Q2 2026 Hello Group Inc Earnings Call
Speaker #2: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Hello Group's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode.
Speaker #2: There will be a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key, followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad.
Speaker #2: Please note, this conference is being recorded today. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker, Ms. Ashley Jing.
Speaker #2: Thank you. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Speaker #3: Thank you all, Preta. Good morning and good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Hello Group's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call.
Speaker #3: The company's results were released earlier today and are available on the company's IR website. On the call today, I'm Mr. Tang Yan, CEO of the company.
Speaker #3: Mr. Wen Jianhua, CEO of the company, and Ms. Peng Hui, CFO of the company, will discuss the company's business operations and highlights, as well as the financials and guidance.
Speaker #3: They will all be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session that follows. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors.
Speaker #3: All of which are difficult to predict, and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause the Company's actual results or performance improvements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.
Speaker #3: For information regarding this and other risks, uncertainties, and factors, please refer to the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Speaker #3: The company does not take any further obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required and allowed.
Speaker #3: I will now pass the call over to our COO, Mr. Wen Jianhua. Jianhua, please.
Speaker #4: Okay. 大家好，感谢参加今天的电话会。我们二季度集团业务稳定推进，国内方面默默持续通过产品创新和精细化运营维护现金流业务健康运转，探讨围绕AI能力的建设提升用户体验及商业化效率，海外业务多元化产品矩阵的协同效应，进一步显现接下来我为大家介绍重点工作的实行情况。
Speaker #3: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining today's call. The group maintained steady business momentum in Q2. On the domestic side, Momo continued to preserve the healthy functioning of our cash cow business through product innovation and refined operations.
Speaker #3: While Tantan focused on AI capability building to improve user experience and modernization efficiency, on the overseas side, the synergy across our diversified product portfolio became increasingly evident.
Speaker #3: Next, I'll walk you through the key updates.
Speaker #4: 首先是财务表现。2026年二季度集团总营收24.9亿人民币，同比下降5%，环比增长4%。其中国内业务收入18.1亿人民币，同比下降17%，环比增长1%。海外收入6.73亿人民币，同比增长52%，环比增长13%。海外收入占比27%，去年同期为17%。调整后营业利润2.76亿人民币，对应营业利润率11%。
Speaker #3: Starting with the financials. For Q2 '26, total group revenue was RMB 2.49 billion, down 5% year over year, but up 4% quarter over quarter.
Speaker #3: Domestic revenue reached RMB 1.81 billion, down 17% year over year, but up 1% quarter over quarter. Overseas revenue was RMB 673 million, up 52% year over year and 13% quarter over quarter.
Speaker #3: Overseas revenue accounted for 27% of total revenue, compared to 17% in the same period last year. Adjusted operating income was RMB 276 million, with a margin of 11%.
Speaker #4: 2026年我们的重点工作围绕三条主线展开。Momo主站确保现金流业务持续稳定产出，探讨探索适合陌生人的约会体验和高效的商业模式。新业务深耕海外，丰富品牌矩阵，打造长期增长引擎。接下来我将逐一介绍。
Speaker #3: Our 2026 priorities continue along three main tracks. For Momo, the goal is to ensure stable, sustained productivity of our cash cow business. For Tantan, we aim to continue exploring a dating experience and an efficient business model tailored for Asian users.
Speaker #3: And for our new businesses, our focus is to deepen the overseas presence, enrich our brand portfolio, and build a long-term growth engine. Next, I'll walk you through each.
Speaker #4: 首先是Momo主站。用户方面，过去一年用户导向的产品迭代有效提振了平台活跃度，叠加自然量季节性低点过后的环比修复，推动Momo整体用户规模小幅增长。在大盘规模回升的基础之上，英视频中小额场景里面围绕世界杯及重点节庆组织运营活动，推动付费人数环比增长20万至390万。
Speaker #3: Let me start with Momo. On the user side, a year of user-oriented product iteration has effectively lifted platform engagement. Combined with the sequential recovery from the seasonal low in organic traffic, this drove a modest increase in Momo's overall user base.
Speaker #3: Building on this uptick in the overall scale, our audio and video small-ticket scenarios run themed operational events around the World Cup and key seasonal occasions.
Speaker #3: Driving paying users up 200,000 quarter over quarter to 3.9 million.
Speaker #4: 产品方面，跷跷重点优化深度聊天匹配策略，将高音聊天意愿的用户精准匹配到一起，对用户活跃留存及大盘规模起到积极作用。AI助聊基于真实行为数据训练模型，深化对用户偏好的理解，推动功能采纳率与AI交互回复率稳定增长，既对长期留存与大盘规模形成正向支撑，也开辟了新的营收场景。本季度我们还灰度测试了AI小莫，通过AI浏览用户动态挖掘兴趣综合点，并完成社交对象抽筛，自动生成个性化破冰文案，进一步优化匹配效率与关系达成率。
Speaker #3: On the product side, Knock Knock focused on refining our deep chat matching strategy, precisely pairing users with a high intent to chat, which had a positive effect on engagement, retention, and overall user scale.
Speaker #3: AI chat assistant trains its models on real user behavior data to deepen its understanding of user preferences, driving steady growth in feature adoption as well as an increase in the reply rate to AI greetings.
Speaker #3: This has both supported long-term retention and user-based scale, and opened up new revenue scenarios. This quarter, we will also begin beta testing AI小莫, which has AI browse users' photos to identify common interests, complete an initial screening of potential matches, and automatically generate a personalized icebreaker message.
Speaker #3: Further improving matching efficiency and connection access rates.
Speaker #4: 获客方面，我们对于召回用户的渠道投入进行了分组评级实验，目的是确认渠道的错误归因是否会导致公司在渠道召回方面进行了部分低效投入。结果显示，渠道投入确实存在持续优化的空间，我们有信心可以以更少的投入维持目前的平台活跃规模和收益。我们将从三季度开始根据实验结果持续提升获客效率。
Speaker #3: On user acquisition, we ran a holdout experiment on channel spend for dormant user reactivation, aiming to test whether attribution errors in our channel data were leading to inefficiencies in these re-engagement efforts.
Speaker #3: The results showed that there is indeed room for continued optimization in our channel investment, and we are confident we can maintain our current platform scale and revenue with less spend.
Speaker #3: In Q3, we will continue to improve acquisition efficiency based on these findings.
Speaker #4: 接下来谈一下Momo现金流业务在商业化方面的表现。二季度Momo Watch收入是5.4亿元，同比下降16%，环比增长2%。同比下降主要由于两个因素：一是税务方面的持续收紧，对我们的工会和主播产生了持续而显著的负面影响；二是宏观消费疲软。收入环比增长弱于往年同期，主要由于4月以来音频场景部分工会受税务因素影响，收缩运营力度导致流水回撤。我们与5月末通过定向补贴的方式缓解了部分工会的运营压力，推动流水快速修复。二季度Watch整体收分成比例同环比低，个位数增长，主要由于为缓解供给侧在税务合规进程中的财务压力。我们适度上调了音频场景部分核心工会的分成比例和补贴力度，以可控的成本保障供给侧稳定。针对腰部用户抓住世界杯流量红利，通过赛事竞猜等互动玩法提升房间热度和用户粘性。长尾端色调线灰度测试动态加热功能，用户付费提升动态曝光权重，不仅运营数据正向，更跑通了小额付费的新场景。多维度的精细化运营，为宏观下行期整体收入规模稳定提供了有力支撑。
Speaker #3: Turning to Momo's commercial performance. In Q2, Momo's total revenue was RMB 1.54 billion, down 16% year over year, but up 2% quarter over quarter. The year-over-year decline was mainly driven by two factors: number one, continued tightening on the tax front, which has had a sustained and material negative impact on our agencies and broadcasters; number two, softness in consumer spending due to macro.
Speaker #3: Sequential growth came in weaker than in previous years, mainly because since April, some agencies in the audio scenario scaled back operations due to tax-related pressure.
Speaker #3: This was weighted on revenue. In late May, we rolled out targeted subsidies to ease the operating pressure on these agencies, which drove a quick recovery in revenue.
Speaker #3: In Q2, our overall VAS revenue sharing ratio rose by a low single-digit percentage point, both year over year and quarter over quarter. This was mainly because we moderately raised the revenue sharing ratio and subsidy support for certain core agencies in the audio scenarios, in order to ease supply-side financial pressure through the tax compliance process.
Speaker #3: Keeping the supply side stable at a manageable cost. On the product and operations side, we stayed with our approach of tiered monetization and use-case innovation.
Speaker #3: For high-value users, we selected top-growth broadcasters and created AI-generated, likeness-based custom GIFs for them, which effectively refreshed paying interest among our top spenders. For mid-tier users, we capitalized on World Cup-related traffic by rolling out interactive gameplay, such as match predictions, which lifted engagement and user stickiness.
Speaker #3: At the long-tail end, we beta tested a moment's boost feature, letting users pay to increase the exposure of their posts. This not only produced positive operating data, but also successfully validated a new small-ticket payment scenario.
Speaker #3: This multi-prompt refined operating approach provided solid support for the stability of our overall revenue base amid the macro downturn.
Speaker #4: 接下来说碳排。截止到二季度末，碳排付费用户数，付费用户50万，环比小幅下降4万，主要由于支付宝自动续费待客规则的调整，对付费率造成了压力。大盘方面，国内日均用户规模二季度稳中微增，是2022年初减头以来首次实现用户规模企稳，受持续减头影响，新增用户同比依旧承压，但产品端通过细分人群策略优化提升匹配效率，带动男性及女性用户留存。不同程度提升对稳定大盘起到了积极作用。
Speaker #3: Now let's turn to Tantan. As of the end of Q2, Tantan had 0.5 million paying users, a modest decrease of 40,000 quarter over quarter.
Speaker #3: Mainly due to pressure on paying conversion from Alipay's adjustments to its auto-renewal deduction rules. On the user base, average domestic user scale was stable with a slight uptick in Q2, marking the first stabilization in our user base since we began scaling back marketing spend in early 2022.
Speaker #3: New user growth stayed under year-over-year pressure amid the lingering effects of lower marketing spend. But on the product side, refined targeting strategies for different user segments improved matching efficiency, lifting retention among both male and female users to varying degrees.
Speaker #3: and contributing positively to the overall user base stability.
Speaker #4: 二季度碳产国内业务核心聚焦在探索AI驱动的用户体验改善，其中AI开场白和AI聊天助手取得了不错的输出成果。团队强化了AI对用户图片信息的理解，契合碳产用户倾向用图片而非文字表达自己的使用偏好，围绕照片内容生成个性化开场白，尤其对女性用户留存起到了拉动作用。针对女性用户匹配过多的痛点，新的AI计算好友功能在海量配对中筛选出当下最适合聊天的对象，有效降低决策疲劳。此外，AI一键注册和资料优化功能对用户信息的批量精准处理，不仅降低了入驻门槛，也为后续构建AI agent社交管家实现更深度的精选推荐匹配，奠定了高质量的数据基础。
Speaker #3: In Q2, Tantan's domestic business focus is centered on exploring AI-driven improvements to the user experience. Among these, the AI icebreaker and AI chat assistant delivered encouraging early results.
Speaker #3: The team strengthened AI's semantic understanding of users' photos, which fits Tantan users' preference for expressing themselves through images rather than text, and used the photo content to generate personalized opening lines, which had a particularly strong pull on female user retention.
Speaker #3: To address the pain point of female users receiving too many matches, the new AI-created matching feature scans through a large volume of matches to surface the best people to chat with.
Speaker #3: Effectively reducing decision fatigue. In addition, AI one-click registration and profile optimization processed user information in bulk with precision, which not only lowered the barrier to onboarding but also laid a high-quality data foundation for building an AI agent social manager down the road.
Speaker #3: And enabling deeper, more curated matching and recommendations.
Speaker #4: 获客方面，是外部因素影响。客单价同比上涨，叠加渠道预算收窄，造成获客量同比减少，但由于自然量的留存好于渠道，且筛选相对缓慢，部分环节投放缩量对大盘整体造成了压力。渠道ROI虽受客单价上行及支付宝政策对ARPU的影响，而环比出现回落，但碳产整体ROI仍持续保持在100%以上的健康水位。
Speaker #3: On user acquisition, external factors pushed up unit acquisition cost year over year, and combined with a narrowed channel budget, this reduced the number of users acquired from a year ago.
Speaker #3: However, because organic traffic retains better and drops more slowly than channel traffic, this partially offset the pressure on the overall user base from the reduction in paid acquisition.
Speaker #3: Channel ROI declined quarter over quarter due to a rising unit cost and the impact of Alipay's policy change on ARPU. However, Tantan's overall ROI remained at a healthy level, above 100% payback.
Speaker #4: 财务方面，二季度碳产总营收1.56亿人民币，同比下降18%，环比下降3%。收入下降主要由于国内支付宝渠道政策调整对会员续费造成阶段性压力，对此我们采取多种应对策略。一是推出终身会员产品，并引导短周期用户向长周期订阅转化，以降低续费频次波动风险。二是完成支付端升级，接入抖音及微信支付，有效弱化单一渠道的依赖。同时优化扫描的匹配策略，实现该场景收入逆势提升。
Speaker #3: On the financial side, in Q2, Tantan generated total revenue of RMB 156 million, down 18% year over year and 3% quarter over quarter. The revenue decline was mainly due to temporary pressure on membership renewals from Alipay's domestic channel policy adjustments.
Speaker #3: In response, we took several measures. First, we launched a lifetime membership product and encouraged the short-cycle subscribers to convert to longer-cycle plans, reducing the volatility risk tied to the renewal frequency.
Speaker #3: Second, we completed an upgrade to our payment infrastructure, integrating Douyin Pay and WeChat Pay to meaningfully reduce the reliance on a single channel. At the same time, we optimized the matching strategy behind FlashChat, driving revenue growth in that scenario against the broader trend.
Speaker #4: 最后是新业务。二季度海外总营收6.73亿人民币，同比增长52%，环比增长13%。集团收入占比较上年同期提升10个百分点至27%，收入同比加速增长，主要得益于Lina新产品发展势头强劲，以及上年收购的海外约会产品定表贡献。环比看，海外收入两位数增长，主要源于Lina地区斋月的季节性过后的资安修复，以及产品侧引入新的游戏化玩法。运营上借次节庆及世界杯开展的主题活动，有效提振了用户活跃度与付费意愿，驱动全线产品收入增长。其中受土耳其下架以及中东局势的持续动荡等外部因素影响，social的推进节奏略缓于我们年初的预期，但该产品当前正逐渐走出Q1低谷，呈现出明确的恢复趋势。另外值得一提的是，Lina两款新产品增长动能强劲，二季度合并收入体量已基本接近social，并且在保持高速增长的同时，盈利能力也在持续提升。Yahoo本季度首次实现净利润层面的盈亏平衡，阿玛尔在年初实现边际贡献打正后，得益于收入快速增长和经营性杠杆，净亏损持续收窄。这标志着我们在Lina地区从social单一产品驱动迈向多产品举重协同发展的新阶段。
Speaker #3: Lastly, our new businesses. In Q2, total overseas revenue was RMB 673 million, up 52% year over year and 13% quarter over quarter. Overseas revenue as a share of group revenue rose 10 percentage points year over year to 27%.
Speaker #3: The acceleration in year-over-year growth was mainly driven by strong momentum from our new Mina products, as well as the consolidation of overseas dating products acquired last year.
Speaker #3: Sequentially, overseas revenue grew at a double-digit rate, mainly reflecting the natural recovery in the MENA region following the seasonal Ramadan low, along with new gamified features on the product side and the themed events tied to seasonal occasions and the World Cup on the operational side.
Speaker #3: Both of which lifted user engagement and paying propensity, and drove revenue growth across the board. Within the portfolio, Social's progress moderated relative to our initial timeline, due to external factors including its removal from the Turkish app store and the ongoing geopolitical tension in the Middle East since the beginning of the year.
Speaker #3: However, the product is gradually emerging from its Q1 trough and is showing a clear recovery trend. Notably, the two newer products in Mina demonstrated strong growth momentum.
Speaker #3: With their combined revenue in the second quarter already approaching the scale of Social, and alongside this high growth, profitability has also continued to improve.
Speaker #3: Yahoo Land achieved a net income break-even for the first time in Q2. Amar, having 10 marginal contribution positive earlier this year, has seen its net loss continue to narrow quickly on the back of rapid revenue growth and operating leverage.
Speaker #3: This marks a new stage of our Mina strategy, moving from a social-driven, single-product model toward a multi-product matrix working in concert.
Speaker #4: 另外，我们在发达国家地区的约会业务，二季度延续了高质量的扩张趋势。Tantan上半年通过迭代会员权益体系及精准投放，实现了付费转换率与RARPPU的提升，推动收入同环比持续增长。依托欧洲核心市场的本土优势，Tantan年初起启动了对周边市场的探索，并收获了令人满意的初期成果。当前新市场的用户与收入表现充分论证了这些区域的长期增长潜力，为我们下一阶段的规模化扩张奠定了良好基础。
Speaker #3: On the other hand, our developed market dating business has maintained high-quality expansion in Q2. In the first half of the year, Tantan improved pay conversion and RP pool through iterating on its membership benefits and precision targeting, driving continued revenue growth both year over year and quarter over quarter.
Speaker #3: Building on its strong position in its core European markets, Tantan began exploring neighboring markets starting early this year and has seen encouraging early results.
Speaker #3: The current user and revenue performance in this new market fully validate their long-term growth potential and lay a solid foundation for the next phase of scaled expansion.
Speaker #4: 整体来看，上半年集团在国内业务持续经受住外部环境考验的同时，海外产品矩阵已经实现从单点支撑到多元化均衡增长。这验证了我们过去几年在全球化上长期投入到有效性，也为集团创造了更健康的收入结构和更强的抗风险能力。下半年我们将继续通过产品创新和精细化运营，充实国内现金流业务基本盘，同时推进海外业务规模化，为用户和股东创造长期价值。
Speaker #3: Overall, in the first half of the year, while our domestic business continued to weather external headwinds, our overseas product portfolio has shifted from being supported by a single product to achieving balanced, diversified growth.
Speaker #3: This validates the effectiveness of our sustained investment in globalization over the past several years, and has given the group a healthier revenue structure and stronger resilience.
Speaker #3: In the second half of the year, we'll continue to strengthen the foundation of our domestic cash cow business through product innovation and refined operations.
Speaker #3: While advancing the scaling of our overseas business, we aim to create long-term value for both users and shareholders.
Speaker #4: 以上是本次电话会，我想和大家分享的内容。接下来请Kathy为大家介绍财务情况。
Speaker #3: This concludes my remarks today. Now, let me pass the call over to Kathy for the financial review. Kathy, please.
Speaker #1: Thanks, Jianhua and Ashley. Hello everyone. Thank you for joining our conference call today. Now let me take you through the financial review. Total revenue for the second quarter 2026 was RMB 2.49 billion, down 5% year-on-year, but up 4% quarter-on-quarter.
Speaker #1: Non-GAAP net income attributable to the shareholders of the company was RMB 273.9 million, compared to a net loss of RMB 96 million in the same period of 2025.
Speaker #1: And 328.8 million RMB in the previous quarter. Looking into the key revenue items for Q2, total revenue from value-added services for the second quarter of 2026 was RMB 2.44 billion.
Speaker #1: Down 5% year on year, but up 4% quarter on quarter. On a geographic basis, PRC mainland value-added services revenues was 1.77 billion RMB, down 17% year over year.
Speaker #1: The decrease was primarily due to continuous tax scrutiny on some of Momo's agencies, combined with weak consumer sentiment due to broader macro pressures, and, to a lesser degree, a decline in paying users on Tantan.
Speaker #1: PRC Mainland VAS revenue for Q2 2026 was up 1% quarter over quarter, due to recovery from low seasonality. VAS overseas revenue for the second quarter of 2026 reached RMB 664.9 million, up 51% year over year, driven by strong growth momentum from our new Mina product, as well as the consolidation of overseas dating products acquired last year.
Speaker #1: Sequentially, overseas VAS revenue rose 12%, driven by a recovery in the MENA region after its seasonal low, alongside product and operational initiatives. Turning to costs and expenses, non-GAAP cost of revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was RMB 1.6 billion, the same as the year-ago period.
Speaker #1: Non-GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 35.8%, compared to 38.8% from the year-ago period. Q2 cost of revenue included RMB 56.8 million in film production expenses. Excluding this item, gross profit margin would have been 38.1%, a decline of less than 1 percentage point versus Q2 last year.
Speaker #1: The decrease was primarily due to payment channel costs rising as a percentage of revenue. This resulted from a geographic mix shift toward international operations, which carry higher payment channel fee structures compared with our domestic businesses.
Speaker #1: Although Momo raised agency payout ratio to mitigate impacts from tax scrutiny, improved gross margins in the MINA region, coupled with a larger revenue contribution from higher-margin overseas dating products, offset the margin pressures stemming from Momo's operations.
Speaker #1: As a result, total revenue-sharing costs as a percentage of revenue remained stable compared to the year-ago period. Non-GAAP R&D expenses for the second quarter were RMB 171.3 million, compared to RMB 172.0 million for the same period last year.
Speaker #1: Non-GAAP R&D expenses as a percentage of revenue were 7%, the same as in Q2 last year. We ended the quarter with 1,399 total employees, compared to 1,268 a year ago.
Speaker #1: R&D personnel as a percentage of total employees for the group was 56%, compared with 58% in Q2 last year. Non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses for the second quarter were RMB 380.4 million, compared to RMB 330.9 million for the same period last year, representing 15% and 13% of total revenue, respectively.
Speaker #1: The year-over-year increase in sales and marketing expenses was mainly attributable to greater marketing spend on our new overseas apps. This increase was partially offset by ongoing cost controls in mainland China operations. Both Momo and Tantan cut marketing spend, while SoCho temporarily pulled back on channel investments amid external challenges.
Speaker #1: Non-GAAP G&A expenses were RMB 75.1 million for the second quarter, compared to RMB 67.5 million for the same period last year. The increase was primarily driven by RMB 11.0 million in exchange gains on euro-denominated deposits stemming from currency fluctuations in Q2 last year, compared with a RMB 1.8 million exchange loss in the current quarter.
Speaker #1: Non-GAAP G&A expenses as a percentage of revenue were 3%, largely unchanged from Q2 last year. Non-GAAP operating income was RMB 276.1 million, representing a margin of 11.1%, compared with RMB 447.7 million and a margin of 17.1% from Q2 2025.
Speaker #1: As noted earlier, non-GAAP cost of revenue included film production-related expenses. Excluding this item, non-GAAP operating income from our recurring business would have been RMB 332.9 million, with a margin of 13.4%.
Speaker #1: Non-GAAP OPEX as a percentage of total revenue was 25%, an increase from 22% in the year-ago period. Now, briefly on income tax expenses.
Speaker #1: Non-GAAP income tax expenses were RMB 71.2 million for the quarter, with an effective tax rate of 23%. In Q2, the company accrued withholding income tax of RMB 18.4 million, which is 10% of the undistributed profit generated by our ROFI.
Speaker #1: Without the withholding tax, our estimated non-GAAP effective tax rate was around 17% in the second quarter. Now, turning to balance sheet and cash flow items.
Speaker #1: As of June 30, 2026, Hello Group's cash, cash equivalents, short-term deposits, long-term deposits, short-term investments, and restricted cash totaled RMB 8.54 billion, compared to RMB 8.68 billion as of December 31, 2025.
Speaker #1: Net cash provided by operating activities in the second quarter 2026 was RMB 642.3 million. The difference between operating net cash and non-GAAP net income was mainly due to the fact that a substantial amount of Q1 receivables was collected in Q2, as well as accrued interest and some non-cash items, including film production costs and withholding tax.
Speaker #1: Lastly, on business outlook. We estimate our third-quarter revenue to come in the range of RMB 2.4 billion to RMB 2.5 billion, representing a decrease of 9.4% to 5.7% year over year.
Speaker #1: This is based on the assumption that, at any point on a year-over-year basis, revenue from our mainland China business would decline by high teens percentage-wise, while overseas revenue is expected to grow by high 30s percentage-wise.
Speaker #1: Please be mindful that this forecast represents the company’s current and preliminary view of the market and operational conditions, which are subject to change. That concludes the prepared portion of today’s discussion.
Speaker #1: With that, let me turn the call back to Ashley to start Q&A. Ashley, please.
Speaker #3: Thanks. Just a quick reminder before we take the questions: For those who can speak Chinese, please ask your questions in Chinese first, followed by an English translation by yourself.
Speaker #3: Operator, we're ready for questions.
Speaker #2: Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one (*) on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two (*2).
Speaker #2: If you're on speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Speaker #4: 晚上好，谢谢管理层接受我的提问。记得上一次的 earnings call，管理层曾经提到下半年我们国内业务收入的下降幅度会较上半年明显收窄。但如果刚刚看最新的指引的话，我们看到 Q3 的降幅较上半年来说反而是略有扩大。想问一下造成这个偏差的核心原因是什么？是由于外部宏观环境的变化，还是平台自身运营战略的调整？针对这个情况，公司目前有哪些具体的应对措施？还有就是如果看下半年的话，国内业务的收入和费用是否可以提供更多数字上的分享？Let me translate myself. Hi, good evening. Thanks, management, for taking my question. In our last earnings call, management talked about the decline in domestic revenue in the second half would be notably leveling versus the first half.
Speaker #4: However, when we look at the guidance, it seems the decline in Q3 is slightly widening versus the first half of the year. May we know the key reason for the difference?
Speaker #4: You said more due to the changes in the external macro environment or adjustments to our platform operational strategy? And in response to the situation, what specific measures does the company have at the moment?
Speaker #4: Can management provide more color about the financials, specifically regarding domestic revenue and expenses in the second half? Thank you.
Speaker #5: 我来回答一下吧。我们关于国内业务预期的调整，主要是基于进入下半年以来默默直播那个流水出现的一些新趋势。那么数据显示，我们流水的压力主要集中在高额付费用户群体的消费降级。尽管该群体绝大部分用户依旧在平台活跃，但其消费意愿趋于谨慎。人均 RPU 出现显著降低。通过我们 VIP 团队对客户的定向调研，我们了解到核心原因在于宏观环境波动导致的高净值人群财富预期转弱，进而抑制了大家在社交娱乐领域的支出。相比之下，腰部长尾用户以及主播供给侧表现则相对稳定。
Speaker #3: Let me translate. Our revised outlook for the domestic business is mainly based on some new trends that we've seen in the increasing live streaming revenue.
Speaker #3: Since entering the second half of the year, the data shows that the revenue pressure is concentrated mainly in consumption downgrading among high-spending, paying users.
Speaker #3: Although the vast majority of these users in this cohort remain active on our platform, they've become more cautious about spending, and average RPU has declined significantly.
Speaker #3: Based on our targeted interviews with this cohort of users by our VIP team, we found that the core driver behind this is weaker wealth expectations.
Speaker #3: Among high net worth individuals, amid macro volatility, which has dampened spending on social entertainment. By contrast, mid-tier and long-tail users, as well as broadcasters from the supply side, have remained relatively stable.
Speaker #5: 其实这个判断，我们会采用分层运营的思路。首先是头部用户，我们会充分用好默默的社交平台优势，重点强化社交连接，而不是单纯刺激消费。具体来说，一方面我们会上线以社交互动为主的轻量化玩法，同时由官方组织高净值用户的线下活动进一步提升这部分用户和平台的粘性，并且升级 VIP 专属服务。另一方面，我们也会继续给主播提供像海外游学、短剧制作这类稀缺资源，不断更新内容供给，保持高价值用户对头部主播的持续关注和新鲜感。
Speaker #3: Based on this view, we will take a tiered operating approach. Starting with top-tier users, we will make full use of Momo's strengths as a social platform, focusing on deepening social connections rather than simply pushing more spending.
Speaker #3: And specifically, on the one hand, we will roll out lightweight, social interaction-focused features and organize official offline events for high-paying users, further strengthening this group's stickiness to the platform.
Speaker #3: And upgrading our VIP exclusive services. On the other hand, we will continue to provide high-quality broadcasters with exclusive resources, such as overseas training tours and short drama production, to constantly refresh content supply and sustain high-value users’ ongoing interest and engagement around top broadcasters.
Speaker #5: 另外，对于腰部和长尾用户，我们会重点布局音频互动、社交小游戏这类低门槛、容易留住用户的场景。通过丰富产品矩阵、稳住这部分用户带来的流水基本盘。那么关于财务数据的部分，交给 Cassie 跟大家介绍。
Speaker #3: Users, we'll focus on low-barrier, high-retention scenarios such as audio-based interactive features and social mini-games, and use a richer use case offering to stabilize the revenue base generated by this user group.
Speaker #3: And for the financial figures, I will hand it over to Cassie.
Speaker #2: Sure. Let me give you a quick update on how we currently think about the domestic business in the second half of 2026. As you may see, our Q3 guidance implies roughly a high-teens year-over-year decline for the domestic business, widening from Q2's 17% year-over-year decline rate. That underperforms our earlier expectation that in the second half, domestic business could see the year-over-year decline rate narrowing down from the first half.
Speaker #2: The key reason Q3 is coming in below our quarter-ago expectation is that, as Tangso mentioned just now, the domestic business has been facing greater pressure than we anticipated, particularly on user spending sentiment among the very top cohort users in live streaming showrooms.
Speaker #2: With regards to the trajectory from Q3 onward, as in the previous quarters, I would still frame our view around three areas that we closely monitor.
Speaker #2: First is overall spending sentiment. What we've observed since late Q2 is a meaningful reduction in spending from the top cohort of users. These are the users who historically contribute a disproportionate amount of revenue in the showrooms, and many of them spend in the hundreds of thousands, or even beyond, on a monthly basis.
Speaker #2: In Q3, the reduction in spending from this top of pyramid from this top of pyramid users became more pronounced. Our current assessment is that this reflects continued pressure on the financial outlook of these so-called high net worth users.
Speaker #2: This is in turn affecting their discretionary and entertainment spending. So, from a macro spending sentiment perspective, we may continue to see a headwind as we move into Q4.
Speaker #2: And the second factor is the regulatory environment. At this point, we are not seeing any significant incremental regulatory pressure, and we expect the environment to remain relatively stable.
Speaker #2: So, this is not a major driver of the change in our outlook. The third area, and one where we continue to see encouraging signs, is the underlying health of the platforms.
Speaker #2: Our DAU and engagement metrics remain relatively resilient, and importantly, Momo paying users Momo paying user base in Q2 increased meaningfully from Q1. This is certainly there is certainly some seasonality in that sequential improvement.
Speaker #2: However, we believe it also reflects a relatively healthy and resilient user ecosystem. So, in other words, the weakness we're seeing in revenue is not primarily a function of users leaving the platforms or a deterioration in engagement.
Speaker #2: It's much more concentrated in the spending behavior of the highest net worth users. These users are still active and still paying; they are simply spending less.
Speaker #2: So if you put these factors together, I would say the biggest change in our view versus the beginning of the year versus at the beginning of the year is the macro spending environment, particularly among the top cohort of users.
Speaker #2: For that reason, our earlier expectation for a meaningful narrowing of the year-over-year decline in the second half should be adjusted downward. At this point, given the uncertainty around the macro environment, I don't think it would be appropriate for us to put a specific Q4 number out there.
Speaker #2: What we can control is continuing to strengthen the fundamentals of both Momo and Tantan, improve the user experience and engagement across the platforms, and make the business more efficient.
Speaker #2: On the cost side, we do see opportunities to further optimize our operating expenses. This includes continued discipline around personnel costs, as Jianhua mentioned in his prepared remarks, and additional opportunities to optimize sales and marketing spending in the domestic business.
Speaker #2: So, while the revenue environment is more challenging than we anticipated at the beginning of the year, we are taking a more balanced approach, remaining focused on improving the underlying health of the platforms while at the same time actively managing the cost structure.
Speaker #2: This should allow us to mitigate some of the pressure on the bottom line, even in a more challenging revenue environment. Now, back to Ashley for more questions.
Speaker #4: All right.
Speaker #3: Operator next question, please.
Speaker #4: Thank you. Your next question comes from Suking Zhang with CICC. Please go ahead.
Speaker #3: Thank you. 我的问题是关于海外业务的。那刚刚管理层有提到二季度有哈亮和阿曼两块新品的合并收体量已经基本接近social了。同时盈利的能力也在持续改善。那随着中都设立业务收入的更加多样化，我们是否可以认为公司在Mina市场未来的表现会更加稳定？抗风险能力也会更强呢？以及这种结构性的变化对Mina业务整体的利润率会带来什么样影响？同样也想请教一下公司对于全年海外收入的展望是否有更新？Thanks management for taking my question. My question regards on the overseas business. Management mentioned that combined revenue from Ihara and Amar in the same quarter was already close to that of social.
Speaker #3: While their profitability continues to improve, as the revenue mix of the social entertainment business in the MENA region becomes more diversified, can we expect the company's performance in the region to become more stable and resilient going forward?
Speaker #3: And how will the structural shift affect the overall margin profile of the Mina business? Can management also share whether there has been any update to the company's full-year outlook for the overseas business?
Speaker #3: Thank you.
Speaker #5: 从目前的势头看，中东两款相对较新的产品合计收入在Q3就会超过social。而目前这两款产品都还保持着健康而强劲的增长状态，因此我们很有信心未来把它们打造成个social同等体量的社交产品。
Speaker #2: Based on the current momentum, the combined revenue of our two newer Mina products will surpass Socials in Q3. Both products are still maintaining healthy, strong growth, so we are confident that we can grow them into social products of a scale comparable to Socials.
Speaker #5: 另外，这三款产品有着不同的玩法。在专注客群以及区域方面也各有不同。这会令集团在Mina地区的业务更加多样化，对外部风险的抵御能力和机动化抓住增长机会的能力都更强。新产品做起来之后，即便某一款产品由于外部监管或者地缘政治等因素短期承压，其他产品仍然可以支撑整个区域收入的稳定性。另外，我们认为这类音视频社交产品的市场也不局限于Mina地区，一个多样化的产品组合对于其他地区的拓展能力也会高于单一产品。
Speaker #2: In addition, these three products differ in gameplay, target user base, and regional focus, which will make the group's Mina business more diversified and strengthen both our resilience to external risks and our agility in capturing growth opportunities.
Speaker #2: Once the new products are established, even if one of them comes under short-term pressure from external regulatory or geopolitical factors, the others can still support the stability of overall regional revenue.
Speaker #2: We also believe the market for this type of audio and video social product isn't limited to Mina. A diversified product portfolio gives us a stronger capability to expand into other regions than a single product would.
Speaker #5: 利润方面，目前雅哈兰和阿曼的利润情况都在快速改善。雅哈兰已经越过了盈亏平衡点，阿曼大概还需要半年左右的时间，但毛利率和边际贡献率都在迅速而稳定的改善中。我们相信明年这两款产品会为集团的利润产生贡献。至于海外收入的预期，请Cathy给大家介绍。
Speaker #2: On profitability, both Yahala and Amar are improving quickly. Yahala has already crossed break-even, and Amar is likely still around half a year away. But both products' gross margin and contribution margin are improving rapidly and steadily.
Speaker #2: We believe both products will contribute to the group's profit next year. As for our overseas revenue outlook, I will leave it to Cathy.
Speaker #3: Okay. Before giving a quantitative outlook, let me briefly walk through the three key components of the overseas business. First, on social, our flagship product in the MENA region—the business has underperformed our original expectations somewhat.
Speaker #3: There were two main factors behind that. One was the removal of the app from the app store in Turkey earlier this year, and the other was the regional conflict that started in April, which had an impact on the operating environment in parts of the Middle East.
Speaker #3: The encouraging part is that, as you can see from Q2 results, both revenue and traffic for social have already recovered from the low point in Q1.
Speaker #3: We are continuing to see gradual, sequential improvement as we move through Q3—and hopefully Q4 as well. So, Chillo is somewhat below our initial expectation for the year, but the trajectory has been improving over the past couple of quarters.
Speaker #3: The second piece is Yahalan and Amar. As Townsall and Tianhua mentioned, the outperformance of these two businesses has partially compensated for the shortfall in Social.
Speaker #3: In Q3, the combined revenue from Yahalan and Amar has already exceeded that of Social. Both businesses are still growing at a rapid pace, while we are also seeing meaningful improvement in their bottom line performance.
Speaker #3: So, we believe these two businesses can continue to make progress and become increasingly meaningful contributors to both the top line and bottom line of the overseas business going forward.
Speaker #3: The third piece is the dating and membership subscription businesses, which continue to perform well. Some of the acquired brands, including Happn, have been making good progress in new markets including Korea, Taiwan, and the UK.
Speaker #3: At the same time, we are taking a fairly disciplined approach to investment in these new markets. We do see opportunities to increase marketing investment to accelerate top-line growth.
Speaker #3: But we also want to maintain a healthy bottom line for the newly acquired dating business. More importantly, we want to make sure that we are building the ecosystem in these markets in a sustainable way, rather than simply pushing for short-term user or revenue growth.
Speaker #3: So there is naturally a balance between the pace of top-line expansion and the level of investment that we're willing to pour in within a relatively short time frame.
Speaker #3: In other words, we'd rather take it right than take it fast. So if you wrap these all up and try to look at the takeaway as a whole, I would say that social perhaps moved a little bit slower than we expected a quarter ago.
Speaker #3: We do have the potential to maybe compensate for it by moving faster on expanding the other two Mina apps and the dating apps. But, given that we wanted to balance top-line growth and bottom-line target, we probably won't push the gas pedal harder than we previously planned.
Speaker #3: Therefore, my current view is that the original RMB 3 billion target for overseas revenue for 2026, at this point, looks a little bit of a stretch.
Speaker #3: We'd rather take one or two hundred million down from that target. Maybe back to Ashley to take one last question.
Speaker #4: Yeah. So, in the interest of time, let's just take one last question before we close the line. Operator, we're ready.
Speaker #1: Your next question comes from Jenny Yuan with UBS. Please go ahead.
Speaker #3: 今天关于曾经这个提问。那我的问题是关于我们对于下半年的一个利润展望。那么我们之前也是提到，就是对下半年的国内业务收入这一块进行下调。那这相对整个集团层面的一个盈利表现会产生怎么样的影响？ So, thanks management for taking my question. My question is on the profit outlook. As management announced a weaker revenue outlook for domestic business in the second half, how should we think about the impact on the group's overall profitability and the earnings performance going forward?
Speaker #3: Thank you.
Speaker #4: Okay, I'll take that question. Profitability—maybe let me start with the group top line first, because that's the first area where our view has changed.
Speaker #4: As I mentioned back in June, during our Q1 conference call, at that time we expected the group revenue to decline slightly year over year, perhaps by a couple of percentage points.
Speaker #4: Given the additional pressure we are seeing in the domestic business in the second half, we currently expect the full year group revenue decline to be somewhat larger, maybe to mid-single-digit range.
Speaker #4: The second factor affecting profitability is investment in the two movies. With both movies now released, we've recognized roughly somewhere around $60 million of additional losses.
Speaker #4: In Q2, that obviously creates some incremental pressure on the full-year bottom line relative to our earlier expectations. Having said that, we continue to see opportunities to offset some of this pressure through cost management and improving operating efficiency.
Speaker #4: In particular, we are looking at further optimization of personnel costs, as well as sales and marketing spending, especially in the domestic businesses.
Speaker #4: So, putting these factors together, the additional pressure on the top line does make it more challenging to achieve our original margin targets, which was—I think we pointed toward a low teens adjusted operating margin for 2026.
Speaker #4: But at this point, we still believe that that margin target remains achievable, provided that we execute well on the cost side and continue to improve operating efficiency.
Speaker #4: Back to Ashley to wrap up the call. I think that's all the time we have. Thank you for joining us today, and we'll see you next quarter.
