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According to the Securities Times, after more than three years, Moon, a related party of Baidu, terminated the equity acquisition agreement of YY Live. On January 1, Baidu announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its affiliate Moon SPV Limited had terminated the Share Purchase Agreement entered into by Moon SPV Limited, Baidu, Joyju Group and other related parties on November 16, 2020 and later amended or supplemented by the exercise of contractual rights. This means that the acquisition of up to 3.6 billion US dollars (about 25.6 billion yuan) has been terminated.
On the evening of January 1, 2024, Baidu announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that Moon, a related party of Baidu, terminated the equity acquisition agreement of YY Live in accordance with the previously signed agreement. According to the announcement, on November 16, 2020, Moon signed an equity acquisition agreement with Huanju for YY's live video entertainment business in China, and agreed that if the transaction is not completed by the deadline date, either party to the transaction has the right to terminate the agreement. As of December 31, 2023, the final closing date of the Agreement, the closing conditions set out in the Share Purchase Agreement have not been fully met.
Next, Moon will seek to negotiate with Huanju on the future arrangements of the transaction after the termination of the share purchase agreement and explore a reasonable solution. Analysts believe that the announcement is a normal action due to the expiration of the agreement between the two parties and will not affect the normal operation of YY Live.
In recent years, driven by capital and industry, live broadcasting, short video and e-commerce have almost become a must for Internet giants. Internet companies have stepped up their investment and launched live shopping, short video promotion, and e-commerce platforms to compete for user traffic and market share. Live streaming, short video marketing, and e-commerce penetration have become the core businesses of Internet giants, providing users with a more convenient consumer experience and promoting the rise of new business models. With the continuous changes in technology and user needs, the integration of live broadcasting, short video and e-commerce will also become an important trend in the future development of the Internet, and the competition in this field will become more and more fierce.
-- China's webcast market is growing rapidly
According to the Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of December 2022, the number of online live streaming users in mainland China reached 751 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%, accounting for 70.3% of the total number of Internet users.
According to the "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network", e-commerce live streaming will be the hottest in 2022. As of December 2022, the number of e-commerce live streaming users in mainland China was 515 million, accounting for 48.2% of the total number of netizens. The number of users of game live streaming was 266 million, accounting for 24.9% of the total number of netizens. The number of users of reality show live broadcast was 187 million, accounting for 17.5% of the total number of netizens; The number of users of the live concert was 207 million, accounting for 19.4% of the total number of netizens; The number of users of live sports is 373 million, accounting for 35.0% of the total number of netizens.
Under the guidance of the Market Management Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the "China Online Performance (Live Broadcast) Industry Development Report (2022-2023)" jointly compiled by the Online Performance (Live Broadcast) Branch of the China Performance Industry Association, Southern Metropolis Daily, and Nandu Big Data Research Institute was released. According to the data of the report, the market size of the online performance (live broadcast) industry in mainland China will reach 199.234 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 8%, and in terms of market entities, as of the end of 2022, there are 6,263 operating Internet cultural units with online performance (live broadcast) business qualifications, of which 1,959 will be added in 2022.
Comparing the number and scale of participants in the two camps, the competition between pan-entertainment live broadcast and e-commerce live broadcast is fierce, and the number of live broadcast entrants and existing participants in other vertical fields are still small, and there is a certain market space.
According to the analysis of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, in recent years, the e-commerce live streaming industry has continued to expand, and on the whole, the e-commerce live broadcast monetization method is relatively simple and direct. At the same time, with the development of the e-sports industry and the game industry, the game live broadcast industry has also gradually expanded. Therefore, in the future, e-commerce live streaming and game live streaming will still be the main growth drivers in the live streaming industry.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the Research Report on Business Model Innovation and Investment Opportunities in China's Webcast Industry by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute.
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