Hong Kong’s ailing office rental market gets a little boost from an unexpected customer.
China’s most influential businessman and highest-earning man, Zhang Qingyang, also known as Crazy Xiaoyangge (Crazy Little Yang Brother), has rented a 460 square meter office in Wan Chai as his company Three Sheep Group opens a branch in the city.
According to the company’s official Weibo account, Hong Kong celebrities including veteran actor Eric Tsang Chi-wai and singer/actor Alan Tam Wing-lun attended the opening ceremony of Three Sheep Holdings (Hong Kong) on Wednesday.
Zhang said in a recent video that Tsang would take over as head of the Hong Kong branch, Chinese newspaper Securities Times reported on Thursday. Tsang is also the general manager of TVB, Hong Kong’s largest broadcaster.
The move comes as the city’s office leasing market struggles with high vacancy rates and falling rents, but brokers said they had seen a rise in office space enquiries from mainland Chinese companies over the past six months, in industries ranging from electronics to finance to furniture design.
Founded by Zhang in 2021, Three Sheep is a service platform for online creators in mainland China. This type of business is sometimes called a multi-channel network (MCN). According to the official website, the company includes brand operation, live broadcast, talent cultivation, investment, supply chain services and celebrity matchmaking.
According to the Companies Registry, Three Sheep’s Hong Kong company was registered on July 16.
The company has leased a 515-square-metre office at the United Asia Finance Centre for a monthly rent of HK$183,000 (US$23,474), or HK$33 per square metre, say brokers familiar with the deal.
“We have received inquiries from some mainland MCN companies who want to expand their business, and now office rents in Hong Kong have come down in recent years,” said an agent from Leasing Hub, a local commercial real estate agency. “They are more likely to choose Grade B offices as the rents are cheaper and they have more flexibility in renovation and operation modes.”
According to data from the Rating and Valuation Authority, an index of rental prices for Class B offices in Hong Kong fell 14 percent from its peak in September 2019 to June.
In November 2022, he became the first influencer to reach 100 million followers on Douyin, ByteDance’s short video platform that is the Chinese equivalent of TikTok.
In 2023, he announced that his company would pay out 50 million yuan in wages every month.
Three Sheep did not respond to a request for comment.
