"Pump King" Rage: A Lonely Carnival

How does the progress of AI Wang Xiangrong’s SpaceX investment lawsuit affect the company’s stock price?

Text | Li Delin

Five years ago, at a classmates’ gathering, everyone was drinking and chatting when a well-dressed guy appeared, giving a presentation on SpaceX’s PPT. The whole party suddenly fell silent; the man on stage was eloquent about Musk, commercial spaceflight, landing on Mars. People looked at each other in confusion—what was this guy trying to do? Why isn’t Musk going to space himself? Is he crazy? Has SpaceX really been valued at hundreds of billions of dollars? Is it a scam? Investment? Just joking, everyone eventually dispersed.

A Chinese businessman invested 50 million USD.

Wang Xiangrong, owner of Leo Holdings, known as the “Chinese Pump King.” In November 2021, Leo Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary Leo Investment, invested 50 million USD in TBCA. The target of TBCA’s investment was SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002. The TBCA fund’s total committed capital was about 600 million USD, with a maximum of 750 million USD; TBCA was a general partner, and Leo Investment was a limited partner. The fund management company behind TBCA, TBC, is a global venture capital firm.

Did Leo Investment really invest 50 million USD into SpaceX? According to public information, in February 2015, TBCA, together with Google, participated in SpaceX’s Series G funding round, which raised 1 billion USD. That means Wang Xiangrong’s leading investment was only in a fund targeting SpaceX, not directly into SpaceX itself. The market went wild because of this investment; Leo Holdings’ stock price soared from 2.35 yuan to 3.08 yuan within days.

SpaceX has held meetings with about 125 financial analysts from 21 investment banks, planning to launch an IPO roadshow on June 8. SpaceX plans to invite 1,500 retail investors to participate in the roadshow, with investors from outside the US—UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Japan, and South Korea—also having the chance to subscribe. Currently, SpaceX is planning to raise 75 billion USD, with a valuation approaching 2 trillion USD. Surprisingly, Wang Xiangrong may miss out on SpaceX’s IPO celebration.

A week after Leo Holdings announced its investment in SpaceX, the issue arose: TBCA’s general partner LLC sent an email to Leo Holdings, saying it could not accept its subsidiary Leo Investment continuing to hold LP shares and planned to refund Leo Investment’s capital. TBCA quickly returned the 50 million USD investment. Who is Wang Xiangrong? An A-share listed company boss who enjoys investing—how could he be so easily kicked out of Musk’s game? Leo Holdings was unwilling to give up so easily.

Leo Holdings began negotiations with TBCA, arguing that their termination agreement lacked legal basis and refusing to accept the return of the investment and the withdrawal of Leo Investment’s LP shares. Leo Holdings reserved all rights to protect its interests, including but not limited to initiating legal proceedings. Leo Holdings was not just talking; on February 23, 2022, the company filed lawsuits in foreign courts against TBCA fund, TBCA GP, and TBCA managers. SpaceX’s rocket recovery was successful, but the first trial verdict came only in June 2025.

What was the court’s decision? Leo Holdings did not specify, only casually mentioning: “The foreign court issued a first-instance judgment, making a series of fact findings favorable to the company.” Did they win? Leo Holdings did not say in its announcement, only adding: “Subsequently, both parties appealed the first-instance judgment to a higher court.” During the litigation, TBCA consortium filed a lawsuit against Leo Holdings in another jurisdiction in August 2024. Besides amending the complaint, the case has seen little progress.

When Wang Xiangrong decided to invest in SpaceX, the company’s valuation was 100.3 billion USD. During the lawsuit with TBCA, SpaceX’s valuation increased 19-fold, and the 50 million USD investment soared to nearly 1 billion USD. But TBCA’s aggressive moves dashed Wang Xiangrong’s plans, leaving him to watch SpaceX’s IPO feast from afar. A boss who has been listed on A-shares for 19 years, with a industry leader reaching a market cap of 20k, how could he just watch his money turn to water? That’s not the style of the “Pump King” Wang Xiangrong.

In addition to being called the “Pump King,” Wang Xiangrong is also nicknamed the “Stock Trading King.” Although he only holds 9.41% of Leo Holdings, his brother is the second-largest shareholder with 7.44%, and he remains the actual controller of the listed company. Since investing in SpaceX in 2021, Leo Holdings has enjoyed a stock trading hobby, with an annual investment quota of 2 billion yuan. Every July and August, the company announced securities investments not exceeding 30 billion yuan. Besides stock trading, Leo Holdings also invested in masks, new energy vehicles, AIGC, and other projects.

Leo Holdings’ main business is pumps, but since 2014, it shifted to digital marketing, acquiring several advertising companies, transforming into a platform integrating internet traffic and digital marketing, turning into an Internet+ concept. In 2016, it participated in the Series A funding of Li Auto, and in 2017, further invested 450 million yuan, holding 9.995%. Despite the ongoing SpaceX lawsuit, Leo Holdings entered AI in 2023, launching a large model with GEO concepts, but the stock price did not rise.

Wang Xiangrong focuses on chasing hot trends. In 2020, when Li Auto went public, Leo Holdings’ maximum investment profit was 6 billion yuan, causing its net profit attributable to shareholders to surge over 14 times that year. After entering AI, Leo’s stock price once fell to 2 yuan, and by 2024, it dropped to around 1 yuan, nearing delisting. At that time, SpaceX’s rocket recovery was still ongoing, and Wang Xiangrong couldn’t get good news from Musk, only had to use no less than 400 million yuan of his own funds to buy back shares. Right after the buyback, the 924 rally exploded.

Wang Xiangrong precisely bottomed out, and Leo Holdings’ stock price soared, rising to nearly 8 yuan from the initial 1.31 yuan during the 924 rally, an increase of over 500%. The highest price reached 10.4 yuan, with a maximum increase of nearly 700%, and a market cap exceeding 70 billion yuan, earning the title of the “Pump King.” Despite Leo Holdings’ revenue remaining around 20 billion for many years, with profits fluctuating, Wang Xiangrong still plans to take Leo Holdings to Hong Kong for an IPO. The application was submitted in September 2025, with the deadline on April 13 this year.

The Wang family, besides the two brothers controlling Leo Holdings, is also active in the capital market. Wang Xiangrong’s mother also enjoys stock trading. In 2023, Leo Holdings was involved in AI, and at that time, the artificial intelligence concept was heavily hyped. Wang’s mother bought Leo Holdings stock, but unexpectedly, the market did not support the trend-chasing Leo. She lost 120k yuan in two months. Wang Xiangrong and his brother were warned by the Zhejiang Securities Regulatory Bureau. Later, they received a notice of investigation from the CSRC, and their mother was suspected of short-term trading the company’s stock.

So far, there has been no public result of the CSRC’s investigation into Wang Xiangrong and his brother. The Hong Kong IPO’s validity period is also nearing its end. Without improved performance, can Leo Holdings sustain its current 3B market cap chasing the trend? Will Wang Xiangrong, the “Pump King” and “Stock Trading King,” really just watch SpaceX’s IPO celebration in silence? Facing the lawsuit over the largest IPO in history, perhaps the common people will say, “Let’s just watch and see what happens.”