Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1292
“Cost reduction” of 2.2 billion yuan, iQiyi’s money-saving method
iQIYI’s cash reserves almost bottomed out in the fourth quarter of last year. More than 100 million paying users only brought a single-digit growth in membership revenue, and advertising revenue slipped into recession due to fluctuations in the objective environment.
iQIYI began to significantly reduce expenses, adjust personnel, and reduce investment in content copyright – so they made a profit of 169 million yuan in the first quarter of this year – a similar situation repeated in the second quarter.
From April to June this year, iQIYI’s revenue decreased by 13% year-on-year to 6.7 billion yuan, and achieved an operating profit of 125 million yuan (profit margin 2%), which was significantly lower than the 1.1 billion yuan operating loss (-15%) in the same period last year. improve.
“In the second quarter of 2022, we have been battling the macroeconomic downturn and achieved operating profit growth. The process was extremely challenging,” iQiyi CEO Gong Yu said in the earnings release. CFO Jun Wang added “We maintained spending discipline and stabilized total operating expenses in the second quarter”.
- iQIYI membership service revenue increased by 7% to 4.3 billion yuan;
- The total number of paid subscriptions per day is about 98.3 million yuan, which is 3.1 million less than that in the first quarter;
- Advertising revenue decreased by 35% year-on-year to 1.2 billion yuan;
- iQIYI claimed that the decline in revenue was mainly related to the “severe macroeconomic environment, the resurgence of the pandemic, as well as the adjustment of the company’s strategy and the reduction of the number of variety shows”;
However, because iQiyi no longer bought copyrights and burned money to create original content like in previous years, the cost of iQiyi’s main business in the quarter decreased by 24% year-on-year to 5.2 billion yuan. Among them, the content cost decreased by 24% year-on-year to RMB 3.9 billion. Also, the video site’s accounting for content costs has helped fix the income statement.
- For example, the copyright cost of a TV series is 1 billion yuan, and the website usually records the cost of 900 million yuan in the first year of its launch, but the actual income will not be so much, so the first year is a huge loss.
- But if the show has a long life cycle, the longer it is broadcast, the lower the cost, and the higher the revenue, the book profit in the next few years may increase.
Since iQiyi’s previous annual losses of billions of yuan consumed too much cash flow, in addition to controlling costs, marketing, administrative and general management expenses decreased by 32% year-on-year to 800 million yuan, which is highly related to programmer human resources The R&D expenses of the Company decreased by 29% year-on-year to RMB 482 million.
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At the end of the second quarter, iQIYI’s book cash and total long-term and short-term investments were about 15.5 billion yuan, and the total debts such as accounts payable, short-term loans, and convertible bonds exceeded 24 billion yuan, and funds were still tight. On the day of the announcement of the financial report, iQIYI announced that it would issue a convertible bond worth US$500 million to be subscribed by Pacific Alliance Investment Group. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. (Gong Fangyi)
Zhihu still wants to grow, so it accelerates losses
In the sluggish second quarter, Zhihu’s advertising revenue also declined, but new businesses such as membership fees, commercial soft broadcasting (“content commercialization solutions”), and vocational training increased significantly.
This made Zhihu’s second-quarter revenue up 31% from the same period last year.
But in order to gain growth, Zhihu paid a bigger price, with losses increasing by 50%. During the same period, Zhihu’s sales and marketing expenses increased by nearly 100 million yuan, and R&D expenses doubled. The financial report shows that Zhihu’s R&D expenses doubled mainly because of the increase in R&D personnel.
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In the second quarter, Zhihu’s average monthly paying members increased by 80% to 8.5 million, contributing one-third of its revenue. Previously, Zhihu CEO said that more than 10 million members paid in July.
In the end, the total revenue of Zhihu in the second quarter was 840 million yuan, but the loss reached 487 million yuan. (Huang Junjie)
Apple industry chain revenue differentiation
The decline in global smartphone shipments in the first half of this year has put pressure on the performance of most “fruit chain” companies in the first half of the year, but some companies have shifted their focus to other businesses, resulting in increased performance.
Goertek’s net profit in the first half of the year increased by 20% year-on-year to 2.08 billion yuan, and operating income increased by 40% to 43.6 billion yuan. In the first half of the year, the revenue of smart acoustic devices related to the supply of AirPods decreased slightly year-on-year, and the proportion of total revenue fell by about 13 percentage points, but smart hardware-related revenue growth such as VR virtual reality doubled, becoming the business that contributed the most revenue.
Goertek’s main business includes three major business segments: precision components, intelligent acoustic complete machines and intelligent hardware. According to IDC, in the first quarter of 2022, global VR virtual reality device shipments more than tripled year-on-year.
Affected by the downturn in the consumer electronics market, Lens Technology, which provides mobile phone screens for Apple, saw a decline in both revenue and net profit in the first half of the year, with a loss of 300 million yuan. But the smart car business has become Lens Technology’s second growth curve, with revenue from this business increasing by more than half in the first half of the year.
Oufeiguang, which provides lens equipment for Apple, terminated its cooperation with Apple in the first quarter of last year, and its revenue and profit have shrunk significantly since then. The company’s losses have not narrowed, with a net loss of 870 million yuan in the first half of the year, and operating income fell by one-third year-on-year. After the release of the financial report, OFILM said that it is currently cooperating with Huawei and will focus on the smart car business in the future. (intern Xue Yujie)
Baidu’s second-quarter non-net profit increased by 3% year-on-year
The current round of financial reporting seasons for Internet companies in Hong Kong and the United States is drawing to a close. On August 30, Baidu released its second quarterly report as of June 30. The current revenue decreased by 5.43% year-on-year to 29.647 billion yuan.
Due to cost control and non-advertising business growth, Baidu turned losses year-on-year. Among them, the net profit attributable to Baidu (non-GAAP) reached 5.541 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3% and a month-on-month increase of 43%.
In the second quarter, Baidu’s total revenue after merging with iQiyi was 29.647 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.43%, of which:
- Baidu’s core revenue was 23.16 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4%;
- Baidu’s core advertising revenue was 17.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 10%. Other business income increased by 22% to 6.1 billion yuan;
- The advertising business accounted for about 73.7% of Baidu’s core revenue in the quarter;
- Baidu Smart Cloud revenue increased by 31% year-on-year and 10% month-on-month;
- Baidu Chairman Robin Li said on the earnings conference call that despite the challenging macro environment, the cloud computing business performed well in the first half of the second quarter and contributed significantly to Baidu’s core revenue;
- In terms of autonomous driving business, the number of orders for Baidu Carrot Run exceeded 1 million.
- In terms of cost and expense structure, Baidu’s main business costs decreased by 5% year-on-year, and marketing, administrative and general expenses decreased by 16% year-on-year. The scale of R&D investment was the same as that of the same period last year (6.292 billion yuan), but the R&D intensity increased by 1.22 percentage points (21.22%) year-on-year.
- Baidu’s second-quarter net profit was about 3.647 billion yuan, a sharp turnaround from -583 million yuan in the same period last year and -885 million yuan in the first quarter of this year.
- Excluding the impact of non-main businesses such as equity incentives, investment gains and losses, and income tax, Baidu’s second-quarter net profit increased to 5.541 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3%. (Gong Fangyi)
A quarter of fewer new customers top up at Futu amid sluggish stock market
Internet brokerage Futu Holdings posted revenue of US$220 million in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 10.8%; net profit was US$87.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 25.1%. As of the end of the second quarter:
- The number of new customers with assets was 61,000, down 25.6% from the previous month;
- At the end of the period, client assets were approximately US$55.25 billion, up 12.3% month-on-month; the average daily client assets were approximately US$48.49 billion, down 19.1% year-on-year and slightly down month-on-month.
- The total transaction volume was approximately US$171.6 billion, unchanged from the first quarter; the daily average revenue transactions (DARTs) of customers were 574,000, a decrease of 3.7% from the previous quarter.
The founder, Li Hua, said at the earnings conference call that the overall market performance this year is poor, and there is a lot of uncertainty in the future. Under such a background, the attraction to new customers is limited. Therefore, the guidance of the annual target of acquiring customers with assets of 200,000 remains unchanged, and more emphasis is placed on the quality of new customers and the deposit of existing customers.
- In the first half of this year, Futu added over 140,000 new asset customers, achieving 70% of its annual target.
Under the current foreign exchange control system, the number of cross-border securities firms in the Mainland is limited. Futu’s chief financial officer once said that in the next 2-3 years, efforts will be made to expand overseas users.
- In the second quarter, 90% of the net added assets customers came from Hong Kong, China and overseas markets.
- A new Singapore trust business license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been added, and a total of 51 licenses and qualifications are held worldwide.
- 16 months after moomoo software entered Singapore, the market share was 22.1%, and customer assets at the end of the period increased by 144.7% year-on-year. (Intern Zeng Xing)
OTHER NEWS
The unit price of advertising fell, and Tom Cat’s net profit in the first half of the year shrank by nearly 30% year-on-year.
In the first half of the year, the revenue of Tom Cat, a children’s entertainment application, was 853 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 7%; the net profit was 291 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 29.45%. The financial report shows that Tom Cat’s overseas revenue is still increasing, but the unit price of domestic Internet advertising has shrunk, so the revenue in the first half of the year decreased.
Haitian Flavor has crossed the consumption cycle, but it has not been able to escape the soybean price increase.
Soy sauce is an indispensable raw material for Chinese cooking, so Haitian Flavor’s soy sauce sales are beyond the influence of the environment. In the first half of the year, Haitian’s revenue was 13.532 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.73%; net profit was 3.393 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.21%. Although the growth rate is the lowest in history, it is still growing. However, due to the rise in the prices of major raw materials such as soybeans and packaging materials, Haitian’s operating costs rose by nearly 10% year-on-year, and gross profit margins fell by 2.39% year-on-year to 38.05%.
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With the rent reduction and exemption of tenants, Joy City’s net profit in the first half of the year shrank by 86%.
There are 12 Joy City shopping malls nationwide, including two in Beijing and two in Shanghai. In the first half of the year, Joy City reduced or exempted some rents for tenants. Although the revenue was still 15.001 billion yuan, an increase of 5.28% year-on-year, its net profit fell by 86.02% year-on-year.
In the first half of the year, Fubitai sold more than 8 million doses in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Fosun Pharma’s revenue in the first half of the year was 21.34 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.88%. 17% of the revenue comes from anti-infection core products, including the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine Forbitx sold as an agent in Greater China. In the first half of the year, Fubitai sold more than 8 million doses in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Bloomage Bio’s own-brand skin care products sold well, driving revenue up by about 50%.
Bloomage Bio’s oddly-named private-label skincare brands have seen decent growth. In the first half of the year, Runbaiyan’s revenue increased by over 30%, Kuddy and Mibel increased by over 60% year-on-year, and BM muscle activity revenue increased by 4.5 times year-on-year. This made the sodium hyaluronate (hyaluronic acid) production giant’s revenue in the first half of the year increased by 50% year-on-year to 2.935 billion yuan; net profit increased by more than 30% to 473 million yuan.
CYTS posted a net loss of RMB 205 million in the first half of the year, mainly due to the drag of Wuzhen Scenic Area.
In the first half of this year, due to the objective impact of the epidemic, many related companies reported a decline in their performance in financial reports.
- In the first half of the year, CYTS posted a net loss of 205 million yuan, and Wuzhen Scenic Spot recorded a net loss of 210 million yuan.
- In the first half of the year, Tibet Tourism Company’s revenue was 42.68 million yuan, and the net loss was 25.95 million yuan; the net loss of scenic spots in Linzhi area was 18.32 million yuan, and the net loss of Ali scenic spot was 2.64 million yuan.
- In the first half of the year, the revenue of Jiangsu Tianmu Lake Tourism decreased by 60.99% year-on-year; the net loss was 53.68 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 225.51%.
- The revenue of Wuhan Sante Cableway was 106 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 57.63%; the net loss was 55.1484 million yuan.
- The revenue of Three Gorges Tourism in the first half of the year was 1.112 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.65%; the net loss was 6 million yuan.
- BTG Hotel’s revenue was 2.331 billion yuan, down 25.88% year-on-year; net loss was 384 million yuan; 342 new stores were opened.
- In the first half of the year, China Airlines’ revenue fell by 46.20% year-on-year, and international revenue was 0; the net loss was 951 million yuan.
- In the first half of the year, China Southern’s revenue was 40.817 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 20.86%; its net loss was 11.488 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 145.05%.
A year and a half after the official announcement, Wuling Hongguang MINIEV convertible version is ready to go on sale.
On August 30, the official map of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV convertible version was released. The new car is positioned as a “romantic convertible for young people”. In terms of appearance, except for the convertible design, the convertible version is the same as the normal version as a whole, with some minor details changed.
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CITIC Securities’ revenue in the first half of the year was 34.9 billion yuan, down 7.52% year-on-year.
In the first half of the year, both revenue and net profit of CITIC Securities declined, with net profit falling by 8.2% to 11.2 billion yuan. According to the financial report of CITIC Securities, in the first half of the company’s main business, the revenue of other businesses and brokerage business fell by nearly 30% and nearly 10% respectively.
In the case of Henan Village Bank, 234 people were arrested, and the client’s principal of 400,000 to 500,000 yuan began to be advanced.
On August 29, the Public Security Bureau of Xuchang City, Henan Province issued a police report, pointing out that the criminal gang headed by the criminal suspect Lu Yi illegally controlled 4 village and town banks including Yuzhou Xinminsheng, and was suspected of committing a series of serious crimes, and 234 people have been arrested so far. . On the evening of the same day, the Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau issued an announcement stating that since 9:00 am on August 30, in the case of four banks including Yuzhou Xinminsheng, the combined amount of the principal of the off-book business customers of a single institution and a single person was 400,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan begins to advance.
BYD’s net profit in the first half of the year has exceeded that of last year.
In the first half of the year, BYD’s net profit tripled year-on-year to 3.595 billion yuan, while operating income rose 66% to 150.6 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, the cumulative sales of BYD’s new energy vehicles tripled. In March, BYD adjusted the prices of its models twice. These factors together boosted the company’s performance.
The BF.15 variant was discovered for the first time in Shenzhen.
- On August 28, 349 new cases were confirmed in the mainland, including 167 in Sichuan, 49 in Tibet, and 37 in Hainan; 1,368 new asymptomatic infections were reported in the mainland, including 645 in Tibet, 109 in Sichuan, and 103 in Qinghai.
- Sichuan added “167+109”, an increase from the previous day, and Chengdu added “141+70”.
- The new cases on August 29 were all clearly related to Lantu Fitness and Swimming Pool and Global Center Water World.
- According to a notice from the Chengdu Municipal Government, since August 30, various off-campus training institutions have suspended offline training, suspended primary and secondary schools and kindergartens on-campus custody, stopped various gathering activities, and postponed the start of the autumn semester.
- Tibet added “49+645”, of which Lhasa added “31+243”, and all new cases in Lhasa were found in isolation and control.
- Guangdong added “24+12”, of which Shenzhen added “24+11”. Most of the cases in Shenzhen’s current round of the epidemic were infected with BF.15 variant strain (a sub-branch of BA.5.2.1).
- On August 29, 5 hospitals in Shenzhen issued a suspension announcement, and merchants in Huaqiangbei Electronic Market were temporarily closed.
- Since August 30, control measures have been implemented throughout the Longhua District of Shenzhen.
Hong Kong stock IPOs were sluggish, and Huaxing Capital’s revenue fell by 80% in the first half of the year.
Huaxing Capital, which led Chinese startups to go public in Hong Kong and U.S. stocks, posted a net loss of 154 million yuan in the first half of the year, and its total revenue dropped to 512 million yuan. Huaxing Capital mentioned in its financial report that the sluggish capital market in the first half of the year has put pressure on the valuation of the company’s private equity financing business, Hong Kong and US stock IPO business and asset management business positions. In the first half of this year, the total amount of funds raised by Hong Kong stock IPOs shrank by more than 90% compared with the same period, and the revenue of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange fell by nearly 20%.
Global display overcapacity, BOE’s second-quarter net profit fell by 70%.
In the second quarter, BOE’s main revenue was 41.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 30%. In the first half of this year, the gross profit margin of BOE display devices was 15.4%, down 12.7% from the same period last year. BOE stated in its semi-annual report that the decline in the prices of major panel products has caused the company’s operating income to decline. According to Omdia, in the third quarter of 2022, the overall utilization rate of global LCD panel and OLED panel capacity will continue to decline, hitting a new low in the past decade.
Musk officially announced that he was abandoning the purchase of Twitter, and Twitter said it would complete the transaction as planned.
On August 30, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a letter of termination of the acquisition to Twitter, officially announcing the abandonment of the acquisition. Twitter responded quickly that Musk’s letter to terminate the acquisition was invalid and would continue to execute the acquisition agreement. Earlier, Musk announced the cancellation of the $44 billion acquisition on the grounds that Twitter had violated multiple acquisition terms—currently Twitter’s market value is only $30.3 billion.
Text | Gong Fangyi Intern Zeng Xing Intern Xue Yujie Huang Junjie
Editor | Gong Fangyi Huang Junjie
Title map丨The TV series “The Big Bang Theory”
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