☕️ Good morning, friends,

Today, we’re handing out the Oscar for sheer brainlessness:

Two 17-year-olds filmed themselves drunkenly urinating into a Haidilao hotpot. And of course, they were dumb enough to post the video online (here’s a blurred screenshot).

A Shanghai court has now ordered them to pay 2.2 million yuan in damages for cleaning, losses, and reputational harm.

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P.S. A warm welcome to all the new subscribers who joined us yesterday! Feel free to recommend us to others. 🤝

MARKETS

Highlights

Asian stocks climb to new records – led by China’s tech rally, with Baidu up nearly 20% and Alibaba, SMIC, and JD.com also posting strong gains.
Funds, however, warn that Trump’s new tariffs could slow the AI-driven surge.

NUMBER OF THE DAY

What Starbucks China is worth to the Final Four – Boyu Capital, Carlyle, EQT, and HongShan are vying for the troubled coffee chain.

☕ Final Four: Goldman Sachs wants a decision by end-October. The bidders are penciling in $400–500M EBITDA for 2025 and a 10x multiple — optimistic, given falling market share.

🏆 Experience counts: Carlyle already turned McDonald’s China into a success, HongShan (ex-Sequoia China) is on a buying spree, while Sweden’s EQT brings less China experience to the table.

Watch: After a year of speculation, the Starbucks China story is nearing its climax — but still “even once a final buyer is chosen, the story is unlikely to end.”

TOP BIT

🌐 WeChat Opens Up to Foreign Wallets

Tourists and business travelers will soon find it easier to pay in China. WeChat Pay announced that international wallets like PayPal, Venmo, and GrabPay will be usable directly via QR code. Alipay is also joining the system – for the first time, a nationwide standard for foreign mobile payment users is being created.

The Details

📡 New QR Hub: The cross-border interconnection payment gateway launched by the central bank has already processed …