A former elementary school teacher and his sister have become billionaires after shares in their company soared during its stock market debut in China. Mai Michael, chairman and CEO of Crown New Materials Technology, is now worth an estimated $2.5 billion following the company's initial public offering, according to Forbes. And his sister, Mai Huixia, the company's vice chairman, has also accumulated an estimated $2 billion fortune.
Their newfound billionaire status came after Crown New Materials Technology shares surged as much as 787 percent during their first day of trading in Shenzhen on Tuesday. The dramatic rise prompted the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to halt trading in the shares twice during the morning session. Newsweek reached out to the siblings and their company for comment via email.
Mai Michael worked as an elementary school teacher in Zhongshan, China, before leaving teaching in 1984. He entered the materials business the following year and spent much of the next two decades working at factories in the city, including overseeing an adhesive tape manufacturer. In 2000, the siblings established Crown New Materials Technology.
The Zhongshan-based company now manufactures adhesive materials and protective films used across the automotive, electronics and semiconductor industries. Its products are supplied to major companies from BYD and Apple to Tesla. The company says it competes internationally with companies including 3M and Japan's Nitto Denko.
The siblings have retained substantial stakes in the company, allowing Tuesday's surge in its share price to push the value of their holdings into billionaire territory. Beyond just them, the company remains closely held by the family. One of Mai Michael's daughters, Mai Christal, sits on the company's board, while his spouse, other daughters and Mai Huixia's daughter are indirect shareholders.
The billionaire valuation is a sharp contrast to typical earnings in Mai Michael's former profession. In the United States, elementary school teachers, excluding special education teachers, earned a median annual wage of $63,970 in May 2025, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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