Baidu acquires YY streaming platform for US$2.1b
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The news: China’s leading search engine Baidu has bought YY Live streaming platform from JOYY Inc as it seeks to diversify its revenue streams.
The numbers: Baidu purchased the platform for USD2.1 billion ($3.3 billion), having initially proposed the buyout in 2020 for USD3.6 billion. The drawn out negotiation fell through in early 2024 after Chinese regulators failed to approve the deal.
A press release on the acquisition says that approximately USD1.6 billion that Baidu had previously deposited into escrow accounts has been released, and Baidu plans to invest those funds into its cloud and AI infrastructure.
The context: Baidu has been looking for areas to diversify its offering as the country’s largest social media platforms compete for user attention.
The Beijing-based company has increased its push into AI, announcing that it would connect its search engine and Ernie large language model to DeepSeek earlier this month. Baidu also made its Ernie AI chatbot free for users to ramp up momentum, and could intensify a pricing war between generative AI platforms including Alibaba and ByteDance.
The source: Baidu Press Release
