Yatsen (Perfect Diary)

Beauty / cosmeticsChina

New to Unitard

📉 Public < $1B

Peak $11 BillionToday

−98%

from peak

🦄
Became a unicorn
2020
📈
Peak valuation
$11 Billion ’21
💔
Became a Unitard
2022
💸
Last valuation
~$227M

Current status

Public (NYSE: YSG)

Live · YSG· NYSE

as of 2026-10-23

$2.42▼ 6.20% today

≈ $227 Million market cap · −97.9% from peak

The rise & fall

7 moments · 2016–2024

The key moments.

2016

Founded in Guangzhou

Yatsen builds Perfect Diary into a digital-native assault on China's beauty market.

Wikipedia

2020

Joins the unicorn club

Pre-IPO rounds value the C-beauty leader well above $1B.

CNBC

Nov 2020

Blockbuster NYSE debut

Opens with a market value around $11B as C-beauty has its moment.

WWD

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

Influencer economics stop working

Heavy spending on influencers and discounts proves unsustainable as competition intensifies.

CNBC

2022

Slips out of the club

The stock sheds most of its value within two years of the IPO.

Yahoo Finance

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

Still in the club — and still trading

Live · YSG · NYSEas of 2026-10-23

$2.42▼ 6.20% today≈ $227M cap · −97.9% 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)