165438+ 10/7, Baidu's acquisition of YY live boots finally landed. According to the final binding agreement signed between Baidu and Huanju Group, Baidu will acquire YY Live, the domestic video entertainment live broadcast service of Huanju Group, for about 3.6 billion US dollars. This final amount is also basically consistent with the $3-4 billion previously reported by the media.
However, the verification of the news is only the beginning. The $3.6 billion acquisition of YY Live has caused speculation and doubts in the headlines of major technology and financial media.
Some people listed a long history of Baidu's failed products, and asserted that the acquisition was YY Live's "death is coming". Some people predict from the perspective of business coupling that Baidu and YY Live may not get along.
So, can Baidu get a surprise when it opens YY live broadcast?
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Sequencing YY live broadcast
3.6 billion dollars is not a small sum. Can Baidu get value for money with this wave of passionate orders?
Before throwing the answer, you may want to touch the bottom of YY live broadcast.
As one of the earliest live broadcast platforms in China, YY Live has gone through two cycles: PC and mobile Internet, which largely established the strategic play of China Live Broadcast Circle. YY Live has also stood on the wave of live show with Tiger Tooth, Betta, Zanthoxylum bungeanum and Yingke. Although the live show has ebbed in recent two years, users have flocked to short video platforms, but it does not mean that the glory of veterans has passed.
In fact, YY live broadcast has always been the best in the live broadcast industry to make money by silencing. It was, and it is. There was a joke at the seminar, "YY has the advantage of being pragmatic. You have to earn a dollar, no matter how you burn money, I have to make a profit. " 」
Even now, the income of YY live broadcast on the show is still higher than that of Huya and Betta in the game. There is Momo, even if the monthly living is more than 60 million yuan higher than YY live broadcast, Momo is only equal to YY live broadcast in terms of live broadcast income.
Even compared with Aauto Quicker and Tik Tok, YY Live is not weak in liquidity. Some insiders pointed out that "the daily life of Tik Tok and Aauto quickless is nearly ten times that of YY's domestic business, but the live broadcast income of Tik Tok and Aauto quickless is only two to three times that of YY's domestic business. 」
According to the latest report of Mob Research Institute, in the current competition pattern of entertainment live broadcast industry, YY live broadcast is the only head platform, with a market share as high as 40%. It is the only platform in the entertainment live broadcast industry with a daily living scale of over 10 million.
At the same time, YY live broadcast is also a big step away from other platforms in terms of the scale of active users. The data shows that by the end of the first quarter of 2020, YY Live had more than 40 million monthly active users, exceeding the second-ranked live broadcast and pepper live broadcast by more than 30 million.
Therefore, from this perspective, for Baidu, it is not cheap to win YY live broadcast for $3.6 billion, but it is by no means expensive.
According to the financial report data, the revenue of YY Live 20 19 is about 1200 million, which is equivalent to 12% of the revenue of Baidu 20 19. This means that after the acquisition of YY Live, Baidu will increase its income by at least 10 billion every year, making it the third largest revenue source of Baidu.
But this is only the direct benefit visible to the naked eye, and the main event is behind.
From the business point of view, the combination of YY live broadcast and Baidu can not only improve Baidu's competitiveness in the field of live broadcast, but also accelerate the current traffic realization for YY live broadcast. The most important thing is that YY live broadcast is currently caught in the bottleneck of traffic growth, and Baidu can just quench its thirst. With the blessing of Baidu traffic, the revenue of YY live broadcast is likely to expand again.
At this moment, the calculation of the purchase price of $3.6 billion can not only look at the current business flow of YY live broadcast, but the time value of funds will appear in the future.
02
Baidu's low bench and YY live high table
Six pence is not a loss, Baidu's low bench just matches the high table of YY live broadcast.
In May of this year, Li Yanhong presented his first personal live show on Baidu App. Brand promotion is a starting point, and ambition live broadcast is the most fundamental purpose.
In fact, as early as the beginning of 2020, Baidu showed its desire for the live track. Since March, it has recruited a large number of live broadcast-related jobs, and the live broadcast function has also been promoted in Baijiahao. At the Mobile Ecology Conference in May, it even spent billions of traffic and subsidies to attract live creators.
However, although Baidu's action to support live broadcast in the first half of the year is not small, the effect is obviously not as good as investment.
That's understandable. Baidu Live is a latecomer and lacks basic skills and experience. It needs a product with mature experience in the live broadcast track to link Baidu's mobile ecosystem, and YY live broadcast is a good choice.
As we have emphasized before, the live broadcast industry tests the platform operation ability most, but this operation is not the pre-control of content, but the test of rhythm and platform ability. It is of course important to step on the tuyere, but whether it can land in the refined operation and win is the key to determine whether the live broadcast business can achieve long-term vitality. Baidu wants to use live broadcast to enrich its income structure and find a muscular helper.
In comparison, YY live broadcast has been deeply cultivated in the live broadcast industry for ten years, with both technical accumulation and stable ecology. In the live broadcast industry besieged by Aauto Quicker and Tik Tok, YY Live is the only stable platform. For Baidu, the acquisition of YY live broadcast can obtain a mature entertainment live broadcast ecology, and YY live broadcast technology can also serve Baidu's live broadcast center.
Literally, it may not be possible to really perceive the ecological value of YY entertainment live broadcast, and there is an indirect case to prove it.
In June this year, a company named "Zhongmiao Entertainment" was listed on the Hong Kong stock market. The biggest business of this company is the live broadcast guild, and its Huashe Entertainment is the three head guilds of YY live broadcast. This IPO is also known as the first share of the live broadcast guild.
This kind of company has no other advantages, the biggest advantage is excellent cash flow, which is very similar to YY's low-key personality of making money.
From the first year of 20 16 live broadcast to the present, in a few years, countless live broadcast platforms have fallen on the road of chasing the capital track, but a number of unicorns and even listed companies have been born, and the ecology of YY live broadcast can grow into the first live broadcast guild in 2020, which is obviously not old enough.
Look at Baidu, which has occupied the largest traffic portal of the mobile Internet for a long time, but it is always one step behind from games, e-commerce to social interaction. But isn't it sensitive to smell? Obviously not. Elephants dance very slowly. What it lacks is a sharp knife that can quickly sort out the traffic and accurately insert it into the live track.
On the other hand, for YY live broadcast, as an old live broadcast player, it is not because the business is backward, but because it needs a bigger alliance.
Internet war has always been a resource consumption war, and the most important resource of each family is traffic. Yes, YY Live is much more profitable than Aauto Quicker and Tik Tok. YY Live has never been able to sit on the throne. The most fundamental reason is the lack of a strong traffic portal. Baidu can provide a huge source of traffic for YY live broadcast through search and information flow portal.
You have traffic, I have live broadcast, Baidu wins YY live broadcast, and maybe it can squeeze into the live broadcast industry where the window period is shrinking.
As for what Baidu can make the live broadcast, it is of course difficult to make an assertion at present, but the simplest truth is in front of us: although the acquisition of YY live broadcast at this moment cannot guarantee that Baidu can make the live broadcast, it will definitely not be done without acquisition.
03
Battle of ecology
The acquisition of YY Live is Baidu's biggest transaction so far.
Before negotiating and signing the contract, there must be countless times of analysis, selection and modification. When the concrete and feasible scheme is finally determined, it is impossible to start without a clear future thinking and direction. Therefore, from this perspective, the acquisition of YY live broadcast is obviously not a temporary investment desire, but a deliberate choice.
So, what will YY live broadcast bring to Baidu?
The first thing is the optimization of Baidu's revenue structure. At present, advertising accounts for more than 85% of Baidu's revenue (excluding iQiyi), but in recent years, it has been increasingly challenged by headlines. This year, coupled with the impact of the epidemic, it did not stop falling until the third quarter. Therefore, Baidu has been optimizing its revenue structure, and the proportion of revenue related to e-commerce and live broadcast has continued to increase this year. The most direct impact of the acquisition of YY live broadcast is that in Baidu's revenue, the proportion of live broadcast can be increased by at least 10 percentage point. This obviously contributes to the diversification of income sources.
At the same time, YY live broadcast is also one of the important factors to supplement Baidu's ecological chain.
With the advent of the era of big content, the live broadcast window has narrowed, and the increasingly fierce competition not only requires live broadcast players to have the production and digestion ability at the ecological level, but also needs to deeply participate in the industrial chain of content production, operation and announcement. Baidu's efforts in this regard are obviously too late, and it is too late to do it yourself. Buying YY live broadcast means buying a mature live broadcast ecosystem.
After the delivery is completed, the excellent anchor resources accumulated by YY Live for a long time, a set of scientific process systems from anchor training to user payment conversion, operational capabilities and other resources will provide reference for Baidu.
In Baidu Department, there are many products with excellent DAU data. Among them, Baidu App has 206 million dau, Baidu Post Bar and good-looking videos have tens of millions of dau, but the problem is that the realization efficiency of these products is very low.
Although the DAU of YY live broadcast is not as good as the live broadcast of head players, it contributes tens of billions of income to the gathering every year. If Baidu can incorporate the experience of YY live broadcast into its own ecology, and then establish a perfect traffic generation and circulation, it may be able to revitalize the traffic resources precipitated by Baidu and realize the realization of value.
On the live track, Ali is the weather vane of live e-commerce, with oil and minerals at home and legendary killer anchor, which can firmly grasp the first-Mover advantage.
Tencent, on the other hand, is a master of playing traffic and transformation, holding two trump cards in his hand, killing time and not being too comfortable to play.
Even Kuaiyao has trained a large number of platform anchors, from Simba family to Zhang Ting, godmother of WeChat business, which has stirred up a pool of spring water.
In contrast, Baidu's acquisition of YY live broadcast to increase live broadcast is a leverage. And this is much more reliable than groping for it yourself. If it is done well, Baidu may not be able to tell a better ecological story to the capital market in the next time.
Wei Wu, left-handed technology Internet, right-handed entertainment consumption. Everyone is the author of Product Manager in 20 17 years, the business observer in the new list in 20 18 years, the top ten columnists of Donews in 20 19 years, the new media in 20 19 years, and Tianji.com's self-media influence in 20 19 years.