Why Baidu (BIDU) Is Buying JOYY’s Domestic Live Streaming Business For About $3.6 Billion

By Dan Anderson ● Nov 18, 2020
  • Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) — a leading search engine, knowledge and information centered Internet platform and AI company — announced it entered into a definitive agreement with JOYY to buy its domestic video-based entertainment live streaming business in China.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) — a leading search engine, knowledge and information centered Internet platform and AI company — announced it entered into a definitive agreement with JOYY Inc. And pursuant to the agreements, Baidu will buy JOYY’s domestic video-based entertainment live streaming business in China (known as YY Live) — which includes the YY mobile app, YY.com website, and PC YY, among others, for an aggregate purchase price of about US$3.6 billion in cash, subject to certain adjustments. The closing of the deal is subject to certain conditions and is currently expected to occur in the first half of 2021.

By acquiring JOYY’s live-streaming service, it will diversify beyond its core search business. It’s worth mentioning that JOYY is just selling its YY China business to Baidu. Going forward, JOYY is going to focus on overseas growth. Currently, JOYY has over 4 million paying subscribers who pay for its service to watch influencers perform and sell items on the video app.

Last year, JOYY acquired a company called Bigo for $1.45 billion. Bigo operates a streaming app called Big Live and a short video app, which is called Likee. 

KEY QUOTE:

“Baidu has built a vibrant mobile ecosystem in the past few years to enable the fast growth of our non-advertising revenues by increasing log in users, adding social engagement to our platform and expanding non-advertising offerings, including membership, live streaming and online games. This transaction will catapult Baidu into a leading platform for live streaming and diversify our revenue source. YY Live comes to Baidu bringing great synergy. YY Live stands to benefit from Baidu’s large traffic and thriving mobile ecosystem, while Baidu will receive immediate operational experience and knowhow for large-scale video-based social media development, as well as an enviable creator network that will further strengthen Baidu’s massive content provider network. Together with the team from YY Live, Baidu hopes to explore the next-generation livestreaming and video-based social media that can expand beyond entertainment into the diversified verticals on Baidu platform.”

— Robin Li, Co-Founder and CEO of Baidu