra proceedings against Alpine while the Supreme Court weighed how to handle the case. In partially siding with Alpine, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit said the Constitution probably prohibits Finra from unilaterally expelling a brokerage. The decision, which invoked the so-called private non-delegation doctrine, called into question Finra's ability to oust members through expedited proceedings that bypass the SEC. At the Supreme Court, Alpine said that conclusion should have prompted the DC Circuit to suspend Finra's disciplinary action. Alpine said being forced to defend against Finra charges — even if the decision is ultimately overturned — constitutes a 'here-and-now injury' that Supreme Court precedent requires judges to prevent. Finra, backed by the Trump administration, urged the Supreme Court not to intervene. Finra said it is 'commonplace for parties to endure a proceeding even when it might be overturned on appeal.' Finra accuses Alpine of stealing more than $54 million from its clients through excessive fees and the unauthorized conversion of customer securities and then violating a cease-and-desist order more than 35,000 times. Alpine denies the allegations. The US financial markets are overseen by a number of self-regulatory organizations, including stock exchanges and clearinghouses. The case is Alpine Securities v. Finra, 24-904. YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back? Will Small Business Owners Knock Down Trump's Mighty Tariffs? Trump Considers Deporting Migrants to Rwanda After the UK Decides Not To ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
