5 Billion Dollar Bet: Can Liu Qiangdong Win This Time?

Jack Ma has done another “crazy” thing—establishing a yacht brand with a 5 billion yuan investment, aiming to bring yacht prices down to 100,000 yuan, making them as common as cars in households. Do you think it’s possible?

Jack Ma said his childhood dream was to be a captain, and now he finally has the money to make it come true. Yachts are also the last high-end gap in China’s industrial sector. He believes that in terms of cars, China’s vehicle ownership has already surpassed the United States, but in yachts, China only has 12,000 vessels—less than 1% of the US total, which exceeds 13 million yachts. Over 90% of the yacht market is monopolized by European and American companies, indicating a huge market potential.

Ma plans to invest 5 billion yuan in Guangdong. He sees Guangdong as a major manufacturing province with a complete supply chain, abundant talent resources, and a number of international coastal cities—all significant advantages for developing the yacht industry.

The Sea Exploration Yacht Project is based in Zhuhai, but it didn’t start from scratch.

Zhuhai is one of the earliest cities in China to develop yacht manufacturing, with strong manufacturing capabilities and a robust shipbuilding industry cluster.

The Zhuhai Pingsha Yacht Industry Park is the largest yacht manufacturing base in China, and Pingsha Town is currently the only professional yacht town in the country.

Since its establishment, this industrial park has gathered over 30 companies, becoming the earliest, largest, and most complete yacht manufacturing base in China, with an annual output value reaching nearly 1.5 billion yuan at peak times. Many “world-first” products have been launched here. This industrial foundation provides the manufacturing capacity and talent pool needed for the Sea Exploration Yacht project.

Meanwhile, Zhuhai has been continuously developing marine tourism in recent years. For example, the Wanshan Islands region saw a 12% year-on-year GDP growth by 2025, with industrial investments increasing by 59 times. Nearly 2 million tourists visit the islands annually, generating over 2.1 billion yuan in tourism revenue. The opening of high-end resorts has gradually elevated the consumer level for island tourism. The simultaneous development of manufacturing and consumption creates space for extending the yacht industry chain.

This solid industry strength in yacht manufacturing is undoubtedly a key factor influencing Ma’s choice of Zhuhai.

According to Ma, he wants to bring high-end yachts down to the 100,000 yuan level, making them affordable for ordinary people.

However, this is more of an ideal. Even if a yacht costs only 100,000 yuan, many people can’t afford to maintain it.

Yachts are different from cars. Just annual costs for docking, maintenance, and repairs often exceed the price of a 100,000-yuan yacht. A small yacht parked in Sanya for a year can cost over 100,000 yuan, and seawater will corrode the vessel, with maintenance costs running into several tens of thousands.

Ma can be a captain, but he might be overestimating the average person’s income. Yachting isn’t popular in China for a reason.

We don’t know how this yacht project will turn out, but Ma and JD.com have already become cross-industry “special forces.” They’ve ventured into food delivery, catering, automobiles, smartphones, and more—nothing seems off-limits. Last year, Ma invested over 10 billion yuan into food delivery, sparking a price war that caught the attention of antitrust authorities. He also announced plans to enter the automotive industry, partnering with GAC and NIO to launch new cars, and then moved into catering with Qixian Kitchen, as well as cultural tourism, large-screen AI smartphones, and more—each move bold and energetic.

However, so far, only JD’s food delivery has truly made waves; others have mostly been loud but ineffective.

This cross-industry gene is deeply embedded in JD.com. As an IPO king, Ma controls five publicly listed companies: JD.com, JD Health, JD Logistics, JD Industrial, and Dada Group, plus JD Finance, which keeps lending money daily. These ventures revolve around e-commerce and supply chains—solid foundations for cross-industry success.

But this time, in yacht manufacturing, JD’s e-commerce and supply chain systems are hardly helpful. So Ma’s personal 5 billion yuan investment is almost entirely separate from JD.

Interestingly, they have already received five large yacht orders—each 72 meters long, twin-hulled vessels, with an average selling price of 60 million euros. Five ships at 60 million euros each totals nearly 240 million euros, or about 1.8 billion yuan.

The ships haven’t even been built yet, but orders are already coming in.

So, do you think Ma can change China’s yacht consumption or succeed in cross-industry ventures?