Meitu speculation, loss of about 300 million

Meitu has no performance growth point. If you want to take a different approach, take a shortcut of speculating assets, and make some mistakes that ordinary investors will make. The level of investors is good or bad, and this company and individuals are the same in investment. Therefore, for Meitu's losses now, he believes that the starting point is good, but the result is not good.

Economic Observation Network reporter Ren Xiaoning Intern reporter Tan Yuqing

An once -famous Internet listed company appeared again in the public vision because it lost about 300 million yuan. On July 3, these funny scenes really happened.

On the evening of July 3, Meitu Company (01357.HK), a listed company of Hong Kong stocks, issued a profit warning announcement that as of June 30, 2022, the company may record a net loss between about 274.9 million yuan to 349.9 million yuan, and the phase was phase. Compared with the same period last year, a net loss of about 137.7 billion yuan increased by about 99.6%to 154.1%. The main reason for increasing net loss expectations is the impairment of cryptocurrencies.

Meitu entered the currency in the currency circle last year. Last year, it suffered losses this year. On Weibo hot search, netizens were commented as "not doing business." A blockchain company executive told the Economic Observation Network reporters that there are many Hong Kong stocks and US -listed companies that are keen on stocking coins like Meitu.

High -profile fried coins, Meitu lost about 300 million

On July 4, affected by the news of the fried coins, Meitu opened high and low after the opening, down more than 10%. As of the closing, Meitu has closed at HK $ 0.93/share, a decrease of 10.58%, with a total market value of HK $ 4.1 billion.

Meitu's purchase of cryptocurrencies started on March 5, 2021. On the same day, Ethereum and 379.1 units of 15,000 units were purchased on the same day. The total consideration of these two cryptocurrencies was about 22.1 million US dollars and 17.9 million US dollars. The value is about 312 million yuan.

Cai Wensheng, chairman of Meitu Company, posted a statement at the time, "Meitu continued to deploy blockchain, and this time the purchase of ETH and BTC digital currencies as a value reserve for long -term development of blockchain strategy." Eating crabs. This should be regarded as the first in Hong Kong listed company to buy BTC digital currencies. It is also the world's first listed company to use ETH Ethereum as a currency value reserve. "

Cai Wensheng also knows that Bitcoin is risky. At the beginning of the Bitcoin trend, he said that blockchain was the biggest bubble in the historical, but he also said that at the beginning, he could only embrace the bubble, and it was the biggest risk without participation.

Regarding Meitu's investment in cryptocurrencies, Wu Xinhong, the founder and CEO of Meitu, said in an interview with the media, "This is a decision made by the board of directors, and I can't say how this decision is made."

In 2021, Meitu Company purchased virtual currencies again on March 17 and April 8, and purchased a total of 31,000 units of Ethereum and Bitcoin of about 940.89 units, with a corresponding total price of $ 50.5 million and $ 49.5 million, respectively.

In May 2021, Wu Xinhong said that there is no plan to continue to invest in cryptocurrencies because the board approved by the board is US $ 100 million, and only these quotas are temporarily. "Purchasing cryptocurrencies is more of an asset allocation and the layout of overseas business, and will not perform short -term operations." After that, the price of Bitcoin rose all the way, up to 69,000 US dollars.

By 2022, the cryptocurrency market was not the same. At present, the price of Bitcoin has fallen below the $ 20,000 mark. In the first half of this year, Meitu had purchased cryptocurrencies to confirm that the impairment loss was about $ 18.5 million and $ 27.1 million. In converted to RMB, Meitu Investment Ethereum lost 124 million yuan, and the investment in Bitcoin lost 181 million yuan, a total of 305 million yuan.

Virtual currency plunge recently

Behind Meitu's loss of about 300 million, the market value of Bitcoin and Ethereum plummeted. The price of Bitcoin reached its peak in November 2021, which was close to 69,000 US dollars, and currently fell to about $ 19,000, a decline of over 70%. Ethereum hit a historical high of $ 4,891 in November 2021. Since then, it has shown a downward trend as a whole. Since July 2022, the price has hovered around $ 100, a decline of over 77%.

Regarding the current decline in virtual currencies, the co -director, researcher Pan and Lin of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University are not surprised. The virtual currency investment market is about to come out of water. Maybe 1-2 types of head virtual currency will not completely disappear, but the price will jump, and other virtual coins are likely to approach zero.

Pan and Lin told reporters that global central banks have entered a tightening, which is a key factor in the plunge of virtual currencies. The market liquidity is not abundant, and the breakdown of asset bubbles always starts from the largest field of bubbles. The virtual currency has no value guarantee, and the price of geometric growth in the past ten years has entered the downward cycle first when the cycle is tightened.

At the high point in 2011, Meitu's maximum floating earnings exceeded 100 million yuan. However, the good times did not last long. As the Bitcoin index plummeted several times, Meitu's related investment income also suffered losses.

Pan and Lin told reporters that Meitu had no performance growth point. She wanted to take a different approach and took a shortcut to speculate assets, and made some mistakes that ordinary investors would make. The level of investors is good or bad, and this company and individuals are the same in investment. Therefore, for Meitu's losses now, he believes that the starting point is good, but the result is not good. Not only Meitu, which is also affected by the plunge of cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of last year, Tesla purchased a $ 1.5 billion Bitcoin and affected by the plunge of Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin held by Tesla may shrink 440 million US dollars (about 3 billion yuan), which is equivalent to Tes Last year's net profit was 9%. Fintech companies led by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey hold 8027 Bitcoin and have a loss of more than $ 40 million. According to the Bloomberg billionaire index, it has been hovering around US $ 19,000 from November 9 last year, and seven billionaires related to cryptocurrencies have lost more than $ 114 billion in seven billionaires related to cryptocurrencies.

From a fame to a moment to gradually depression

Meitu Company was established in October 2008. Its most well -known product is Meitu Xiuxiu. It has also launched a short video of the first -generation product Mei Shot. Meitu raised three rounds of financing within one year in 2014. It was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 15, 2016. At that time, it was the largest Internet company IPO in the Hong Kong market after Tencent.

Meitu Xiuxiu was once famous, and it was almost a must -have app in each mobile phone. In 2015, the number of users of Meitu Mobile's products was 980 million, covering 680 million mobile devices. Meitu was also the world's top 8 iOS non -game applicants. In 2016, Meitu Xiuxiu had handled more than half of the photos of the mainstream social networks. After listing, Meitu Company was also selected as the "Top 100 Chinese Internet Enterprises". The market value of Meitu in 2017 was close to HK $ 100 billion. As of July 5, 2022, Meitu's market value was HK $ 4.1 billion.

Meitu has gradually depressed in recent years. In early 2022, Wu Xinhong, the founder and CEO of Meitu, mentioned in an interview with the media, "Meitu was born in the picture era, but now the picture is being squeezed by the video." Meitu Financial report shows that the 2017 Meitu revenue exceeded 4.5 billion yuan It reached the peak in recent years. After that, the smartphone business fell into a downturn. The company went downhill. In 2021, its revenue was 1.666 billion yuan, mainly from online advertising, VIP subscription and video SaaS business.

From the financial report data, the total number of active users of Meitu is also declining. In October 2016, the total number of monthly active households in Meitu was 456 million. At the end of 2019, Meitu's monthly active users were 282.5 million. In December 2020, Meitu monthly live users were 261 million. In December 2021, Meitu Company 231 million monthly active users continued to decline.

Meitu has been strategically shifting in strategic in recent years. In addition to Meitu Xiuxiu, Meitu mobile phones used to be a key business of Meitu. In 2013, Meitu entered the hardware field and launched the mobile phone main high -level camera function. In the first half of 2016, hardware revenue accounted for 95%of total revenue. However, due to fierce mobile phone competition, in 2018, Meitu authorized its brand, video technology and secondary domain name to Xiaomi Group. In 2021, Meitu returned to Meitu's authorization.

In October 2017, Meitu tried the beauty e -commerce platform. In 2018, the beauty platform stopped operation and operated the business by Siku Investment Company. In addition, Meitu has also tried community e -commerce similar to Xiaohongshu. It has also tried Meitu Blind Box, Meitu Cleansing instrument, which started with short video platforms at fast hands and Douyin. Be a beautiful industry SaaS, transform to B, and serve commercial photography institutions.

Regarding cryptocurrency profit and loss in the first half of 2022, Meitu said that the impairment loss of cryptocurrencies will not have any significant impact on the cash flow and net operating profit in the group's mid -term performance. In addition, cryptocurrencies are still in the initial stage, and the price tendency is vulnerable to fluctuations, but the blockchain industry is still developing rapidly, and cryptocurrencies have sufficient room for growth. The board of directors is still optimistic about the long -term prospects of purchasing cryptocurrencies.

Meitu is also trying for the fiery Yuan universe and digital collections this year. In June this year, its digital collection brand "Meitu Gem" first released the "pixel memory" of digital collections. Meitu also made new attempts in the direction of the Yuan universe. In April this year, Meitu Xiuxiu's "IP Star Universe" was launched, which opened up the Sanrio Family Park, Disney's Wonderful World, Babies of the Field Baby, and Outman. Different sectors such as the universe.

Source: Economic Observer

Edit: Xing Zhibin

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