FAST NEWS: Newborn Town’s core businesses shine

The Latest: Social networking platform operator Newborn Town Inc. (9911.HK) said Thursday it expects to report that revenue from its social networking business reached between 2.055 billion yuan ($283 million) and 2.085 billion yuan in the first half of 2024, up 65.3% to 67.7% from the same period of last year.

Looking Up: Revenue from the company’s innovative business is expected to increase by 46.6% to 61.8% to 192 million yuan to 212 million yuan, mainly due to the increase in revenue from casual games and traffic diversion business, as well as the results from active investment in social commerce business.

Take Note: In the second quarter of this year, the average monthly active users of its social networking business reached 28.55 million, representing a quarter-on-quarter growth of approximately 0.02%, which was significantly slower than the 2.6% increase in the first quarter.

Digging Deeper: Founded in 2009, Newborn Town operates multiple social platforms combining entertainment elements such as dating, group voice chats, livestreaming and short video. It was listed in Hong Kong on the last day of 2019. Previously focused on emerging markets, the company has established mainstream social platforms in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South Asia, and has made breakthroughs in developed markets such as Europe, the U.S., Japan and Korea. The company has expanded its mobile game business in recent years, with revenue from its innovative business rose 38.6% to 335 million yuan last year, and continuing to accelerate in the first half of this year.

Market Reaction: Newborn Town’s shares fell on Friday, closing down 1.5% at HK$3.22 by the midday break. The stock now trades in the middle of its 52-week range.

Translation by A. Au

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