He Youjun, a name that appears frequently in the entertainment industry, has also attracted attention from the capital side.
Recently, the parent company of the well-known e-sports clubs estar and ninjas in pyjamas (nip for short), the Star Sports Power Group (nip group), plans to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange with the stock code "nipg". The underwriters of the IPO include Deutsche Bank, CICC, Tiger Brokers, and GF Securities.
In addition, according to Tianyancha, He Youjun is the co-founder and largest shareholder of Xingjing Weiwu Group, with a shareholding ratio of 14.2%. Under the label of "E-sports + He Youjun", Xingjing Weiwu will obviously not lack traffic and market discussion.
First of all, it is undeniable that as a rising industry, e-sports is very popular. The frost & sullivan report shows that the global e-sports game industry will be US$57.9 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to US$102.4 billion by 2027. In terms of
financing, according to incomplete statistics, there will be more than 10 investment events in my country’s e-sports industry in 2023. In the 2023 sports investment and financing list, e-sports is in the leading position.
These data reflect the increasing market recognition and the continued strengthening of policy incentives. For a group of companies such as Xingjing Weiwu, they are undoubtedly in the best stage of growth.
Looking back at the development history of Xingjing Weiwu Group, there is also a trend of "winning by scale".
On January 10, 2023, Xingjing Weiwu announced that it had completed the acquisition of the well-known Swedish e-sports club Ninjas in Pyjama through equity swap. It is reported that this is one of the largest cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the global e-sports industry so far.
Through this merger, Xingjing Weiwu Group will comprehensively expand its overseas business and become a global comprehensive digital sports group covering the Chinese, European and South American markets.
In recent years, the company's revenue scale has also continued to expand. According to the prospectus, the group's revenue will increase from US$65.8 million to US$83.7 million from 2022 to 2023.
But at the same time, Xingjing Weiwu Group is still losing money. The prospectus shows that from 2022 to 2023, the company’s net loss increased from US$6.3 million to US$13.3 million.
On the surface, the increase in talent management and event operation business costs has directly affected the company's profit level. From 2022 to 2023, the cost expenditures of Xingjing Weiwu Group will be US$62.1 million and US$76.5 million respectively. But looking further, this is also a concrete manifestation of the unclear profit model of the e-sports industry.
's "2023 China E-Sports Industry Report" shows that in 2023, the actual revenue of China's e-Sports industry was 26.35 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.31%. In the revenue structure, e-sports content live broadcast revenue accounts for the highest proportion, reaching 80.87%; event revenue, club revenue, and other revenue account for 8.59%, 6.42%, and 4.12% respectively.
It can be seen that the e-sports industry has a strong tendency to generate revenue and focuses more on the operation of one sector. In this regard, some insiders have pointed out that "the current development level of my country's e-sports industry is still at a low level, and a complete and recyclable ecological closed loop has not yet been formed." Under this situation, in addition to Xingjing Weiwu Group, many e-sports companies also have similar problems. For example, Hero Sports, the largest e-sports operator in China, encountered difficulties due to its performance of "increasing revenue without increasing profits" on the way to its IPO. Market doubts.
Now, Xingjing Weiwu Group has also launched an IPO. If it wants to meet its development ambitions, the first priority is obviously to clarify the profit logic and open up the commercialization context.
Regarding how to stabilize the road to commercialization, the current answer given by Xingjing Weiwu Group is "esports+". It proposed in the prospectus that it will try to incubate events through the natural brand and traffic effects of the esports club track. , talent agency, e-sports education, e-sports complex, IP licensing and other diversified businesses to achieve mutual collaboration and penetration of multi-scenario businesses in the e-sports ecosystem.
currently has many layout actions. For example, since 2020, the group’s event business has held more than 400 events in more than 70 cities in China; the talent agency business has attracted world-renowned entertainers and team wang manager Wang Jia Er's joining, etc.
However, the core of the development of its "eSports+" model still lies in business synergy. At present, StarSport Weiwu still has a lot to do in the process of opening up the closed business loop and opening the profit gate.
