This mysterious company has never sold a single product. Its founder is now worth $51 billion

A blistering rally in a tiny, money-losing traditional Chinese medicine company’s stock has vaulted its founder’s net worth to among the world’s largest fortunes.

The firm, Hong Kong-based Regencell Bioscience, was for all intents and purposes trading as a microcap stock on the Nasdaq just eight weeks ago. But its shares have since exploded, gaining more than 82,000 per cent since its February 13 low. The move has boosted the value of chief executive officer Yat-Gai Au’s 86 per cent stake to $US33.3 billion ($51.4 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making Au’s paper wealth greater than rich-list stalwarts such as Phil Knight and Masayoshi Son.

Shares of the company have been on a bizarre tear in 2025, with little to no news from the firm.Credit: Bloomberg

The shares closed up 30 per cent to $US78 in New York trading, after gaining 283 per cent on Monday following a 38-for-1 stock split.

The unbelievable rally has transformed Regencell Bioscience Holdings, a penny stock as recently as April, to one worth around $US38.7 billion in market value. A year ago, the company had a market capitalisation of $US53 million. This is despite having a net loss of $US4.4 million for its fiscal year that ended June 2024, a 28 per cent decrease from the previous year.

Regencell is an improbable vehicle for creating a multibillion-dollar fortune. Largely self-funded by Au, the company sells herbal medicine treatments for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. The firm is still in the R&D phase and has never turned a profit since going public, losing $US4.4 million in the fiscal year through June 30, 2024, according to filings. Its chief medical officer position has been vacant since the last doctor to hold the job resigned in 2022.

“Both entities [Regencell and its associated foundation] are Gai’s passion projects, and he will continue to invest his personal funds to defend what he believes in,” according to Au’s bio page on the company’s website. “He has literally put his money where his mouth is by investing over US$9 million in RGC to demonstrate his personal belief and commitment.”

Family business

Founded in 2014, Regencell’s main line of business is marketing and licensing traditional treatments developed by the founder’s father, Sik-Kee Au. The elder Au has a background in electrical engineering and formerly owned a security alarm business in California. In August 2021, he was found guilty of professional misconduct by a practitioners’ board in Hong Kong for overprescribing medicine, according to a public order.

Regencell has exclusive rights over traditional medicinal formulas developed by Sik-Kee Au trademarked under the name Brain Theory. They consist of liquid-based herbal compounds taken twice daily, aimed at treating neurocognitive disorders.

Yat-Gai Au’s net worth has soared.Credit: Regencell

The younger Au started Regencell after he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and suffered from dyslexia through much of his schooling. Despite those learning difficulties, he attended the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley and landed a job at Deutsche Bank AG in the late 1990s, working on more than $US4 billion in deals before founding Regencell.

His older brother Yat-Pang is the founder and CEO of Veritas Investments, a property investment company that manages roughly 250 buildings on the US West Coast. In 2019, Bloomberg valued his wealth at more than $100 million.

As a high schooler growing up in Silicon Valley, Yat-Pang made headlines as a symbol of alleged anti-Asian discrimination in college admissions when he was rejected from UC Berkeley despite an excellent academic record, according to a 1987 Los Angeles Times report. He later went on earn an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2000.

The improbable surge

Regencell Bioscience this month said its board approved a 38-for-1 stock split. When the split took effect, shares rose as much as 434 per cent – their biggest one-day jump ever – to a record high, triggering more than 10 volatility halts.

Shares of the company have been on a bizarre tear in 2025, with little to no news released. The Hong Kong-based company, which debuted on the Nasdaq Capital Market in 2021, is in the research and development stage and has not generated any revenue since inception, according to its most-recent annual filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company says its traditional Chinese medicine formula contains only natural ingredients. Credit: Internet

A representative for Regencell didn’t immediately respond to a Bloomberg request for comment.

Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, the company aims to treat neurological conditions such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorder through traditional herb-based medicines, according to its website. Its traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, which forms the basis of its product candidates, “contains only natural ingredients without any synthetic components”.

“We have not generated revenue from any TCM formulae candidates or applied for any regulatory approvals, nor have distribution capabilities or experience or any granted patents or pending patent applications and may never be profitable,” the company said in an October filing.

The company also made its foray into treatments for COVID-19, conducting trials in 2022 for a “holistic approach” with its experimental therapy. Regencell said data from a 2022 trial showed the treatment was effective in reducing and eliminating COVID-19 symptoms within six days, although the results were yet to be peer-reviewed.

The company has funded its operations so far, primarily from shareholder loans and proceeds from its initial public offering, the SEC filing showed. It said its gross proceeds from its IPO were $US21.85 million.

One potential reason for the outsized swings in Regencell shares is its tiny float. Of its nearly 500 million outstanding shares, only about 30 million are available to be traded. That equates to roughly 6 per cent of shares being available – a small percentage compared with Apple (about 98 per cent) and Tesla (87 per cent). Insiders own the remaining Regencell shares.

Bloomberg

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