ByteDance invest ¥1.2bn in Hupu Sports

On June 5, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission Shanghai Regulatory Bureau updated a report on the progress of its pre-listing tutoring for Hupu Sports (Shanghai) Media, Co. Ltd. The most notable part of the report is that the collective stocks held by two companies owned by ByteDance have surpassed Cheng Hang, founder and CEO of Hupu Sports, making their parent company the largest stockholder in Hupu Sports.

The report reveals that the two companies involved are Beijing LiangZiYueDong Technology, Ltd. and Shanghai WenXueWangLuo Technology, Ltd. In other words, with the help of the two subsidiary companies, ByteDance completed its investment in Hupu Sports, with the management at Hupu Sports being the transferor.

The shareholding structure after the stock transfer and capital increase shows that Cheng Hang now holds 23.228% of company stocks, LiangZiYueDong owns 20%, and WenXueWangLuo holds 10% with the latter two companies holding a total of 30% of the stocks, making their parent company ByteDance the largest stockholder in Hupu Sports. The estimated market value of Hupu Sports is ¥7.7bn. The previous round of capital raising for Hupu Sports was in early 2018, when China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC). acted as the lead investor in a ¥61.8m Series E Funding. Given that CICC held 12.651% of Hupu Sports stocks, the estimated market value of Hupu Sports was around ¥5bn back then.

ByteDance has been active recently in the sports industry, with the most eye-catching move being Jinri Toutiao (Chinese version of TopBuzz), Douyin (Chinese version of Tik Tok), and Watermelon Video acquiring the rights from NBA for short videos. ByteDance is also a partner to some international sports organizations, such as the International Table Tennis Federation and UFC. Jinri Toutiao and Douyin (as well as Tik Tok) have also established partnerships with many professional sport leagues and clubs.

Reference: Yutang Sports

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick