JOYY Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results: Non-livestreaming Revenues Grew 25.3% year over year, Driven by Diversified Growth Strategy

Rhea-AI Summary

JOYY reported strong Q1 2025 financial results, with total revenue reaching $494.4 million. Non-livestreaming revenue grew 25.3% YoY to $123.0 million, representing 24.9% of total revenues. The company's GAAP operating profit surged 244.5% YoY to $12.2 million, while non-GAAP operating profit increased 24.9% YoY to $31.0 million. JOYY returned value to shareholders through $49.1 million in dividends and $22.5 million in share repurchases. The core livestreaming business generated $371.3 million in revenue, with BIGO contributing $351.6 million. BIGO Ads showed strong growth with a 27% increase in revenue, driven by AI-powered advertising solutions. Notable operational highlights include Bigo Live's North American MAU growth exceeding 7% YoY and a 4% QoQ increase in average viewing time per user.

Positive

• Non-livestreaming revenue grew 25.3% YoY, showing successful diversification
• GAAP operating profit increased 244.5% YoY to $12.2 million
• Strong shareholder returns with $49.1M in dividends and $22.5M in share buybacks
• BIGO Ads revenue grew 27%, becoming a profitable growth driver
• Bigo Live's North American MAU grew over 7% YoY with 4% QoQ increase in paying users
• Positive operating cash flow of $58 million

Negative

• Livestreaming still dominates revenue mix at 75.1%, showing high dependency
• Operating margins remain relatively low at 2.5% GAAP and 6.3% non-GAAP

Insights

Financial Analyst

JOYY shows strong Q1 results with 244.5% YoY operating profit growth and successful business diversification beyond livestreaming.

JOYY's Q1 2025 results demonstrate successful execution of their multi-engine growth strategy. Total revenue reached $494.4 million, with non-livestreaming revenue growing 25.3% year-over-year to $123 million, now representing 24.9% of total revenue. This diversification beyond their core livestreaming business is a positive indicator for sustainable growth.

The company's profitability metrics are particularly impressive. GAAP operating profit surged 244.5% to $12.2 million while non-GAAP operating profit increased 24.9% to $31 million, with operating margins of 2.5% and 6.3% respectively. Net income remained stable at $45.4 million, virtually unchanged from Q1 2024.

JOYY maintained strong cash generation with $58 million in operating cash flow, enabling significant shareholder returns through $49.1 million in dividends and $22.5 million in share repurchases year-to-date through May 23.

The core livestreaming business generated $371.3 million in revenue, with BIGO contributing $351.6 million. Their targeted user acquisition strategy is working well in North America, where Bigo Live saw MAU growth exceeding 7% YoY and quarterly paying user growth of approximately 4%.

The advertising business is emerging as a second growth engine, with BIGO Ads revenue growing 27% YoY. This segment leverages AI for user insights, creative development, and targeting - creating a virtuous cycle of attracting both advertisers and publishers.

JOYY's product enhancements are driving meaningful engagement metrics: Bigo Live achieved a 4% increase in average viewing time per user QoQ and a 3% increase in ARPPU among high-value users. Likee saw videos viewed per user rise 7% QoQ and overall video consumption time increase 10%.

The company's evolution from pure social entertainment into a diversified ecosystem is clearly bearing fruit, with both core and emerging business lines showing growth and operational improvements.

SINGAPORE, May 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYY) ("JOYY" or the "Company"), a global leading technology company, announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2025.

In the first quarter of 2025, JOYY's revenue reached US$494.4 million, with its non-livestreaming revenue reaching US$123.0 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 25.3%. Non-livestreaming revenues accounted for 24.9% of the Company's total revenues. JOYY's GAAP and non-GAAP¹ operating profits increased approximately 244.5% and 24.9% year-over-year to US$12.2 million and US$31.0 million, with operating margins of 2.5% and 6.3%, respectively. The Company maintained strong operating cash flow, which reached US$58 million.

JOYY continued to deliver returns to shareholders. During the first quarter, the Company distributed US$49.1 million in dividends to shareholders. On top of that, the Company repurchased approximately US$22.5 million worth of its shares from January 1, 2025 through May 23, 2025, reinforcing its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Ms. Ting Li, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of JOYY, commented, "As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of our operations, we have evolved beyond social entertainment, steadily fostering a multifaceted ecosystem. Our multi-engine growth strategy is yielding clear results, with our core livestreaming business achieving consistent profitability, and our programmatic advertising platform, BIGO Ads, demonstrating strong growth momentum, which is fueled by AI-driven innovations in user insights, intelligent creative development, and precise targeting. We expect these advances to further strengthen our competitive advantages and position our non-livestreaming businesses to become JOYY's second growth engine."

First Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights

• Net revenues in the first quarter of 2025 were US$494.4 million.
• Operating income was US$12.2 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to US$3.5 million in the corresponding period of 2024, representing a 244.5% year-over-year increase.
• Non-GAAP¹ operating income was US$31.0 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to US$24.8 million in the corresponding period of 2024, representing a 24.9% year-over-year increase.
• Net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest of JOYY was US$45.4 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to US$45.3 million in the corresponding period of 2024.
• Non-GAAP¹ net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY was US$63.2 million in the first quarter of 2025.

First Quarter 2025 Business Highlights

Livestreaming Business

In the first quarter, JOYY's livestreaming revenue was US$371.3 million, with BIGO contributing US$351.6 million.

The Company is continuously optimizing its user acquisition strategy by prioritizing advertising spend on higher quality paying users in core markets. In the first quarter, Bigo Live's North American region saw Q1 MAU growth exceeding 7% year-over-year. At the same time, the number of paying users in the region increased by approximately 4% QoQ.

During the first quarter, JOYY's products actively promoted a series of operational activities related to Ramadan in the Middle East region, which drove regional user activity and helped boost their brand influence among users. Notably, Likee achieved positive QoQ growth in the number of paying users.

JOYY continued to make important product feature updates that are creating clear operational benefits. In the first quarter, Bigo Live continued to enhance its user experience. Specifically, it improved its recommendation system, directed more traffic toward high-potential content creators, and upgraded its viewing interface. These changes led to a 4% QoQ increase in average viewing time per user. At the same time, Bigo Live launched an entirely redesigned VIP benefits system and improved its gifting experience, upgrading gift features for high-value users. These efforts delivered a 3% QoQ increase in ARPPU among Bigo Live's high-end user cohort.

Likee also advanced its content strategy by building a more diverse and engaging content library. This led to impressive engagement metrics during the quarter. Videos viewed per user rose by 7% compared to the previous quarter, with overall video consumption time increasing by 10% over the same period. The refined approach to top streamer management and development also produced a notable 3% QoQ increase in Likee's average paying ratio during the quarter.

Advertising Business

The BIGO Ads revenue grew 27% in the first quarter, supported by the Company's comprehensive strengths, including local operations, extensive user base, industry-leading algorithms, and global network infrastructure, continuing to generate a positive profit contribution.

By integrating premium publisher traffic with the Company's first-party traffic, BIGO Ads creates an advertising system that helps advertisers consistently reach their most valuable customers worldwide. BIGO Ads provides an intelligent, end-to-end advertising platform that covers user insights, creative development, precise targeting, and real-time optimization, leveraging its extensive global audience and years of quality data to build its own vertical model, integrating cutting-edge generative AI technologies. Its AI usage improves ad performance and ad returns while creating better revenue opportunities for the Company's publisher partners. This success attracts both more advertiser spending and more publisher traffic, helping the BIGO Ads platform grow quickly.

1.This press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures as additional clarifying items to aid investors in further understanding the Company's performance and the impact that these items and events had on the financial results. The non-GAAP financial measures provided above should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. For details of the non-GAAP measures, including the reconciliations of GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures, please refer to the press release titled "JOYY Reports First Quarter 2025 Unaudited Financial Results" issued by the Company on May 27, 2025.

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SOURCE JOYY Inc.

FAQ

What were JOYY's (NASDAQ: JOYY) Q1 2025 revenue and profit numbers?

JOYY reported Q1 2025 revenue of $494.4 million, with GAAP operating profit of $12.2 million and non-GAAP operating profit of $31.0 million.

How much did JOYY's non-livestreaming revenue grow in Q1 2025?

JOYY's non-livestreaming revenue grew 25.3% year-over-year to $123.0 million, representing 24.9% of total revenues.

How much did JOYY return to shareholders in Q1 2025?

JOYY returned value to shareholders through $49.1 million in dividends and approximately $22.5 million in share repurchases through May 23, 2025.

What was BIGO's contribution to JOYY's livestreaming revenue in Q1 2025?

BIGO contributed $351.6 million out of JOYY's total livestreaming revenue of $371.3 million in Q1 2025.

How much did BIGO Ads revenue grow in Q1 2025?

BIGO Ads revenue grew 27% in Q1 2025, supported by AI-driven innovations in advertising technology.