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On January 12, 2023, Metaverse Holdings (MMV), a leading ACGN company in China, announced that it has signed a letter of intent with OrientTM for acquisition.
According to the letter of intent, the company intends to acquire a total of 72.81% equity interest in OrientTM Group. Taomi is controlled by OrientTM Group and its affiliates, which have developed well-known IPs such as "Moore Manor", "Sail", and "Little Flower Fairy" that have wide influence in the Generation Z group.
1. It is planned to hold the parent company of "Moore Manor" and "Sail", and MMV will further expand the influential IP matrix
Founded in 2007, Taomi is one of the well-known entertainment media companies in China. Taomi has released more than ten movies and more than 800 episodes of animation, covering hundreds of domestic TV channels and streaming channels, with three nationally renowned animation IPs such as "Moore Manor", "Sail", "Little Flower Fairy", and developed 8 games based on these three popular IPs, which have a wide influence among young people.
MMV is an anime entertainment company committed to building an open community for users around the world and providing high-quality immersive entertainment experiences through original content, UGC and PUGC.
MMV primarily develops and publishes animation, mobile games, and other content products, and provides animation production services to other animation and game companies.
As a domestic super-first-tier ACGN company, MMV creates an open, immersive and diversified entertainment experience for users through high-quality original content and PUGC. The company has original IP such as "Bump World", "Cat Spirit Album", "Slashing Beast Blade" and so on, and its content has been played more than 890 million times on station B, more than 25 billion times on Douyin Kuaishou, ranking first in original Chinese comic dramas, and gathering more than 9 million anime fans.
Commenting on the acquisition, Xu Yiran, Chairman and CEO of MMV, said, "We are very excited to partner with Taomi, a prominent company in China's entertainment industry. For 16 years, Taomi has been creating and developing original and eye-catching IP brands, and has accumulated a large number of loyal followers in China, especially among the younger generation. When we explored the deal, we found that MMV and Taomi had a lot in common in terms of business model and company culture, which made the two companies a natural fit to work together. We look forward to working with Taomi to create engaging new content and products, while realizing potential business synergies between us." ”
MMV will further enrich the head IP reserves of national comics and consolidate the company's leading position in animation IP, animation production, game distribution, and IP licensing monetization.
Second, the company based on strong IP production capabilities, the business is booming
MMV began animation in 2015 with its iconic Bump World brand. Bump World is one of the most popular anime in China.
The anime has had a huge impact among young audiences in the country, and MMV has already produced more animated content based on Bump World and added new brands, stories, and characters to its portfolio.
MMV successfully created the mobile game of the same name "Bump World" based on this IP, which was released in mainland China in June 2020 and ranked first in the APP STORE in the first week of its launch, with a cumulative total of more than 18 million downloads, becoming one of the most downloaded mobile games in 2020.
In addition, MMV has expanded its content offerings in the form of comic books, short videos, collectibles, stationery, consumer products, mobile games, and other genres.
In the first half of 2021, MMV has gradually formed four major businesses, including game distribution, IP peripheral product sales, animation production, and licensing services, which achieved revenue of US$1.489 million, US$2.322 million, US$2.559 million, and US$1.379 million respectively, a year-on-year increase of 20.17%, 79.9%, 174.0%, and 618.2%.
In the first half of 2022, under the cold winter of games and content, MMV's four major businesses have achieved vigorous development, and the company's competitiveness and operational resilience are excellent.
Third, from mobile games to integrated multi-wing whole industry chain layout
In 2021, affected by the life cycle of the mobile game "Bump World", the MMV game business declined. THE COMPANY'S TWO-DIMENSIONAL CARD GAME "LIGHT HUNTING JOURNEY", FEMALE USER-ORIENTED "CODENAME: BUMP", UGC METAVERSE GAME "BUMP: METAPLANET PROJECT", AI-BASED METAVERSE GAME "PROJECT AI" ARE ALL IN THE DEVELOPMENT CYCLE.
MMV took advantage of the adjustment of mobile games, and gradually focused on animation production and sales of peripheral goods.
With the strong influence of original IP such as "Bump World", "Cat Spirit Album" and "Beast Chopper's Blade" and the core competitiveness of the peripheral product business. Since 2017, the company has designed and sold more than 1,700 SKUs, and the five-year annualized growth rate of peripheral merchandise sales has reached 69.3%.
Since 2019, MMV has established an independent animation production team, which not only brings new revenue streams, but also accumulates creativity, production capacity, technical strength and management system for new IP creation.
As of the end of May 2022, the top 15 (based on ratings) of the 2022 Xinban in Station B National Innovation Zone are produced by MMV.
As many MMV animations continue to be popular in the market, MMV's market reputation has quickly opened, serving major domestic game companies such as Tencent, Netease, and Xindong, and participating in the animation production of a number of games.
MMV animation production business has developed rapidly, with a three-year annualized compound growth of more than 100%.
In addition to the rapid development of game publishing, IP product sales, animation production, and IP licensing services, MMV also has a continuous layout in the fields of metaverse, WEB 3.0, and artificial intelligence.
Previously, the AI company Xiaoice announced the establishment of ICEGamer Game Studio to accelerate the layout of the game field, with the mission of helping NPCs get rid of the limitations of "tool people" in games and develop in the direction of emotional artificial intelligence interaction subjects.
The development of ICEGamer Game Studio's first open-world mobile game has been launched, and it will cooperate with the "Bump World" IP of MMV Seven Creations, with AI being (virtual human) serving as all NPCs.
It is worth noting that Xu Yiran, CEO of MMV, is one of the earliest entrepreneurs in China's game industry.
Xu Yiran entered the game industry in 1994 and led the production of China's earliest 3D game engine and the earliest 3D game in 1995, with nearly 30 years of experience in the game industry. Xu Yiran has held executive positions in 360 Games, Perfect World, Leyou Holdings, and as an investment director at Giant Network. In December 2016, Xu Yiran was named one of the top ten influential figures in China's game industry of the year, and has rich experience in game management, mergers and acquisitions, and capital operation.
The acquisition of Taomi Interactive Entertainment is also by Xu Yiran. Through the acquisition of Taomi, MMV will further enrich its IP reserves, strengthen the company's animation and game production capabilities, and enhance the growth potential of the company's IP licensing and IP peripheral sales business.
MMV started with original animation IP and gradually extended its business tentacles to games, animation production, IP licensing, and peripheral sales, bucking the trend in the first half of 2022 and growing very brightly.
With the acquisition of Taomi, MMV will further focus on high-quality products, comprehensively enhance the competitiveness of the entire industry chain of animation IP and games, and enhance the voice of the industry.
From the perspective of the domestic market, the vast majority of games and anime cannot escape the impact of the life cycle, and need to continue to innovate to maintain revenue and market share. So, both industries are less sexy for a long time.
Among them, a very important reason is that there are few companies in the market with a full industry chain layout and continuous deep cultivation of IP.
Perhaps, as MMV continues to grow, there will also be companies with strong IP industry chain operation capabilities such as Disney and Bandai in China; There are more enduring games like Fantasy Westward Journey and World of Warcraft, which are composed of IP, UGC, and culture, and the future of MMV is worth looking forward to!