Consumer Staples Author：Yiru Qian Mar 19, 2024 03:24 PM (GMT+8)

Its core social entertainment products such as Bigo Live and Likee have all achieved profitability for the full year.

live broadcast

On March 19, JOYY Inc. (YY:NASDAQ) released its fourth quarter and full-year financial report for 2023.

In 2023, JOYY Inc. achieved a revenue of USD 2.27 billion, a decrease of 5.9% year-on-year, with fourth-quarter revenue reaching USD 570 million. However, the full-year net profit increased by 47% year-on-year to USD 293 million. The BIGO segment generated a fourth-quarter revenue of USD 491 million and an annual revenue of USD 1.92 billion, slightly lower than the USD 1.997 billion in the same period last year.

Under non-GAAP, JOYY Inc. achieved a full-year net profit of USD 293 million in 2023, a 46.8% increase year-on-year, with a net profit margin of 12.9%, up by 4.6 percentage points year-on-year. The operating profit of the BIGO segment was USD 288 million, with an operating margin of 15%, up by 0.6 percentage points year-on-year. In the fourth quarter of 2023, JOYY continued to maintain a healthy positive operating cash flow, with operating cash flow reaching USD 97.2 million.

Li Xueling, Chairman and CEO of JOYY, stated that in retrospect, JOYY continued to optimize its products and launched a series of targeted operational strategies. With solid operational execution support, the group's global social entertainment MAU (Monthly Active Users) achieved consecutive year-on-year growth for three quarters, and the group's net profit level for the whole year increased for the third consecutive year.

According to the financial report, JOYY Inc.'s largest business segment, BIGO, is steadily attracting users and creators. In the fourth quarter, BIGO's global business continued to recover, with revenue increasing by 3.1% year-on-year. The total number of paying users (including BIGO Live, Likee, and imo) increased from 1.55 million in the same period of 2022 to 1.67 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%. The average revenue per paying user was USD 244.8. Among them, BIGO's live social product, Bigo Live, saw a 4.5% year-on-year growth in MAU in the fourth quarter, reaching 38.4 million.

In terms of user growth and revenue monetization, Bigo Live's MAU in the fourth quarter increased by 4.5% to 38.4 million. Among them, Europe grew by 10.9% year-on-year, Japan-Korea-Australia-New Zealand grew by 8.4% year-on-year, and the Middle East grew by 12.6% year-on-year. The revenue and paying users of Bigo Live continued to grow quarter-on-quarter. Likee continued to focus on the core markets of the Middle East and Europe, with the number of live-paying users increasing for four consecutive quarters.

At the same time, Bigo Live also focused on non-professional anchors and launched a new creator incentive program in major regions worldwide, emphasizing support for amateur anchors and UGC content. By the end of 2023, it had attracted over 300,000 amateur anchors to register. According to the "2024 Mobile Market Report" released by market analysis firm data.ai, Bigo Live ranked second in the global social sector by consumer spending in 2023.

In addition, Likee, an interest-based social product under this segment, launched a text and image publishing feature in the fourth quarter and introduced new models such as paid collections and single-set payments. The number of live-paying users continued to grow for four consecutive quarters, with average usage time per user increasing by 2.7% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, and user activity (DAU/MAU) increasing by 2.2% quarter-on-quarter.

"As we enter 2024, achieving globalization through localization remains our top strategy and the cornerstone of our success globally," Li Xueling said. Looking ahead to 2024, JOYY will continue to focus on global business, continuously cultivate local content and social ecology, promote the growth of global user communities, and steadily increase market influence in major regions. According to the financial report, the company expects net revenue to be between USD 543 million and USD 560 million in the first quarter of 2024.

As of press time, JOYY closed at USD 33.37 per share, up 3.44% from the previous day, with a total market value of USD 2.03 billion.