Yatsen (Perfect Diary)
Beauty / cosmeticsChina
New to Unitard
📉 Public < $1B
Peak $11 BillionToday
−98%
from peak
- 🦄Became a unicorn2020
- 📈Peak valuation$11 Billion ’21
- 💔Became a Unitard2022
- 💸Last valuation~$247M
Current status
Public (NYSE: YSG)
Live · YSG· NYSE
as of 2026-09-17
$2.63▲ 1.15% today
≈ $247 Million market cap · −97.8% from peak
The rise & fall
7 moments · 2016–2024The key moments.
2016
2016
Founded in Guangzhou
Yatsen builds Perfect Diary into a digital-native assault on China's beauty market.
Wikipedia
2020
2020
Joins the unicorn club
Pre-IPO rounds value the C-beauty leader well above $1B.
CNBC
Nov 2020
Nov 2020
Blockbuster NYSE debut
Opens with a market value around $11B as C-beauty has its moment.
WWD
2021
2021
The peak: the C-beauty frenzy tops out$11B
The stock climbs to its highs in early 2021 before the long slide begins.
Yahoo Finance
2021–23
2021–23
Influencer economics stop working
Heavy spending on influencers and discounts proves unsustainable as competition intensifies.
CNBC
2022
2022
Slips out of the club
The stock sheds most of its value within two years of the IPO.
Yahoo Finance
2022–24
2022–24
Perfect Diary retreats
The brand slips from China's No. 2 toward mid-pack, closes more than half its stores, and Yatsen pivots toward skincare.
WWD
Today
Today
Still in the club — and still trading
Live · YSG · NYSEas of 2026-09-17
$2.63▲ 1.15% today≈ $247M cap · −97.8% from peak
How it happened
Yatsen, the parent of Chinese cosmetics sensation Perfect Diary, rode a wave of digital-native 'C-beauty' marketing to a blockbuster US debut in November 2020, opening with a market value around $11B.
Heavy spending on influencers and discounts proved unsustainable as competition intensified and consumer tastes shifted; Perfect Diary slipped from China's No. 2 cosmetics brand toward the middle of the pack and closed more than half its stores. The stock fell about 92%, leaving Yatsen worth under $1B by 2025 even as it pivoted toward skincare.
Source: WWD / Yahoo Finance / CNBC (~$11B market cap at Nov 2020 IPO, climbed higher in early 2021; ~$875M market cap by June 2025, -92% from IPO; lost share in C-beauty)
Founder
- David Huang (Huang Jinfeng)Founder & CEONo public profile matched
