Coming in October: M1NT Shanghai, an exclusive club for millionaires and billionaires

"I was totally amused to read that M1NT's millionaire and billionaire members in Hong Kong raised HK$65,060 for the Sichuan earthquake victims:

http://www.m1ntnews.com/?p=80

Shanghaiist's very ordinary readers raised RMB228,336:

http://shanghaiist.com/2008/05/23/benefit-video.php" - Vladivostok

I am absolutely appalled that you will use a charity event, something coming from such good intentions as a tool to express your dislike towards M1NT.

For your information, I was the one, along with a few other friends, who brought the idea of the charity event to M1NT. At that time, none of us were members and we asked for M1NT's cooperation to help us make the fundraiser work. Let me tell you, they were happy to work with us straight away. Not only did they let us use the venue on a Friday evening which is normally extremely busy and profitable, they helped out in any other possible ways imaginable including donations of prizes, drinks, and staff physically helping with the logistics.

And no, the night was not filled with billionaires. They were people who wanted to make some contribution to the Sichuan Earthquake and I think HK$65,060 was a fantastic outcome! You know what? If we ended up raising a couple of thousand bucks, I still would think that we did a fantastic job because that is another couple of thousand which can be used to help people!

I think for all the detractors that moan about it's just for rich "wankers", then fine DON'T GO! Stick to Windows Scoreboard or you other favourite bars. No one is forcing you to even consider it as an option.

Personally I wouldn't frequent the dive bars either here in Shanghai or the other countries I have lived in or visited, but it's just a personal preference and opinion. I hate rock music with a passion, but I wouldn't mock someone for listening to it. It's just not for me.

Stop hating on places that you are never going to go. Surely you could be doing something a little more constructive with your time?

I don't know if anyone noticed, but rich-people parties are incredibly lame. Just a bunch of people standing around acting like they're too cool to talk to anyone else, they just want to be seen in their expensive clothes. Of course, they don't want to spill any drinks on their clothes so they don't dance. Basically... nothing happens. Let them have their club, we don't want these lame-o's poisoning the atmosphere of clubs were people can actually socialize, dance, and have fun.

why did the London bar close?

Too successful. I mean if we believe all the PR releases and the m1nt defenders above, m1nt is the best! idea! ever! and will never ever fail. So the only explanation is they all made too much money and bought so much cocaine that they've all overdosed and all 250 shareholders are no longer living.

Will the Shanghai M1NT bar have a skanky narrow fishtank with baby sharks in it, like HK M1NT and sundry novelty bars in Sydney circa 1997? Can hardly wait.

So, why did the London bar close?

The idea behind this club sounds promising. Instead of guessing if this will work or not why not look towards the existing clubs that have been open. Yes the UK club seems to have been disfranchised from Asia. But does anyone actually know any sharehold at M1NT HK which has been open for nearly 2 years? Can anyone confirm if they have legitimately made any money at all or received dividends? How many shareholders are there? How do they go about selling their shares if it is a limited shareholder list?

This thing is going to melt and dribble down the drain within six months.

So this must be wrong:

"What makes this club special is that it is owned by members who are also shareholders — and not just any Tom, Dick or Harry mind you. M1NT Shanghai is going to have a maximum of 500 shareholders and another 2,000 ordinary members who pay annual fees."

This quote makes it seem like the shareholders, which are also members, are getting paid by the ordinary members' membership fees. This seems normal, I agree.

However, the website's claims of "making money" must then be limited to the shareholders (bringing in the membership/entry fees) and, for ordinary members, to possible deals derived from rubbing elbows with the 9 billionaires and other shareholders. Is that right?

The website is VERY misleading, especially since it quotes papers saying "THE CLUB THAT MAKES YOU MONEY" when really only a "limited amount of approved select individuals will have the opportunity to become a founding shareholder member of M1NT Shanghai" and shareholders are the only ones that make money. The club doesn't make you money, unless you are a shareholder, and most people can't be, or else the business model wouldn't work. Please explain -- how do people make money while they party, unless they are shareholders? Usually when I party I spend money, even if I end up buddy-buddy with King Midas himself.

And is it really the "world's first shareholders club?" I don't know what that means, but it doesn't pass the smell test.

Let's agree to judge the business on this basis alone:

"The Company projects returns to exceed those realized by M1NT Hong Kong Shareholders who enjoyed a 15% dividend, 80% increase in share price and the revenue exceeding projections by 22% in the first year of operation."

Again, as I said before, I think it will work in Shanghai.

If I were EL JEFE, I would convince anyone they can become a shareholder, charge an application fee, reject most people while splitting the application fees amongst the shareholders, allow these denied folks memberships (at an additional cost) and then also split these fees amongst the shareholders. Now that's good business!

@NYCtoSH: Looks like you found someone to parteee with. Congrats!

Thanks @Marc van der Chris. So it's actually similar to NY's Core Club in terms of how the membership works, but unlike core club they are also open to investment.

@ El Jefe: There are shareholders who invest money in the club and there are ordinary members who only pay an annual membership fee. Ordinary members do not invest any money in the club, nor do they hold shares.

Hope this clarifies it, it's a normal business structure and has nothing to do with a pyramid scheme. I suppose the original article did not make this clear enough.

I compare it to a pyramid scheme because my guess is that "shareholders" put up money to open the place, "ordinary members" (a great term, BTW), don't get any income until year 2 (their members fees go to "shareholders") when they sign up "group 2 ordinary members," a percentage of whose membership fees go to "shareholders," etc. Is this not accurate? As I requested before, please enlighten us as to how it works, if not like this.

Clearly, being a "shareholder" is the way to make money. Other "members" I'm not so sure -- Aren't they just propping up the others above them?

WTF? Is this "The Office"? Does someone need to draw a little in triangle in red ink for you to understand?

This place sounds like a total wanker magnet. I guess the bund needs yet another place for toss-pots to congregate.

Amazed to see the amount of comments to this post. It seems the commenters are passionate about it, either in a positive or negative way.

What many people who post here may not realize, is that this is not a club like Volar or any other club in Shanghai. To me Volar is just a place to have a drink with friends, not a club to take business guests or go for a high-end dinner. The location and design of M1NT are incomparable, just wait until it opens in October.

Why people compare it to a pyramid scheme is something I fail to understand. It seems they do not understand the concept of a private club owned by its members? This may not be the place where most Shanghaiist commenters will hang out, but that does not mean there is no place for this in Shanghai.

Honestly, I was not sure about M1NT at first either, but after visiting the place I knew this could work. Something like M1NT just does not exist yet in Shanghai, and I think it's something that is needed in this vibrant business city. I hope M1NT Shanghai will be a big success and I like to be part of it.

I was totally amused to read that M1NT's millionaire and billionaire members in Hong Kong raised HK$65,060 for the Sichuan earthquake victims:

http://www.m1ntnews.com/?p=80

Shanghaiist's very ordinary readers raised RMB228,336:

http://shanghaiist.com/2008/05/23/benefit-video.php

Just moved here from NYC. A friend of mine emailed me this link, and am real surprised by all the comments for a place that hasn't opened yet (didn't even realize there was a shanghaiist)! I'm a member of the core club in Manhattan, does anyone know if it's going to be similar? If it is then i'd be interested, if it's like that place volar then not so much

Moneyinabox,

While this may be true of a lot of places, there are still many more that are run as successful ventures. Shanghai is currently in a period of transition from privately owned clubs (for washing money) to large companies trying to get very rich by having all the busiest places in town (Muse, M2, M3, M4.... the list goes on now...)

this is nothing new, and if you look at any other developed F&B market you will see the same trends away from privately owned, to corporate owned. Punch Pubs, Luminar, etc as the British examples.

M1nt to be however looks like a different example. It is all made to look wonderful - lots of people jump on board, investing even more money... 3 years down the line, regardless of how the place has performed, the BIG guys can walk away with money in their pocket... the money the private members spent.

To Watchbagdvd:

That's the bloody point!

Most clubs in China, not just Shanghai, are primarily established as quasi-legal ways to wash dirty money from other ventures, entertainment is secondary. Why so few people can't grasp this and therefore understand that there is actually a method to the madness of club ownership in Shanghai is beyond me. There are two exceptions: non-mainlanders giving it the old college try which usually ends in tears and guys with twenty-five lighter factories who have more money then they know what to do with and simply want to buy their version of prestige.

Having seen the full business plan and projected revenues, I wouldn't be putting my money anywhere near something like this.

The projected revenues are astronomical as far as Shanghai goes, and I fail to see how they will reach them if they are limited to members only. I can see it quickly going the way of Volar, where if you know a member you'll get in.

The value of buying shares is not the return on investment, as the dividends paid out will not pay back your money, and the lifespan of a place like this is measured in months, not years. (That is standard world wide in this business)

The value is that a market will develop where people will want your shares. In that situation it may be a worthwhile investment for 12 months, and then sell them on to another sucker who is drawn in by the hype and colorful presentation.

There is no way they will make their budgeted figures, and my money is staying in my pocket on this one!

" I can only see the benefits of having a M1NT in Shanghai."

Yeah - it puts all the wankers in a central location.

@valdivostok - not only that but readers who have only ever posted on the one post about M1NT. Even the 50-cent army is more sophisticated about this.

So let's take guesses - is philshanghai the PR manager and ian82 the design director? I bet Li2008 is in charge of recruitment.

@philshanghai @ian82 @Li2008 @shanghaidave000

So many M1NT apologists all at once? Never knew Shanghaiist has such a privileged readership all queueing up for millionaire clubs.

Mongolians?

just a bit surprised by El Jefe comment...was based in Hong Kong before and the member club are everything but pyramid scheme...they have been around for years and glad to see that Shanghai is finally gonne have one...altough this one is different in a way that you can own part of the business, a bit like having your own place...and it is truly luxury which I have been missing ever since I moved to Shanghai...

can black people come?

i also heard that the design of the club will be really cool... a lot of features that no other club even comes close to.

Here is a great description:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme

My bet is that it works until it runs until legal issues. So many people so concerned with status and what others perceive them as, how could it possibly fail?

5 years and no presence on Shanghaiist? Although I appreciate your independent viewpoint, I just don't agree.

However, if you can get ordinary members to pay a premium to join and then to hang out with the shareholders they are also financially supporting, then cheers to you! How do you keep it exclusive when the very nature of the business requires that you continue to enlist more members to increase profits for the "shareholders?" I guess if the "shareholders" are all famous people, then the "ordinary members" derive some value from being around them.

Explain how this is not a PYRAMID SCHEME? I would love to know.

I've seen the design's for the club, and its going to be amazing inside.

Honestly cant wait for M1NT to open!heard about the M1NT Hong Kong one and sounds truly sophisticated which Shanghai has been missing for so long...

Friend of mine is now trying to get shares but looks like the waiting list is getting longer...

I have been a Shanghai resident, for over 5 year's now, i have been waiting for a club like this to open for ages.

i can't wait to see what they have to offer.

My friend is a member of M1NT Hong Kong, they throw great party's, and events. I can only see the benefits of having a M1NT in Shanghai.

"yeah don't think shanghai is ready yet for those type of places..."

Actually I think Shanghai is more than ready for a club where a bunch of wankers can sit around and drink overpriced drinks on the bund and chortle about how they're above the little man.

You make it sound like being at one of these places is something to aspire to.

yeah don't think shanghai is ready yet for those type of places...but then again, according to research that M1nt had to go through there will obviously be a demand for those places

"make money while you party" sounds a bit dubious. I can think of 3 ways to do that off the top of my head. None of them legal.

and how long before they abandon the membership model? (I'm saying inside of 3 months)

Their original London franchise is closed. Two years max.

Last time I checked, pyramid schemes were illegal in China

just what we f-ing need eh...

18 mos.

Closure in 2 years or 3 years? Who is taking bets? Countdown starts now . . .