Samsung chief buys Labubu in Beijing, goes viral on Chinese internet

Top tech CEOs tend to attract a lot of attention. They've become superstars in their own right and people are very interested in seeing how they go about their lives.

So as Samsung Electronics chief, and heir to the conglomerate, Jay Y. Lee went to a mall in Beijing and apparently bought a Labubu, Chinese internet lit up with discussion.

If you've spent any amount of time online in the past year, you would have heard about Labubu. It's a line of collectible plush toys from Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung. Labubu started off strong in China and quickly became a viral global phenomenon.

Lee was part of a business delegation to China this week with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung who was on a state visit. A Chinese news outlet reported that Lee visited the JD Mall in Beijing and bought a Labubu doll. It was also reported that Lee went to other stores in the mall, including a Samsung Electronics store on the first floor.

Images of his visit to the mall quickly spread on China's social media networks, and the purchase of a Labubu led to discussions online. One user pointed out that a Korean chaebol, a term used for family-owned or operated multinational conglomerates, bought a Labubu. Another user wondered whether he bought it for his daughter.

It's not surprising that Lee's visit to a mall caught the attention of people, but it was far from the crowds that he pulled when he took NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang for beer and fried chicken in Seoul last year.