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Beijing Easy Founder Penalized for Stock Price Manipulation, Corporate Governance and Growth Face Severe Challenges

Beijing Easy founder Ma Xuejun was fined 40.47 million yuan by the Securities Regulatory Commission for stock manipulation, banned from the market for 5 years, and resigned from all management positions. The company was previously fined over 10 million yuan for information disclosure violations. The penalties exposed fatal risks from excessive power concentration leading to governance failures. The company’s revenue and profit have been declining steadily; brand premium is hard to maintain amid fierce industry competition and diminishing marketing returns. The company faces significant challenges in rebuilding governance, restoring cash flow, and profit models.

Original source

23 Daily — According to leiphone.com, on the evening of November 4, 2026, Ma Xuejun, the founder of BeiQingsong, a company known as the "first publicly traded health smart hardware firm," was fined a total of 40.4731 million RMB for manipulating the company's stock by Chinese securities regulators. He was banned from securities market activities and trading for five years. On the same day, Ma resigned from all his executive positions, including chairman and general manager, effectively exiting company management. Director Liu Zhihua assumed the chairman and general manager roles. This regulatory action concludes the investigation but also highlights the pressing challenge for BeiQingsong: how the company will restructure governance, cash flow, and its core business model after the founder's exit.

Excessive Control Leads to Two Regulatory Penalties

This is not Ma's first regulatory penalty. In June 2026, the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau had fined the company and Ma 10.1 million RMB for violations in information disclosure. The latest investigation found that from September 21, 2023, to October 24, 2024, Ma, together with six others, exploited financial, shareholding, and information advantages to manipulate stock prices through coordinated buying and selling, including transactions between accounts under their actual control, violating relevant securities laws.

Regarding information disclosure, the investigation found Ma engaged in non-operational occupation of company funds totaling about 85.9 million RMB in 2024, representing over 21% of the latest audited net assets. This was through arranging subsidiary funds transfers, organizing employee loan applications, and early payments to suppliers, alongside significant omissions in the annual report. Ma also instructed the company to pledge time deposits for third-party financing totaling over 90 million RMB, which he personally used without timely disclosure. Regulators concluded that these violations were orchestrated and concealed by Ma, effectively bypassing internal board, audit, and reporting controls, revealing a failure of governance due to concentrated power.

Company Faces Revenue Declines and Intense Competition

Since its 2021 IPO, BeiQingsong's revenue and profit have shown volatility and decline. The highest revenue was nearly 1.2 billion RMB with a net profit of approximately 92 million RMB in 2021. Subsequent years saw revenue and profitability fluctuations, with first three quarters of 2025 revenue under 490 million RMB and losses exceeding 85 million RMB. The sales expense ratio reached approximately 58% by the first three quarters of 2026 with a gross margin of 58.32%, squeezing profitability.

Additionally, BeiQingsong's core portable massage device segment faces fierce market competition with eroding brand premiums. Online marketing costs are rising with diminishing returns on repurchase rates, while offline channels like airport and high-speed rail terminals suffer from reduced customer flow and high fixed costs. Competitors like SKG have grown rapidly by expanding product matrixes and entering new health management scenarios, highlighting a clear divergence in growth strategies.

Editor's take: Governance Restructuring and Operational Excellence Are Crucial

The regulatory penalties and departure of the founder reveal significant risks associated with overly centralized power and governance failures at BeiQingsong. Rebuilding corporate governance mechanisms is critical, including completing board transitions, enabling independent directors and audit committees to exercise genuine oversight, and stabilizing and improving financial transparency.

Operationally, the company must control soaring sales expenses that erode gross margins, focusing instead on boosting product repurchase rates and channel turnover efficiency to sustain revenues. Improving cash flow management, optimizing supply chain and retail footprint are urgent for survival. The key question going forward is whether BeiQingsong can reestablish sustainable growth relying on robust governance and operational capabilities without founder intervention — a test financial reports over the coming quarters will reveal.

All stories from November 7, 2026