Jack Ma's "circle of friends" suddenly becomes active! Yunfeng Group buys 10,000 Ethereum, former Fosun No. 2 joins.

"Jack Ma and Yu Feng, they are the chickens that lay golden eggs." 15 years ago, at the founding banquet of Yunfeng Capital, former China’s richest person and founder of New Hope Group, Liu Yonghao, made this remark about the two founders. Now, this former "golden duo" is becoming active again, with a series of significant moves from Yunfeng Group sparking market discussions: from obtaining a digital currency trading license, to a substantial purchase of 10,000 Ethereum (ETH), and attracting former Fosun International's "number two" Liang Xinjun and former Mengniu president Lu Minfang to join, this capital empire, referred to as Jack Ma's "private territory," is quietly reviving.

Yunfeng Series "Comeback": A Strong Return After Three Years of Silence

As the former richest person in Asia, Jack Ma's vast business empire has always given special treatment to the Yunfeng assets. Jack Ma and Yu Feng embedded their names, co-investing in their personal capacity, and this is the story of the birth of "Yunfeng". For many years, Yu Feng has been publicly referred to as "Jack Ma's ace teammate" as the actual operator.

After three years, the Yunfeng family is active again:

On August 28, Yunfeng Financial released its mid-term results for 2025, with a net profit attributable to the parent company of HKD 486 million, a significant growth of 142% compared to the same period last year. This is the best mid-term performance since it went public via a reverse takeover in 2015.

On September 2, Yunfeng Financial announced voluntarily that it had purchased 10,000 Ether as strategic reserve assets using internal cash of 44 million dollars.

On September 9, Yunfeng Financial announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its subsidiary Yunfeng Securities has received approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to hold a Type 1 Securities License, adding virtual asset trading qualifications. In the future, it will be able to provide trading services for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other assets through its own platform.

Everything seems to be going according to plan. On July 14, Yunfeng Financial's public account updated for the first time after three years of inactivity, announcing that the company will be laying out in areas such as Digital Currency Trading.

Jack Ma and Yu Feng: The Deep Meaning Behind the Shareholding Changes

It is worth noting that in the latest financial report, Yu Feng's personal shareholding ratio in "Yunfeng Financial Holdings" has significantly changed, increasing from the original 60% to 70.15%, while Jack Ma's shareholding ratio has correspondingly decreased.

The specific control relationship has gone through multiple layers of nesting: according to the latest mid-year report data for 2025, "Yunfeng Financial Holdings" holds 91% of the shares of Key Imagination, which in turn holds 73.21% of Jade Passion, while Jade Passion, with a shareholding ratio of 47.25%, becomes the major shareholder of the Hong Kong listed company Yunfeng Financial.

Digital Currency: Jack Ma and Alibaba's New Battleground

The business relationship between Jack Ma and Yu Feng seems to have become closer after finding the breakthrough point of digital currency. On the day before the official personnel purchased virtual currency, September 1st, Yunfeng Financial announced two actions at once:

· Reached a strategic partnership with Ant Group of Alibaba

· Invest in the Pharos public blockchain founded by core members of the former Ant Blockchain business.

The core business of the Pharos public chain is to provide technical support for the smooth "migration" of traditional assets to the blockchain. Cloud Peak Financial is licensed in Hong Kong, holds the status of a listed financial company, and Jack Ma is also a shareholder—Cloud Peak Financial can clearly become one of the most trusted partners for Alibaba and Ant Group's strategic layout in the digital currency war.

The "Alumni Network" of Capital's Jianghu: The Network of Connections between Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and Fudan University

The friendship between Jack Ma and Yu Feng can be traced back to at least 2006. That year, both were students of the first CEO class at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, where they met Li Ka-shing in the Cheung Kong Center in Central, Hong Kong. This CEO class does not accept applications but invites participants by invitation only, with only 16 days of classes scheduled each year, held across four locations: Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Fontainebleau, and Beijing.

In the early summer of 2009, Jack Ma and his old classmate Yu Feng met at West Lake to go boating, and their cooperation began to take shape. By April 2010, Yunfeng Fund was officially established, and Yu Feng subsequently gained his new title in the capital world — co-founder of Yunfeng Fund.

Yunfeng Fund initially focused on PE (Private Equity), and has cumulatively established five RMB investment funds and four USD investment funds. The list of invested companies is very long: Sogou, CATL, Xiaopeng, Aikang, Mianian Health, WuXi AppTec, NetEase Cloud Music, Damai, YTO Express, October Rice Field, Yuanqi Forest, Weilong, and so on. Of course, it also includes a series of investment opportunities from the Alibaba ecosystem.

Fudan University Alumni Reunite in Shanghai: The Financial Legend of the Philosophy Department

Yu Feng was born in Shanghai in 1963. In 1982, he was admitted to the Department of Philosophy at Fudan University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1986. In 1988, he returned to the Department of Philosophy at Fudan University to pursue a Master's degree, which he obtained in 1991.

Recently, with the "comeback" of Yunfeng System, there are many familiar faces among the recruits, including Fudan University alumni.

On September 5, Yunfeng Financial announced the appointment of Liang Xinjun as the company's independent non-executive director. Born in 1968, Liang Xinjun graduated from Fudan University's Department of Biology and was one of the "Fosun Five Swordsmen," serving as the CEO of Fosun International and being the "second-in-command" of Fosun. In March 2017, Liang Xinjun resigned from Fosun due to "health reasons."

On August 25, at the official announcement of the strategic cooperation agreement between Yunfeng Fund and Bank of Shanghai, a new face appeared next to Yu Feng: Lu Minfang, a partner at Yunfeng Fund. Born in 1969, Lu Minfang served as the president of Mengniu from September 2016 to October 2024, making him the longest-serving president in Mengniu's history and a symbolic figure in China's fast-moving consumer goods industry.

The joining of two heavyweight figures marks that the Yunfeng system is gathering a strong management team to prepare for the next stage of development.