Luckin Coffee Eyes Fresh U.S. Listing Five Years After Accounting Scandal
The Chinese coffee giant moves to regain investor confidence and global credibility following a dramatic turnaround that made it China’s largest coffee chain.
Dubai – Qahwa World
China’s Luckin Coffee is reportedly preparing to return to Wall Street, five years after its dramatic delisting from the Nasdaq amid one of the country’s most notorious corporate accounting scandals.
Speaking at a government-hosted event in Xiamen on 2 November 2025, CEO Jinyi Guo said the company was “actively pushing the process of relisting on a U.S. main board,” though he declined to specify a timeline. Market observers believe the relisting could take place either on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, marking a significant milestone in the company’s comeback story.
Founded in Beijing in 2017, Luckin first listed in the United States in May 2019, raising $561 million to fund its breakneck expansion to 4,500 stores across China. But by April 2020, revelations emerged that the company had fabricated roughly $340 million in sales, triggering a collapse in its stock price, the dismissal of its senior management, bankruptcy filings in the U.S., and a $180 million fine by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Under new ownership by Beijing-based private-equity firm Centurium Capital, Luckin launched a sweeping turnaround plan focused on profitable growth, tech-driven operations, and stricter financial oversight. The strategy began paying off in 2022, when the company reported its first quarterly net profit and emerged from bankruptcy shortly thereafter — a milestone that paved the way for its first annual operating profit later that year.
By 2023, Luckin Coffee had overtaken Starbucks in China’s fiercely competitive coffee market, fueled by rapid franchise expansion and affordable pricing. As of mid-2025, the brand operates over 26,000 stores across China and continues to extend its international presence with outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, and its first U.S. location.
A potential U.S. relisting, analysts say, could provide Luckin with fresh access to capital markets, boost brand visibility, and restore investor confidence still clouded by its past misconduct. Yet the move will not be simple: any overseas listing by a Chinese firm now requires filing with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), part of Beijing’s tightened oversight of foreign capital operations.
As of March 2025, 286 Chinese companies were listed on U.S. exchanges with a combined market capitalization of around $1.1 trillion, according to the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission. Luckin’s move, therefore, would mark one of the most high-profile returns of a Chinese consumer brand to U.S. markets since the scandal-scarred delistings of 2020.
Earlier this year, Chinese tea brand Chagee raised $411 million in its Nasdaq IPO — a sign that global appetite for Chinese beverage players may be returning. Whether Luckin Coffee can brew up a similar success story on Wall Street remains one of the most closely watched comebacks in the coffee industry.
