Lei Jianping on April 12
Himalaya submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and CICC are the joint sponsors.
Tencent, China Literature, Xiaomi, Good Future, and Sony Music are strategic investors in Himalaya, and major financial investors include General Atlantic, Trustbridge Capital, Goldman Sachs, Xingwang Investment, Genesis Partners Capital, China Internet Investment Fund, Shanghai Cultural Industry Development Investment Fund, Jiaxing Xiuzhou Financial Holdings, etc.
The listing of Himalaya is also a bad fate. As early as early May 2021, Ximalaya had submitted a prospectus to prepare for listing on the U.S. stock market, but it had no choice but to encounter the stagnation of Chinese concept stocks in the U.S. listing after Didi's listing.
Subsequently, Himalaya switched to Hong Kong stocks in September 2021 and updated its prospectus in March 2022, after which the listing of Himalaya was in a state of stagnation for the next two years.
Until today, the prospectus has been resubmitted and is preparing to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market again.
The annual revenue exceeds 6 billion
Founded in 2012, after more than 10 years of development, Himalaya has become a popular online audio platform for users, committed to sharing wisdom and happiness through sound, and providing a lifetime of spiritual food for a family.
On this basis, Himalaya continues to expand the boundaries of audio services and incubate new models of commercialization.
According to the prospectus, Himalaya's revenue in 2021, 2022, and 2023 will be 5.86 billion yuan, 6.06 billion yuan, and 6.16 billion yuan respectively, and the gross profit will be 3.16 billion yuan, 3.145 billion yuan, and 3.47 billion yuan respectively, and the gross profit margin will be 54%, 51.9%, and 56.3% respectively.
Himalaya's operating profit in 2021, 2022 and 2023 will be -1.669 billion yuan, 156 million yuan and 91.41 million yuan respectively, and the operating profit margin will be -28.5%, 2.6% and 1.5% respectively, and the profit during the period will be -5.1 billion yuan, 3.7 billion yuan and 3.736 billion yuan respectively.
Himalaya's adjusted net profit in 2021, 2022 and 2023 will be -718 million yuan, -296 million yuan and 224 million yuan respectively. Starting from achieving the first profit in history in the fourth quarter of 2022, as of December 2023, Himalaya has achieved five consecutive quarters of profitability.
As of December 31, 2023, Himalaya held cash and cash equivalents of $717 million.
Subscription revenue is the largest source of revenue: contributing 3.189 billion in revenue
In 2023, the average monthly active users of all scenarios will reach 303 million, and the average monthly active users of mobile terminals will reach 133 million, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%.
Based on a rich ecosystem and a growing content library, Himalaya has established a diversified monetization model, with subscriptions, advertising, live streaming and other innovative products and services becoming the four pillars of the platform's revenue.
In 2023, Himalaya's revenue from subscription services will be 3.189 billion yuan, revenue from advertising services will be 1.423 billion yuan, revenue from live broadcast will be 1.13 billion yuan, and revenue from other innovative products and services will be 418 million yuan.
Himalaya's subscription revenue includes membership subscriptions and paid on-demand listening services. Subscription revenue accounted for the largest component of total revenue, driven by the continuous launch of high value-added innovative products by Himalaya and the growth of the average monthly active paying users on mobile.
In 2023, the average monthly active paying users of Ximalaya mobile will reach 15.8 million, and the average number of monthly active paid members on mobile will also reach 15.5 million. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, subscription revenue accounted for 51.1%, 50.8% and 51.7% of Himalaya's total revenue, respectively.
Himalaya's revenue from advertising is mainly from display advertising, audio advertising and brand promotion activities. We offer a full suite of advertising services to advertisers. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, advertising revenue accounted for 25.4%, 24.2% and 23.1% of total revenue, respectively.
Himalaya's live streaming services are mainly generated from the sale of consumable virtual gifts and items. Consumable virtual items are primarily used as gifts from users to live streamers as a way to show their support and appreciation for the performance. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, Himalaya's live streaming revenue accounted for 17.1%, 19.1% and 18.4% of total revenue, respectively.
Himalaya's revenue from various other channels includes the sale of self-developed IoT devices, IP-derived cultural and creative products, customized audio services, e-commerce and audio-to-text (which enables Himalaya to convert popular albums into published books).
In 2021, 2022 and 2023, the revenue generated by Himalaya's other innovative products and services accounted for 6.4%, 5.9% and 6.8% of the total revenue, respectively.
R&D expenses amounted to 930 million yuan
In the era of AI, AIGC has become a new trend in content creation. As an audio content platform, Himalaya has attached great importance to technology investment from the beginning of its establishment, especially the deployment of AI.
According to the prospectus, Himalaya will invest 930 million in R&D in 2023, accounting for 15.1% of total revenue, and its technology and R&D team will account for 44.3% of the total number of employees.
Himalaya has set up a "Everest Laboratory" to introduce a new paradigm of AI-driven user-oriented "new quality productivity" through the development of the "Everest Audio AI Model".
Himalaya is building itself into a powerful technology-driven platform with AI capabilities, which is already playing an important role in all aspects of its content production, business operations, and more. The AIGC penetration rate of the average monthly active users of Himalaya mobile has reached 14.8%.
Himalaya is using AI technology to drive the production of audiobooks, whether AI creates alone or co-authors with humans, AI improves the efficiency of content creation. Himalaya has also built a timbre library of 535 synthesized sounds to show human feelings and emotions in different contexts.
As of December 2023, the Himalaya platform has 240 million minutes of AIGC content, accounting for 6.6% of its audio content.
The creation effect of AI-empowered UGC podcast content is also obvious. Ximalaya has launched a proprietary one-stop AI audio production tool "Tone Cut", which integrates various "black technology" functions of AI to shorten the post-production time of creators, improve creative efficiency, and lower the threshold for creation from the technical level.
Ximalaya also uses AI to customize personalized algorithms, and has launched the "AI Voice Change, Parent Clone" function, which allows parents to synthesize and customize exclusive AI timbres that clone their own voices, so that parents can use their own voices to tell stories on the platform to their children.
Trustbridge Capital, Xiaomi, and Genesis Partner Capital are important shareholders
The executive directors of Himalaya are Yu Jianjun, Li Xingren and Shen Jieqiang, the non-executive directors are Xiong Mingwang and Liang Xiaodong, and the independent non-executive directors are Yang Meng, Ms. Zhang Yang and He Haijian.
Yu Jianjun is the co-founder, chairman of the board of directors and CEO of the company, and Ms. Chen Yuxin, who also co-founder, resigned as a director in April 2021 due to personal health reasons.
Prior to the IPO, Yu Jianjun held 10.61% of the shares through Xima Holdings Limited and Ms. Chen Yuxin held 10.02% of the shares through Touch Sound Limited.
Xiong Mingwang holds 10.37% of the shares through Shenzhen Qianhai Xingwang Investment Management Co., Ltd., Trustbridge Capital holds 9.94% of the shares, and Tencent holds 5.33% of the shares;
General Atlantic holds 4.1%, PwC Capital holds 4.04%, Xiaomi holds 3.38%, China Literature holds 3.05%, Whale Capital Entity holds 2.9%, Jiaxing Xiuzhou holds 2.88%, and Genesis Partners Capital holds 2.11%.
好未来持股为1.75%,索尼音乐持股为1.43%. 此外,Sound Spread Limited、Audio World Limited分别持股为0.86%,FlySky Limited持股为0.60%,Gendiradio Ltd持股为3.35%.
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Lei Di was founded by Lei Jianping, a media person, if it is reprinted, please indicate the source.