China’s love of live-streaming made this ex-journalist a billionaire
YY expanded into music, education and online dating over the past decade and posted revenue of 8.2 billion yuan in 2016
Every night, millions of Chinese millennials swipe their smartphone screens and spend money to lavish virtual gifts on their favourite real-time entertainers.
It has become a daily habit for 73 million users of live-streaming platform YY Inc as they seek out everything from singing and dancing performances, make-up tutorials, trivia games and extreme sports. On the other side of the screen, the biggest talents earn more than 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) a year, even from the comfort of their bedrooms.
China has become the largest market for live streaming, with 2018 revenue expected to reach US$4.4 billion, according to a December report from Deloitte. And the boom has been a boon for YY shares, which have almost tripled in the past 12 months and given founder Xueling Li a net worth of US$1.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Li, 44, owns a 20 per cent stake directly and through holding companies in the British Virginia Islands – YYME Ltd and New Wales Holdings – according to an August 2017 prospectus supplement. He also has a majority stake in Singapore-based live-streaming start-up BIGO Technology worth more than US$200 million, according to the Bloomberg index.
Li controls a majority of YY voting power, allowing him to “lead my company the way I want, which is most important to me”, he said in a phone interview, “I rarely sell my shares, so YY’s share price won’t have too much impact on me.”
Li, who graduated from Renmin University of China with a degree in philosophy, is a journalist-turned-entrepreneur. He started his career as a technology reporter in Beijing and rose to become chief editor of NetEase.com, a website founded by Chinese billionaire Ding Lei. He quit in 2005 and started online-gaming aggregator Duowan.com in a Guangzhou flat with US$1 million of angel funding from tech tycoon Lei Jun, who became known as China’s Steve Jobs for creating smartphone brand Xiaomi. Duowan.com became a wholly owned subsidiary of YY in 2011.