Baidu buys livestreaming site for US$2.1 billion a year after shelving deal

CHINESE Internet giant Baidu said on Tuesday (Feb 25) it had purchased social media platform JOYY Inc’s livestreaming business for US$2.1 billion, a year after it cancelled a deal partly because it failed to get government approval.

The price Baidu said it had paid, detailed in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing, was around 60 per cent of what it had agreed in 2020 to pay for the mainland China service.

The company said it had “entered into agreements with JOYY Inc and acquired the video-based entertainment live streaming business” and “paid an aggregate purchase price of approximately US$2.1 billion”.

Baidu founder Robin Li said in 2020 the deal would “catapult Baidu into a leading platform for live streaming and diversify our revenue source”.

The company agreed at the time to buy YY Live for US$3.6 billion.

However, it cancelled the deal in January 2024, saying that it was “subject to certain conditions including... obtaining necessary regulatory approvals from governmental authorities”.

The deal was originally expected to be completed by 2021.

Livestreaming is a multimillion-dollar business in China, generating huge profits for e-commerce giants and popular influencers.

Baidu has faced increased competition in recent years from domestic rivals including Tencent, which operates the WeChat messaging platform, and ByteDance, which owns short-video app TikTok and its mainland Chinese equivalent Douyin.

SEE ALSO

China’s Baidu to make latest Ernie AI model open-source as competition heats up

The company has sought to diversify into cloud computing, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence (AI) and other sectors with mixed results.

Baidu said this month its revenue in 2024 declined by one per cent, but that its net income rose 100 per cent in the fourth quarter.

That helped Baidu post an annual net income of US$3.26 billion, up 17 per cent from 2023. AFP