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oneSafariSpinSafari. 400 million people participated, across all ages, and surpassed Texas hold'em in popularity. In 2024, the game "Egg" continues to scan the screen, with the "Poker King" Yao Ji Technology (SZ002605, share price 22.SafariSpinSafari.62 yuan, with a market capitalization of 9.322 billion yuan) has returned to public view. However, an unfamiliar fact is that the former poker business is no longer the revenue pillar of the "poker king", but has been replaced by games and digital marketing.
On May 23, Yaoji Technology announced that its subsidiaries had decided to terminate the acquisition and capital increase of VIVIDJOAN HOLDING (SINGAPORE) PTE.LTD (hereinafter referred to as VJ Holding).
According to Yao Ji Technology's proposed acquisition announcement disclosed two years ago, VJ Holding is a shareholding platform and does not carry out business. The real business platform is VIVIDJOAN GAMES (SINGAPORE) PTE.LTD. (hereinafter referred to as VJ Games), a wholly owned company of VJ Holding. The company is engaged in overseas game distribution business, and its main game products are leisure gaming games such as "Bingo Wild" and "Solitaire Happyland" of Yaoji Technology.
The announcement also shows that as of the end of May 2022, JOANNEFUL, the 49 per cent shareholder of VJ Holding, is Yao Shuobin, chairman and general manager of Yao Ji Technology. However, in the latest announcement, Yao Shuobin has transferred all his shares.
Behind the two announcements spanning two years, what is the "abacus" of Yao Ji Technology?SafariSpinSafari?
Overseas games release "diversion"
"in view of the fact that the market environment of this equity acquisition and capital increase has changed greatly since the beginning of the planning, after full careful study and friendly consultation with the other party, the company unanimously agreed and jointly decided to terminate the transaction." When it comes to the reasons for terminating the deal, Yao Ji Technology said in the announcement.
On May 24th, a reporter from the Daily Business News, as an investor, further learned from Yao Ji Technology that the acquisition and capital increase of VJ Holding was terminated because of changes in its overseas game distribution channels in the past two years.
The operator of the company's secret office explained on the phone thatSafariSpinSafariThis company (refers to VJ Holding and related companies) is a game publishing company, and we want to buy it in 2022 and use the main body of this company to do overseas distribution. But later, due to various reasons, there was no substantial progress in this matter, and no agreement was signed. Then (game distribution business) has been placed in our Beijing Game Company, through the main body of the (Beijing) company to do the distribution business. "
What the above-mentioned people call "Beijing Game Company" is actually Dayu Athletic (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. According to the official website of Yaoji Science and Technology, Big Fish Sports was founded in 2016 and focuses on the research, development, promotion and operation of the light game market in Europe and the United States, especially the Bingo category.
The so-called Bingo category games are what people in the industry call leisure gambling games. Under the current regulations, in some overseas areas, this kind of non-cash gambling leisure game is regarded as a legal and compliant green game, and the audience groups are mainly in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia.
On the afternoon of May 24, the reporter further learned from Yaoji Technology that Dayu Athletic's business model is based on product research and development, and then handed over to other issuing companies to issue the products.
Liu Tong (not his real name) works for a head betting game distribution company, and Dayu Sports is the "CP" of his company. At present, there are two games in cooperation between Liu Tong's company and Big Fish Athletic, both of which have been working together for many years. "Cooperation is not an one-off. It's like signing a contract for several years at a time and renewing it when it expires."
However, affected by the global economic situation, it is not easy to go out to sea in the past two years. According to Liu Tong's observation, overseas leisure gambling games often show a leading pattern of head fault, and there is a certain gap between several products of Big Fish Athletics and the head of the industry. Reflected in the performance of Big Fish Sports, Yao Ji Science and Technology Annual report shows that in 2023, Big Fish Sports achieved revenue of 123 million yuan and corresponding net profit of 49.6281 million yuan. In 2021, the audited deduction of non-net profit of Big Fish Sports was 74.9442 million yuan.
Rapid growth of digital marketing
In Yao Ji Technology's overall game business revenue, its overseas game business accounts for a relatively small proportion. Shanghai Seikei Information Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary in charge of Yaoji Technology's domestic game business, had a total revenue of 1.103 billion yuan and a net profit of 480 million yuan in 2023, according to the annual report.
Considering the annual net profit level of Yaoji Technology, the game business with a gross profit margin of 96.01% has become the absolute profit cow of the company. In the first quarter of 2024, the company achieved operating income of 982 million yuan, down 17.38% from the same period last year, and net profit of 151 million yuan, down 23.94% from the same period last year.
In this regard, the above Yaoji technology staff said that mainly because the game business hit a new high in the first half of 2023, so there will be a slight decline in the same period last year.
Look at the poker business, although it started with the poker business, but in the revenue structure of Yaoji Technology, the proportion of the poker business has been continuously diluted. The reporter learned from Yaoji Technology that the rise of the egg game has indeed increased the demand for playing cards, but the company is currently unable to give a very clear figure on how much impact it has had on the company's finances.
According to the 2023 financial report, Yaoji Technology's poker revenue for the current period totaled 1.09 billion yuan, and the revenue scale was relatively stable, but the total revenue share fell nearly 3 percent year-on-year to 25.31 percent.
Most of the remaining revenue of nearly 3/4 is made up of games and digital marketing, which has revenues of 1.911 billion yuan, an increase of 24.90 per cent year-on-year and accounts for 44.38 per cent of operating revenue.
In the financial report, Yao Ji Technology used such a paragraph to describe the digital marketing business: as a long-term ecological partner of huge engines, the company has been using a professional and high-level operation service system to provide high-value marketing services for advertisers. Through a huge cloud map tool, the first VTATM model is created, which provides a methodology for game customers to carry out marketing planning quickly, efficiently and scientifically in the initial stage of the new game. Based on this model, the company helped a number of customers to launch new games, and achieved good results.
On the afternoon of May 24, the reporter further learned from Yaoji Technology that the company's digital marketing business is mainly the core agent of large delivery platforms such as Douyin and Fast Hand. "Customers who need advertising will find our agents to place them on major platforms. We will help them provide related services such as account opening, recharge and delivery strategies."
The question followed. How can Yao Ji Technology build nearly 2 billion yuan in cross-border digital marketing, and how can it build barriers to obtain stable passenger flow? In this regard, the above-mentioned person revealed that the founder of the marketing subsidiary came from the headline system and specializes in launching the game industry. "So our marketing company is relatively strong in the game industry, and its launch strategy will be more precise or more advantageous."