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JOYY
Earnings call · Jun 2026 (Q2 FY26)

JOYY Q2 FY26 earnings call JOYY

Aug 26, 2026 Source

Executive summary

JOYY Inc. Q2 FY26 — Accelerated Revenue Growth and Profitability Improvement

JOYY Inc. delivered a strong Q2 FY26, marked by accelerated revenue growth across its social entertainment, ad tech, and smart commerce segments, alongside notable improvements in operating profitability. The company is strategically evolving into a multi-engine global technology firm, leveraging AI to enhance product offerings and operational efficiency, while actively executing its $1.5 billion shareholder return program through 2028.

Highlights

5

  • Total revenue grew 16.3% year-on-year to $591 million.

  • Non-GAAP operating profit increased 28.2% year-on-year to $49 million.

  • BIGO Ads revenue grew 53.1% year-on-year to $134 million, with BIGO Audience Network up 74.1% year-on-year.

  • Shopline revenue accelerated to 28.6% year-on-year growth, reaching $34 million.

  • Year-to-date through August 21, 2026, total capital returned to shareholders (share repurchases and dividends) reached $359 million.

Concerns

3

  • Non-GAAP net income was lower year-on-year due to a $40 million FX loss in the quarter.

  • BIGO Ads gross margin was down quarter-on-quarter due to a shift in revenue mix towards lower-margin third-party advertising revenues.

  • Shopline's gross margin was down quarter-on-quarter, primarily driven by a higher contribution from lower-margin value-added services like payments and marketing.

Guidance & targets

CategoryTargetConfidence
Total Net Revenues
$602 million to $622 million
high materiality
High
Social Entertainment Revenue Growth
moderate single-digit year-over-year growth
medium materiality
High
BIGO Ads Revenue Growth
strong double-digit year-over-year growth
medium materiality
High
Shopline Revenue Growth
more than 25% year-over-year growth
medium materiality
High
Social Entertainment Revenue Growth
steady year-over-year growth
medium materiality
High
BIGO Ads Revenue Growth
strong mid-double-digit year-over-year growth
medium materiality
High
Shopline Revenue Growth
exceeding 20% year-over-year growth
medium materiality
High
Non-GAAP Operating Income Growth
around 20% year-over-year growth
high materiality
High
Non-live streaming segment contribution to total revenue and operating profit
close to half
high materiality
Medium
Shopline operating breakeven
by 2028
high materiality
High
BIGO Audience Network Revenue
$1 billion
high materiality
High

Segment performance

SegmentRevenueYoYQoQMargin
Social Entertainment
The segment showed strong sequential growth driven by streamer incentive enhancements, a richer content ecosystem, and AI-powered improvements. New voice products are becoming a meaningful complement to growth.
Live streaming revenue growth YoY: 7.3%Live streaming revenue growth QoQ: 5.9%Core live streaming paying users growth YoY: 3.9%Core live streaming paying users growth QoQ: 1.7%Global average mobile MAUs: 277 millionGlobal average mobile MAUs growth YoY: 5.5%Instant messaging product contribution to total MAUs: 82%Bigo Live average daily active streamers increase QoQ: 4.4%Newly signed streamers going live increase QoQ: 5.4%New voice products revenue growth YoY: >400%New voice products revenue growth QoQ: 39%Live streaming revenues from developed countries growth YoY: 11.8%App returned to positive growth YoY: 2.4%
$423 million7.4%5.6%—
BIGO Ads
The segment, particularly the third-party BIGO Audience Network, sustained strong momentum due to traffic expansion, diversified advertiser mix, and algorithm efficiency gains. There was an inconsistency in the reported YoY growth rate for total BIGO Ads revenue; 53.1% was used as it was stated later and consistently.
BIGO Audience Network revenue growth YoY: 74.1%BIGO Audience Network revenue growth QoQ: 9.3%SDK traffic increase YoY: 37.7%Web-based demand growth YoY: 91.7%Web-based demand growth QoQ: 14.4%Mobile-based demand (RA spending) growth YoY: 70.6%
$134 million53.1%7.1%—
Shopline
Revenue growth accelerated, driven by strong performance from cross-border merchants. AI is fundamentally reshaping the e-commerce industry and Shopline's offerings, with significant growth in AI-driven traffic and order volumes. There was an inconsistency in the reported QoQ growth rate; 12.5% was used as it aligns with the 'accelerating' growth narrative.
Cross-border merchants revenue growth YoY: 73.5%Cross-border merchants revenue contribution increase YoY: 7.2 percentage pointsMerchant page views from AI channels growth YoY: nearly 15-foldOrder volumes from AI channels growth YoY: over 35-fold
$34 million28.6%12.5%—

Product announcements

ProductTypeDetails
Shopline's Copilotmilestone

Risks & headwinds

Foreign Exchange Loss Q2 FY26, expected similar trend in Q3 FY26

$40 million in Q2 FY26

Mitigation:Management notes these are non-operational mark-to-market fluctuations unrelated to underlying operating performance.

Gross Margin Compression due to Revenue Mix Shift Q2 FY26

BIGO Ads gross margin down QoQ, Shopline gross margin down QoQ

Mitigation:For BIGO Ads, due to higher contribution from lower-margin third-party advertising. For Shopline, due to higher contribution from lower-margin value-added services. Management believes this mix shift will benefit operating leverage and long-term profitability as these services require less incremental sales and R&D investment to scale.

What to watch in Q3 FY26

Total Net Revenues

Q3 FY26
Current $591 million
Target $602 million to $622 million

Why it matters

Verifying the achievement of the overall revenue guidance for the next quarter is crucial for assessing the company's continued growth trajectory.

We expect our total net revenues for the third quarter of 2026 to be between $602 million and $622 million, implying year-over-year revenue growth of 11.4% to 15.2%.

Q&A highlights

Can management elaborate on the sustainability of the live streaming business recovery and its longer-term outlook?

Management confirmed the recovery is sustainable, driven by optimizing streamer incentives, content ecosystem development, and AI-driven improvements in content distribution and payment experience, leading to 3.9% YoY growth in paying users. They expect continued strengthening momentum and full-year revenue growth in 2026.

“This AI-driven enhancements to the user experience further drove sustained improvements in paying conversion rates. Therefore, our core live streaming paying users grew 3.9% year-over-year.”

asked by Xueqing Zhang · answered by Ting Li

2 min read 5 chapters

Detailed narrative

Multi-Engine Growth Strategy and AI Integration

JOYY is steadily evolving into a multi-engine global technology company, with social entertainment as a core cornerstone and ad tech (BIGO Ads) and smart commerce (Shopline) forming a strong second growth curve. The company expects its non-live streaming segment to contribute close to half of the group's total revenue and operating profit by 2028. AI is a critical foundational technology supporting this strategy, leveraged across streamer ecosystems, content distribution, payment experiences, advertising models, and Shopline merchant operations to drive product enhancements and efficiency gains.

Social Entertainment Business Recovery

The core social entertainment business maintained a steady recovery in Q2, with all flagship products returning to solid growth and improving profitability. This was driven by ongoing enhancements to streamer incentives, a richer content ecosystem, AI-powered content distribution, and localized campaigns. New voice products demonstrated significant growth, with revenue increasing over 400% year-on-year and 39% quarter-on-quarter, gradually becoming a meaningful complement to social entertainment growth.

BIGO Ads Sustains Strong Momentum

BIGO Ads, particularly the third-party BIGO Audience Network, continued its strong growth momentum, delivering 74.1% year-on-year growth. This performance was attributed to accelerating traffic expansion, a more diversified advertiser mix, omnichannel positioning, and significant algorithm efficiency gains. Web-based demand, primarily from lead generation and e-commerce, grew 91.7% year-on-year, while SDK traffic maintained a steady increase of 37.7% year-on-year.

Shopline's Omnichannel Commerce Infrastructure

Shopline is positioned as an AI-powered omnichannel commerce infrastructure, offering merchants a unified, open, and extensible retail operating system. The platform is seeing significant traction from AI channels, with merchant page views growing nearly 15-fold year-on-year and order volumes increasing over 35-fold year-on-year. Shopline has expanded integrations with leading AI agents like ChatGPT and is internally testing 'Copilot' to help merchants manage online stores more efficiently using natural language.

Accelerated Shareholder Returns

JOYY has accelerated its capital returns, repurchasing $216 million in shares and paying $142 million in dividends year-to-date through August 21, 2026, for a total of $359 million returned to shareholders. This activity is part of a $1.5 billion shareholder return program authorized through the end of 2028, reflecting management's confidence in the company's long-term value and prospects, despite believing the current share price does not fully reflect its intrinsic value.

AI-generated summary of the company's earnings call. Not investment advice.