挚文集团 (MOMO.US) 2026年第一季度业绩电话会
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会议摘要
Hello Group faced a 5% year-over-year revenue decline in Q1 2026, with domestic revenue dropping 15% due to stricter tax rules and reduced consumer spending, while overseas revenue surged 44%. The company responded with tax compliance assistance, incentive programs, and swift commercialization strategies to counteract declines, including unbundling perks and promoting longer-term memberships. AI innovations were highlighted for enhancing user experience and driving higher willingness to pay. Despite external pressures, Hello Group remains on track for profitability, focusing on AI integration, product optimization, and cost control, with a slightly negative full-year revenue outlook but confidence in long-term growth targets.
会议速览
Financial Report Release for the First Quarter of 2026 and Future OutlookThis meeting discussed the Company's financial performance for the first quarter of 2026, including operating highlights and financial guidance. Management has highlighted future growth plans and alerted investors to the potential risks of forward-looking statements.
Financial Report and Strategy Update for the First Quarter of 2026: Optimizing Product Experience and Deepening Overseas LayoutIn the first quarter, the group achieved total revenue of 2.39 billion billion yuan, down 5% year-on-year; domestic revenue 1.79 billion, down 15%; overseas revenue 0.597 billion, up 44%. Strategically, optimize user chat experience, deepen overseas layout, and explore AI-driven innovation in order to achieve stable growth and brand diversification.
Q1 Financial Analysis: Business Performance, User Growth and Platform Strategy AdjustmentQ1 financial report showed that business revenue fell 15% year-on-year and 9% month-on-month due to the impact of new tax regulations and local enforcement. The company partially relieved external pressure by innovating gameplay, optimizing audio scenes and social games. Live streaming business through holiday activities to maintain user activity, pay conversion rate and host return rate increased. Paying users in China declined slightly, but younger user engagement and retention improved. The company adjusted its recommendation strategy and introduced map-based social and AI chat features to reduce customer acquisition costs and increase organic traffic.
Overseas Business Growth and Financial Performance under the Impact of New PoliciesReported significant growth in overseas business in the first quarter. Despite external challenges and the impact of Alibaba's new policies, it achieved healthy revenue growth by optimizing product mix and improving operational efficiency. At the same time, new businesses such as Mars and Yahoo Lands showed a strong three-fold annual growth rate, with overseas revenue accounting for 25%, verifying the value of diversified product mix.
First Quarter 2026 Financial Review: Revenue and Cost AnalysisIn the first quarter of 2026, the company's total revenue was 2.3 billion billion yuan, down 5% year-on-year and 7% month-on-month. Non-GAAP net profit was 0.3288 billion billion yuan, down 21.4 percent and 15.2 percent from the same period last year and the previous quarter, respectively. Value-added service revenue was 2.35 billion billion yuan, down 6% year-on-year and 7% month-on-month. Among them, revenue in mainland China fell by 15%, while overseas revenue increased by 44%. In terms of costs, non-GAAP operating costs were 1.46 billion billion yuan, down 7% year-on-year, and gross profit margin increased by 1 percentage point to 38.8. Research and development, sales and marketing, general and administrative expenses have been controlled to varying degrees, of which sales and marketing expenses increased by 14%, mainly due to overseas new market investment.
Overseas Business Challenges and New Business Earnings OutlookDiscussed specific challenges facing overseas operations, including increased regulation in Turkey, war in the Middle East and seasonal consumer sentiment, which led to a decline in revenue in the first quarter. Despite this, new business revenue has grown rapidly and losses have narrowed. It is expected to achieve profitability in the next one to two quarters. The company plans to increase market testing and optimize the gross profit structure to achieve the net profit target while maintaining the health of the existing business. Overall overseas revenue is expected to remain stable, but the specific figures may be affected by the progress of market expansion and there is some volatility.
The Impact of New Tax Regulations and Alipay Withholding Adjustment on Domestic Business Income and Coping StrategiesThe new tax rules led to a 15% year-on-year decline in domestic business revenue, especially affecting the trade unions related to chat rooms. Management actively responded by adjusting stratification and introducing new incentive policies. The adjustment of Alipay withholding rules had a short-term impact on the income of probing members, and the team quickly took measures such as selling rights and upgrading payment methods. The impact is expected to be concentrated in the first half of the year, the second half of the year will be gradually cleared, the domestic business full-year revenue expectations need to focus on macro consumer sentiment recovery.
2026 Revenue Outlook: Macro Environment, Regulatory Pressure and AI InnovationThe 2026 revenue outlook is discussed, noting that the macro environment is relatively stable, but the regulatory environment is stressful, especially for small and medium-sized agents. This paper introduces the innovative application of AI in social products, such as AI voice drift bottle and donut cloud social products, emphasizing the qualitative change effect of AI on user experience. Revenue is expected to be negatively affected in the second quarter, but is expected to improve in the second half of the year, and domestic business revenue is expected to fall to the mid-single digits for the full year. AI investment may affect profits in the short term, but it is optimistic about its pulling effect on performance in the long term.
Analysis of AI return on investment and the Group's full-year profit expectations.This paper discusses the high return of AI investment to improve user experience and willingness to pay, and the importance of horizontal reuse of technology assets. The Group's full-year profit expectations are under pressure from domestic business tax disruptions, but are still expected to meet the profitability targets set at the beginning of the year by optimizing spending.
要点回答
Q：What are the key topics discussed during the conference call?
A：During the conference call, the company's business operations, financial results for the first quarter of 2026, and guidance were discussed.
Q：What are the main drivers behind the company's financial performance in the first quarter of 2026?
A：The main drivers behind the company's financial performance in the first quarter of 2026 were a decrease in domestic revenue due to focused product innovation and cost management, and an increase in overseas revenue, which grew 44 percent year over year, accounting for 25 percent of total revenue compared to 16 percent in the same period last year.
Q：What were the main priorities outlined for the company in the strategic direction for 2026?
A：The main priorities for 2026 outlined by the company were to ensure the stable productivity of the cash cow business for Tant, to continue exploring a dating experience and efficient business model tailored for Asian users, and for new businesses to deepen their overseas presence, enrich the brand portfolio, and build a long-term growth engine.
Q：How has the company's focus on chat experience and AI features contributed to user retention?
A：The company's focus on refining chat experiences, such as the 'not lock' feature that improves connection accuracy, and introducing video features, has contributed to a combined upgrade in group recommendation and product experience. These efforts have lowered the barrier for users to find chat partners and driven a steady improvement in user retention.
Q：How did the company manage to grow its user base and stabilize its user base over the full year despite the challenges?
A：The company grew its user base by focusing on chat experience, resulting in organic traffic growth and improved retention among existing users. Despite a decrease in paying users due to the Chinese New Year, targeted operational events and the recovery from the holiday were stronger than the same period last year, setting a solid foundation for stabilizing the user base over the full year.
Q：What impact did the ongoing tax regulation and consumer spending sentiment have on the company's revenue?
A：The ongoing impact of new tax regulations and stricter local enforcement, as well as persistently soft consumer spending sentiment, resulted in a year-over-year decline of 15 percent in Momo's wu revenue. The sequential decline was also influenced by the Chinese New Year and seasonal factors.
Q：How did algorithm innovation and defined operations affect user base stability?
A：The algorithm innovation and defined operations led to slight improvements in user engagement and retention among younger users, contributing to the stability of the user base.
Q：What changes were introduced to female users' experience and how did it affect their retention?
A：Tiered restrictions were introduced for female users' matting experience, allowing only horizontal or upward matching, which is in line with social expectations. This change drove a near three percentage point increase in the average swipe female user rate and improved the retention rate for new scenarios.
Q：What role did the piloting of map-based social and AI chat play in user acquisition?
A：The piloting of map-based social and AI chat features on user acquisition helped reduce unit acquisition costs due to a year-over-year reduction in China investment, resulting in a lower required volume.
Q：How did Alibaba's new policy affect revenue and profitability?
A：Alibaba's new policy created near-term pressure on revenue, leading to a revenue decrease of ten times in the quarter to 125 million RMB, down 25% year over year and 8% quarter over quarter. The primary driver was MAU contraction leading to fewer paying users and short-term impact of Alibaba's policy adjustments on monetization.
Q：What steps were taken to ease top-line pressure on profitability?
A：The team addressed top-line pressure on profitability by unbundling membership features into a la carte offering, enriching chat gameplay, and stepping up in-app promotion. This, combined with ongoing cuts in channel investment and personnel costs, led to significant year-over-year net profit growth.
Q：What were the revenue growth figures for the new businesses, and what does this signify for long-term growth?
A：The new businesses grew with overseas revenue reaching 597 million RMB, a 44% year-over-year increase, and now accounting for 25% of group revenue compared to 16% in the same period last year. This growth is a significant milestone for the company's long-term growth.
Q：What recent developments have been made in the localization strategy for the overseas business?
A：The company has continued to improve the localization strategy for its overseas business, including a full product positioning and branding upgrade by the Singapore team, a migration from a shared domestic-international app to a standalone international app, and focus on optimizing product experience and improving monetization efficiency.
Q：What is the company's confidence in the dating business and its growth potential?
A：The company remains confident in the dating business and sees a continued release of growth potential in 2026.
Q：What was the total revenue for the first quarter of 2026, and how does it compare to the prior year?
A：The total revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was 2.3 trillion RMB, down 5% year over year and 7% quarter over quarter on a non-GAAP basis.
Q：What factors contributed to the decrease in revenue for the first quarter?
A：The decrease in revenue was primarily due to heightened tax scrutiny on agencies for the home entertainment business, a decline in consumer sentiments amid macro pressure, and a lesser degree of decline in paying users on Pangle. Additionally, there was a decrease in overseas revenue due to seasonal factors like Ramadan and some external challenges in the MENA region.
Q：How did the cost of revenue and gross profit margin perform in the first quarter?
A：Non-GAAP cost of revenue was 1.46 billion RMB, compared to 1.57 billion RMB in the same period last year. The gross profit margin (GPM) for the quarter was 38.8%, up from 37.9% in the prior year, primarily driven by improved margins in Mina products and a greater revenue mix from higher-margin overseas products, partially offset by cost increases in Momo.
Q：What was the year-over-year change in non GAAP sales and marketing expenses and what was the main driver of this change?
A：The year-over-year increase in non GAAP sales and marketing expenses was 14% and 13% of total revenue compared to the same period last year. The increase was mainly driven by increased marketing investments in new overseas markets.
Q：What factors contributed to the decrease in non GAAP general and administrative expenses?
A：The decrease in non GAAP general and administrative expenses was primarily attributable to a high base effect in Q1 2025 resulting from a self-inspection related to tax matters.
Q：How did the company's cash and cash equivalents position change from the previous year-end, and what was the net cash provided by operating activities in the first quarter of 2026?
A：As of March 31, 2026, the company's cash, cash equivalents, short-term deposits, long-term deposits, short-term investments, and restricted cash totaled $8.56 billion, compared to $8.68 billion as of December 31, 2025. Net cash provided by operating activities in the first quarter of 2026 was $158.9 million.
Q：What are the revenue expectations for the second quarter and what is the anticipated growth compared to the same period last year?
A：The revenue for the second quarter is estimated to come in the range from $2.45 billion to $2.55 billion, representing a decrease of 6.1% to 2.7% year on year. This is based on the assumption that revenue from the mainland China business declined by a high teens percentage while overseas revenue is expected to grow by a high fifty percentage.
Q：How is the new business performing in terms of revenue growth and profitability?
A：The new business, which is presumably the newly launched products, has maintained a trend of rapid revenue growth while the losses have been consistently narrowing. The team is now focusing on scaling these products, and as the business continues to grow, they are optimistic about turning profitable in the near future. The company is carefully managing the expansion to ensure a balance between growth and profitability.
Q：What were the main reasons for the sequential revenue下滑 in the first quarter?
A：The sequential revenue slide in the first quarter for three main reasons. First of all, the Turkish government has strengthened the supervision of social live broadcast products, resulting in the unified off-shelf of related products in the whole industry, affecting the acquisition of new users in the Turkish market. Secondly, due to seasonal factors, consumer sentiment in the Middle East and North Africa is generally weak during Ramadan, and SQL products are relatively affected by seasonal factors. Third, the continuation of the war in the Middle East also has an impact on the income of the Gulf region.
Q：What actions is the company taking in response to the challenges faced in the Turkish market?
A：The company is confident that SoChu fully complies with the applicable Turkish laws and regulations governing social platforms. The team is actively working with the relevant authorities to have the app reactivated as soon as possible. Additionally, the company is accelerating localization efforts in other markets to offset the temporary impact from Turkey. The company is also seeing a steady recovery in the SoChu business from Q1 lows and advises investors not to be overly concerned.
Q：How did the manufacturer's Q1 performance and revenue growth compare to the prior year?
A：In Q1, the manufacturer achieved triple-digit year-over-year revenue growth and rapidly narrowing losses. As the business scaled, the team adjusted the revenue sharing structure, driving meaningful and sustained growth along with margin improvement over the past year.
Q：What is the impact of selectively increasing marketing spend and actively testing new markets?
A：Selectively increasing marketing spend where targets are being met and actively testing new markets while keeping the loss trajectory moving in a positive direction each quarter is part of the strategy to optimize marketing Return on Investment (ROMI) and further improve net profitability.
Q：What is the projected timeline for achieving net profitability for the new products?
A：The projected timeline for the new products to achieve net profitability is within a quarter for Yahoo and about half a year behind for Amazon.
Q：What factors affected the revenue performance of the flagship overseas app, Sochi?
A：The revenue performance of the flagship overseas app, Sochi, was under pressure in Q1 due to regulatory changes in Turkey and prolonged geopolitical tensions in some Middle Eastern markets, which impacted revenue in Turkey but other Middle Eastern markets had solid performance.
Q：How are the trends for the newer social entertainment apps in the Middle East region?
A：The trends for the newer social entertainment apps in the Middle East region are developing very much in line with the company's plans.
Q：What is the expected overseas revenue outlook for the current year?
A：The expected overseas revenue outlook for the current year is likely to hit a milestone of $3 billion, which is an increase from the previous estimate of $2 billion for the year 2022. There could be a $100 million variance either way from the $3 billion estimate.
Q：What was the impact of the tax新规 on the company's revenue in Q1 and how is the company addressing it?
A：In Q1, the impact of the tax新规 on the company's revenue was significant, causing a decline in revenue from core chat room activities. The company addressed this by adjusting the revenue sharing ratios for key agencies and introducing a new incentive program to help them achieve tax compliance, which has led to a rebound in operations and revenue since late May.
Q：How will the company's domestic business recover from the impact of tax policy changes?
A：The domestic business is expected to recover from the impact of tax policy changes as the company focuses on solidifying the product fundamentals and maximizing operational efficiency. The company is confident in its ability to improve commercial efficiency.
Q：What steps were taken in response to the支付宝代扣规则调整 affecting Tantan?
A：In response to the Alipay automatic renewal fee adjustment affecting Tantan, the company adopted a strategy of rights selling, offering previously bundled high-frequency privileges separately. Additionally, they enhanced the pay-per-use model to offset any decline in member renewal rates. The company is also in the process of丰富支付渠道,引导用户使用受影响较小的支付方式购买长周期会员。
Q：What changes occurred with the Alipay auto-renewal policy and how did it affect Titan's membership business in Q1?
A：The Alipay auto-renewal policy changes impacted Titan's membership business in Q1 primarily through a temporary decline in renewal rates, resulting in some subscriber term issues.
Q：What strategies did the team implement in response to the decline in membership renewal rates?
A：In response, the team launched an unbundling strategy, separated high-frequency perks from membership packages, and offered them as standalone purchases. They also enhanced 'ala carte' user features like flash chat, diversified payment channels, and encouraged users to shift towards less affected options and promote longer term membership plans.
Q：How was the payment model for the overseas business affected by these changes and what are the expected timelines for the impact?
A：The overseas business, which relies on the App Store and Google Play for payments, was not affected by these changes since it uses a different payment channel. The expected timeline for the impact is that it will be concentrated in the first half of the year, with an improvement in the second half as the company diversifies payment channels and membership structures.
Q：What is the impact of the tax scrutiny on small and medium agencies within the ecosystem?
A：The impact of tax scrutiny on small and medium agencies within the ecosystem was significant, particularly in March, April, and early May. The company rolled out new agency incentive policies to encourage tax compliance, with the goal to maintain the long-term health and stability of the content ecosystem and continue supporting valuable platform agencies. These measures have started showing encouraging feedback and improvements in operating trends.
Q：What is the company's outlook on the revenue decline for the full year and how does it compare to the previously provided guidance?
A：The company's outlook indicates that the domestic business decline rate is expected to be around the mid-teens for the full year, which is a modest adjustment from the previously provided guidance of a low teens decline. The revenue outlook for the full year has been narrowed due to the additional disruption from tax tightening in the first half of the year.
Q：How is AI expected to contribute to the company's long-term growth and what is the potential impact on short-term profitability?
A：AI is seen as a key driver for long-term growth, enhancing the company's social products and enabling users to connect and interact more effectively. While AI investments may impact short-term profitability, the focus is on the potential for AI to significantly improve user experience and drive long-term value. The company is exploring AI integration in areas like user interaction and social connections to potentially enhance user engagement and satisfaction.
Q：What are the two distinct directions AI is advancing in product development?
A：The two distinct directions AI is advancing in product development include enhancing connections between users by lowering social barriers and enabling a new product format, exemplified by the introduction of AI-driven social products like '甜甜圈' and 'middle mind'.
Q：What are the characteristics of the AI tools mentioned and how do they assist users?
A：The AI tools mentioned are designed to guide users in providing basic and profile information through voice input, and then automatically generate more engaging self-introductions and greetings using the user's actual voice. These AI tools are particularly valuable for users who may have weaker social skills.
Q：Which new product format is mentioned as an example of AI's role in creating social products?
A：The new product format mentioned is '甜甜圈', a fully AI-powered voice social product that has started monetization in China, and 'middle mind', an AI role-play dating app that has shown early success in Japan and is expanding to other Asian markets.
Q：How is AI expected to impact user experience and profitability?
A：AI is expected to have a high return on investment by directly improving user experience, which in turn drives higher付费意愿. The AI technology is in the process of being expanded across various products and scenarios, and this is expected to maximize the return on AI investment and contribute to profitability.
Q：What is the group's revenue and profitability outlook for the year?
A：The group's revenue outlook for the year is expected to see a slight year-over-year decline versus the previous year, but the adjusted operating margin target in the low teens remains achievable. However, due to additional pressures from the tax-related disruption in the domestic business in the first quarter and early second quarter, the full-year revenue outlook is now lower than it was at the beginning of the year, which puts more pressure on absolute profit amounts.
Q：What measures are being taken to optimize spending in light of the revenue pressures?
A：To cope with the revenue pressures and the resulting lower absolute profit amount, the company is looking for additional opportunities to optimize spending in appropriate and necessary areas, such as personnel, marketing efficiency, and other operational areas without affecting long-term growth initiatives.
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