BYD Company Limited

BYD Company Limited is a Chinese company that started out in the rechargeable battery business, later crossed over into automobile manufacturing and developed into a new energy vehicle maker. Its founder, Wang Chuanfu, originally conducted battery research at the Beijing General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals; in 1993 he became general manager of Bige Battery Co., Ltd., which the institute had set up in Shenzhen, and in 1995 he resigned and founded BYD with 2.5 million yuan of borrowed money, leading more than 20 employees. The company kept costs down by using large amounts of manual labour in place of expensive automated equipment, and from the second half of 1995 it became a battery supplier to the Taiwanese cordless telephone manufacturer Dbtel; in 1997 its sales of nickel-cadmium batteries reached 150 million units. During the Asian financial crisis, BYD used its cost advantage to capture nearly 40% of the global market share for nickel-cadmium batteries. The company introduced management shareholding from 1998, and by the time of its 2002 listing Wang Chuanfu’s stake had fallen to 28.8%.

In July 2002, BYD listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 1211.HK, at an issue price of HK$10.95 per share, raising HK$1.637 billion. In 2003, BYD acquired a 77% stake in Shaanxi Qinchuan Automobile and formally entered the automobile industry, after which the company’s share price at one point plunged; in 2005 its first fuel-powered car, the F3, was launched, and it later became the best-selling single model among domestic brands. BYD’s automobile production lines rely mainly on equipment developed in-house, and apart from glass and tyres it produces almost all of its components itself. In December 2007, BYD Electronic was spun off and listed, raising HK$6.7 billion; according to the recollection of company board secretary Li Qian, this money helped the company weather the 2008 financial crisis smoothly and keep investing in research and development. In 2008, on the advice of Charlie Munger and with the push of Li Lu, founder of Himalaya Capital, Warren Buffett bought a 10% stake in BYD through his MidAmerican Energy, which made BYD famous. According to the Economic Observer, from January to September 2009 BYD’s operating revenue was 26.361 billion yuan, up 39% year on year, and its net profit was 2.338 billion yuan, up 201% year on year.

According to an interview between Li Qian and Li Lu published officially by BYD in April 2026, the Buffett investment was priced at HK$8 per share, and within a year the share price at one point rose to HK$80; from 2009 to 2010 the company expanded too fast, and in 2011 Wang Chuanfu, at an internal company meeting, reflected on problems including declining profitability, pressure on the balance sheet, the failure of models such as the F6 and the departure of dealers, describing the preceding three years as a period of adjustment. Thereafter BYD listed on the A-share market in 2011, issued new bonds in 2013, carried out a lightning placement in 2014 and raised 15 billion yuan on the A-share market in 2015. Li Lu bought BYD shares shortly after its 2002 listing and said at the time of the interview that he had held them for 23 years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to the interview, BYD produced drawings in three days and a production line in seven days; its daily mask production capacity started at 5 million and reached 100 million per day within a little over a month. Its first big order was 60 million masks for Costco, and it ultimately sold several billion masks worldwide. In June of the same year, BYD launched the Han series of vehicles, which met an enthusiastic market response.