Company Reports

Huya's central strategic challenge is that its core business, game livestreaming, is in structural decline. Paying user counts in the livestreaming segment peaked above 6 million and had fallen to 4 million by 2025, when the company stopped disclosing the metric. The decline reflects users migrating to video platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili, as they deepen their gaming-content libraries. We do not expect Huya's livestreaming user counts to recover. Huya has recognized this reality and responded with a transformation plan launched in 2023, the credibility of which has improved over the past two quarters.

Huya's revenue grew 11% year on year in the second quarter of 2026, driven by a 54% increase in game-related revenue, while net profit was around break-even. The firm doubled its buyback authorization to USD 100 million.

Huya's central strategic challenge is that its core business, game livestreaming, is in structural decline. Paying user counts in the livestreaming segment peaked above 6 million and had fallen to 4 million by 2025, when the company stopped disclosing the metric. The decline reflects users migrating to video platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili, as they deepen their gaming-content libraries. We do not expect Huya's livestreaming user counts to recover. Huya has recognized this reality and responded with a transformation plan launched in 2023, the credibility of which has improved over the past two quarters.

Powered by a surge in mobile game-related sales, Huya's first-quarter 2026 revenue grew 15% year over year. The company remained at a small operating loss, with breakeven net profit due to interest income.

Huya's fourth-quarter revenue grew 16% year over year, though the bottom line was negatively affected by one-off provisions and impairment.

Huya shares have rallied over 40% following the successful launch of the social deduction game Goose Goose Duck in China. The title has demonstrated exceptional momentum, maintaining a top-two position in iOS downloads over the past month.

Huya reported 10% year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter—the fastest pace in four years—alongside modest margin improvement.

Huya is China’s largest game livestreaming platform, home to over 80 million monthly active users. As the long-standing market leader, Huya has maintained an edge in game content through exclusive licensing agreements with major esports tournaments—an approach that has helped foster user loyalty. However, license competition remains intense and rivals could drive up costs for top events during renewal cycles, which may limit Huya’s ability to expand margins.

Huya is China’s largest game livestreaming platform, home to over 80 million monthly active users. As the long-standing market leader, Huya has maintained an edge in game content through exclusive licensing agreements with major esports tournaments—an approach that has helped foster user loyalty. However, license competition remains intense and rivals could drive up costs for top events during renewal cycles, which may limit Huya’s ability to expand margins.

Huya reported 2% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter of 2025, along with stable margins. Management expressed confidence in maintaining growth momentum through the second half of the year.

Huya is China’s largest game livestreaming platform, home to over 80 million monthly active users. As the long-standing market leader, Huya has maintained an edge in game content through exclusive licensing agreements with major esports tournaments—an approach that has helped foster user loyalty. However, license competition remains intense and rivals could drive up costs for top events during renewal cycles, which may limit Huya’s ability to expand margins.

Huya is China's largest game livestreaming platform with over 80 million monthly active users. As the market leader for years, Huya has maintained an edge over competitors on game content by signing exclusive licensing deals with esports tournaments. While this enhances user loyalty to the platform, we believe competition on licenses remains fierce, as peers will likely bid up for top events at time of renewals. In addition, we think slowing revenue growth will pressure Huya to sublicense some of its events to competitors, bridging the gap on content.

Huya reported flat year-on-year revenue in the first quarter of 2025, ending a 13-quarter streak of consecutive declines. While the business remains near breakeven, management expressed optimism for the rest of the year, confident that revenue has bottomed out.

Huya reported fourth-quarter 2024 earnings with revenue down 2% year over year and narrowing operating losses. Guidance for 2025 points to a slight revenue increase and operating margin expansion. The company also introduced a dividend plan covering 2025-27.

Huya is China's largest game livestreaming platform with over 80 million monthly active users. As the market leader for years, Huya has maintained an edge over competitors on game content by signing exclusive licensing deals with esports tournaments. While this enhances user loyalty to the platform, we believe competition on licenses remains fierce, as peers will likely bid up for top events at time of renewals. In addition, we think slowing revenue growth will pressure Huya to sublicense some of its events to competitors, bridging the gap on content.

Huya’s third-quarter earnings are in line with our expectations, and management maintained its full-year outlook. Overall, we keep Huya’s fair value estimate unchanged at $6.60 per share. The bulk of Huya’s valuation stems from its net cash position of around $3.70, versus the closing price of $3.00 as of Nov. 12.

We lowered Huya's fair value estimate to $6.60 per share from $7.70 as the shares went ex-dividend on Oct. 9. To recap, Huya declared a special dividend of $25 million, or $1.08 per share, on Aug. 13. While we anticipate Huya should remain in a net cash position following this dividend payout—which amounts to about $3.70 per share—the company is now trading above its net cash value given the recent rally in share prices, compared with a discount in early 2024. Nevertheless, we still see incremental value in its core business, which should see improving profitability going forward. The shares are trading at a discount to our valuation. Although Huya is expected to deliver minor operating losses over the near term, we believe the ongoing execution of its strategic transformation plan—focused on expanding revenue through game distribution and sales of virtual gaming items—will elevate Huya's long-term earnings into positive territory.

Huya is China's largest game livestreaming platform with over 80 million monthly active users. As the market leader for years, Huya has maintained an edge over competitors on game content by signing exclusive licensing deals with esports tournaments. While this enhances user loyalty to the platform, we believe competition on licenses remains fierce, as peers will likely bid up for top events at time of renewals. In addition, we think slowing revenue growth will pressure Huya to sublicense some of its events to competitors, bridging the gap on content.

Huya’s second-quarter earnings met our expectations, and management maintained its 2024 guidance that is broadly in line with our estimates. Shares shot up 17% during US trading in light of management’s announcement of another special dividend of $1.08 per share, or an equivalent of 24% of the company’s market capitalization before Aug. 14’s move.

No-moat Huya’s first-quarter earnings were above our estimates, and management lifted profitability guidance for the full year. This led us to lift our forecasts for the company, but the favorable valuation impact from this was offset by Huya paying out its $150 million in special dividends as shares went ex-dividend on May 9. Overall, we maintain Huya’s fair value estimate at $7.70 per share. We reiterate that the bulk of Huya’s value stems from its net cash position equivalent to $5.60 per share at the end of March, excluding special dividends, against the stock price of $4.70 as of the market close on May 13.