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HUYA Inc.

Q22026

8/11/2026

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

Welcome to Huya's second quarter 2026 earnings webinar. I'm Zichen Liu from the Huya Investor Relations. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's webinar is being recorded. The company's financial and operational results were issued earlier today and are posted online. You can also view the earnings press release by visiting the IR website at ir.huya.com. A replay of the call will be available on the IR website soon. Participants of management on today's call will be Mr. Vincent Junhong Huang, our acting CEO, Mr. Raymond Peng Lei, our CFO, and Ms. Margaret Shi, Head of Capital Markets. Management will begin with prepared remarks and the call will conclude with a Q&A session. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and Anxious. As such, the company's results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's latest annual report on Form 20F and other public filings as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. Please also note that Gu Ya's earnings press release and this conference call include discussions of unaudited GAAP financial information, as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. Huya's press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited most directly comparable GAAP measures. With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Mr. Huang. Please go ahead.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

Okay. Hello everyone. I'm Vincent and thank you for joining our earnest call today. Let me begin with a brief overview of our second quarter performance. We deliver another quarter of sustainable growth with total net revenues increasing by 11% year over year to RMB 1.74 billion. Game-related services, advertising, and other revenues maintain strong momentum, growing by 54% year-over-year to RMB 638 million and contributing approximately 37% of total net revenues. Behind this growth is our long-term positioning around the game industry value chain, which is steadily translating into sustainable growth momentum. Over the past three years, we have steadily expanded our presence across the game industry value chain, evolving from game distribution to in-game item sales, advertising, and marketing, and now game publishing. Throughout this journey, we have built differentiated user acquisition capabilities that have been increasingly recognized and validated by both our partners and the market. Let's give us the confidence to extend beyond our capacity as a publishing partner and take on the full game publisher role, which allow us to participate more deeply across the entire game lifecycle. Our publishing model is built around content rather than paid traffic acquisition. Leveraging our strengths in content creation, streamer network, and user communities, we foster high-quality UGC, expand our reach, and generate social bars across platforms, such as Douyin, Red Note, and WeChat channels. This differentiated approach to publishing let us acquire users more efficiently while reducing our reliance on traditional paid traffic channels. GooseGoose.mobile is our first success story published under this framework, maintaining an active user base and a vibrant content ecosystem. Since July, we have stepped up our efforts to improve the in-game voice environment, launching an AI-powered voice moderation system and a tiered matchmaking system under the GooseGoose Alliance program. These measures have laid a solid foundation for a healthy in-game environment and sustained user engagement. On DRY20, we launched a collaboration with the classic IP Journey to the West, together with a new party game play mode that expands player interaction across multiple SIM spaces. The update expanded the experience beyond the game's core social deduction gameplay into a broader range of immersive social experiences, resulting in enthusiastic reception by players. Supported by our ongoing efforts to improve the in-game environment and introduce compelling content updates, Goose Goose Duck Mobile returned to the number one position on the iOS free game chart in the Chinese mainland at the end of July. The performance of Goose Goose Duck Mobile has demonstrated the effectiveness of Guya's content-driven marketing approach while also helping us develop a repeatable publishing playbook and build valuable operational expertise for future titles. Next up in our pipeline are two titles we are publishing exclusively. The Legend of Swarm Man Reunion, the classic martial arts MMORPG, and Xiao Xiao Qi Yu, a 3D match-based casual mobile game. Our transition from co-publishing to exclusive publishing marks another step forward in the evolution of our publishing strategy. Officially licensed from C3G, The Legend of Swordsmen Reunion is the latest entry in the renowned Legend of Swordsmen franchise, building on more than two decades of rich heritage. It was developed by the original core team behind the PC game, Jianxia World, and offers a seamless cross-platform experience featuring synchronized account data and gameplay across mobile app, PC, and mini program platforms. The game has completed its first round of testing and received encouraging user feedback. By combining our content marketing capabilities with the reach of our streamer network. We aim to bring this classic franchise to a broader audience while preserving the authentic gameplay that has made it a fan favorite for generations. Xiaojiao Qiyu is a 3D mesh-based casual mobile game featuring the official licensed , and represent an expansion into the match category for Huya. The title is well aligned with our content-driven publishing model with strong potential to generate user-created content, social engagement, and organic traffic across live streaming and short form video platforms. On the self-developed game front, we We are pleased to see our first self-developed title, Zhe Dao You Huan Shou, received regular approval for publication in dry. As a casual SLG centered on islands and pet collection, the game represents another important step in building an in-house game development capabilities. We are now actively preparing for its upcoming testing and look forward to sharing more updates as development progresses. On the advertising side, we continue to strengthen our content-driven integrated marketing solution for game developers during the quarter while broadening our advertiser base. Hearthstone has emerged as an important new customer this quarter. We partner with leading consumers to deliver a series of tournaments and content collaborations for Hearthstone. Highlighted by Da'an Manor Global Invitational, the first global third-party platform tournament for Hearthstone, Battlegrounds. It debuted in China and generated more than 200 million impressions across online platforms during tournament play, earning strong recognition from the client. On the in-game item sales front, revenues maintain triple-digit year-over-year growth with Peacekeeper Elite, PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact, and Arena Breakout as key contributors. For Peacekeeper Elite, we continue to invest in the broader game ecosystem. In particular, our coverage and commentary around PEL tournaments generated strong audience interest and engagement, enhanced the appeal of our in-game item offerings, and contributed to continued growth in relative sales. In our live streaming business, the outdoor entertainment content category continues to perform well during the quarter, while our overall streamer ecosystem remains stable. We are also exploring ways to drive greater synergies between game streamers and our entertainment verticals to boost the revenue contribution from top streamers. Since the beginning of the second half of the year, we have also been proactively reviewing the economics of our live streaming partnership aiming to improve the efficiency of our content investment and support a healthier, more sustainable live streaming ecosystem. In terms of tournament content, we offer more than 100 licensed tournaments and approximately 20 self produced tournament on the FUYA platform during the quarter. Our self-produced events continue to grow in scale and build stronger proprietary event brands. For the CF Grand Master Cup, we officially partnered with Crossfire to stage an international invitation featuring eight professional teams and four leading overseas teams The tournament also featured a crossover with the film Kung Fu Hostel, further integrating esports and broader entertainment content. The Dota 2 Immortal Cup Season 2 generated widespread online buzz and more than 2.5 billion impressions across online platforms. In July, we launched both the Dota 4 Streamer Championship and the Peacekeeper Elite Mengnan Superstar Cup. Together, these events expanded our presence across leading shooter titles, strengthened our portfolio of self-produced tournaments, and enhanced Huya's appeal among core gamers. We also helped host a variant national tournament, earning further recognition from game developers for our tournament hosting and products capabilities. On product and AI, We continue to apply AI technologies across our game content ecosystem to improve both our products and overall platform experience. For popular titles such as Delta Force, League of Legends, and Teamfight Tactics, we have launched a range of AI-powered game tools, including map navigation and combat assistance features. These tools have driven solid user engagement and retention. Users of these tools have also shown higher activity levels, longer viewing time, and greater monetization potential on the Huya platform, reinforcing our view that AI-powered game tools will play an increasingly important role in reaching our live streaming ecosystem and creating long-term value. In DRY, we released VAM version 1, our self-developed real-time multi-model digital human model. VAM can rapidly generate AI-powered virtual hosts with natural speech, thinking capabilities, and expressive body movements, enabling highly realistic real-time interaction. We believe VAM has the potential to meaningfully improve the economics of live streaming content. Unlike traditional live streaming, where content supply is inherently constrained by the number and availability of human streamers, VAM enables us to scale content production more efficiently as development expands. Deployment expense will affect operating leverage to increase with our marginal content creation cost declining while content supply become more scalable. Looking back at the quarter, we continue to make steady progress in executing our long-term strategy across publishing, self-development, AI innovation, and game-related services We have further strengthened our capabilities and expanded our role across the game industry value chain. Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our content driven strategy, deepening our partnership across the gaming ecosystem and investing in the capabilities that will support our next phase of growth. We believe these efforts will further strengthen Wea's competitive position and create a sustainable long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Raymond. He will share more details on our results. Raymond, please go ahead.

speaker
Raymond Peng Lei
CFO

Thank you, Vincent, and hello, everyone. I'll start with an overview of our financial performance. In the second quarter, We delivered steady top-line growth while continuing to improve our revenue mix and operating performance. With a larger revenue contribution from our higher-margin game-related services, advertising, and other businesses, our growth margin expanded to 14.7%. Operating loss narrowed to RMB 7 million and non-GAAP operating income improved both year-over-year and sequentially to RMB 16 million. Let's move on to more details of our Q2 financial results. Total net revenues were RMB 1.74 billion for Q2, up 11% from the same period last year. Live streaming revenues were RMB 1.1 billion for Q2, compared with RMB 1.15 billion for the same period last year, primarily reflecting the live streaming industry's current environment. Gaming-related services, advertising, and other revenues were RMB 638 million for Q2, up 54% from the same period last year. The increase was primarily driven by higher revenues from in-game item sales and advertising, as well as the contribution from the commercialization of Goods Goods Dark Mobile. Cost of revenues increased by 10% year-over-year to RMB 1.48 billion for Q2, generally in line with the increase in revenues. primarily due to increased revenue sharing fees and the cost of in-game virtual items. Within this, revenue sharing fees and accounting costs rose by 3% year-over-year to RMB 1.21 billion. Gross profit was RMB 255 million worth Q2, up 20% from the same period last year. Gross margin was 14.7% for Q2, improving from 13.5% for the same period last year. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, non-GAAP gross profit was RMB 257 million, and the non-GAAP gross margin was 14.8% for Q2. Research and development expenses decreased by 1% year-over-year to RMB 120 million for Q2. Sales and marketing expenses increased by 58% year-over-year to RMB 91 million for Q2, primarily due to continued marketing and promotional efforts related to GoodSchoolStock Mobile. General and administrative expenses decreased by 8% year-over-year to RMB 58 million for Q2, primarily due to decreased professional service fees. Other income was RMB 7.8 million for Q2, compared with RMB 7.6 million for the same period last year. Operating loss narrowed to RMB 7 million for Q2 compared with the loss of RMB 24 million for the same period last year. Excluding share-based compensation expenses and amortization of intangible assets from business acquisition, land-gap operating income increased to RMB 16 million from RMB 0.4 million in the same period last year. Interest income was RMB 26 million for Q2, down from RMB 59 million for the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in the average deficit balance as a result of special cash dividends and lower interest rates. Net income attributable to Fuya Inc. was RMB 1.6 million for Q2, compared with the net loss attributable to Huya Inc. of RMB 5.5 million for the same period last year. Excluding share-based compensation expenses and the amortization of intangible assets from business acquisitions, net of income taxes, net income attributable to Huya Inc. was RMB 36 million. for Q2, compared with RMB 48 million for the same period last year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS were each RMB 1 cent for Q2. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS was each RMB 16 cents for Q2. As of June 30, 2026, the company had Cash and cash equivalents, short-term deposit and long-term deposit of RMB 3.21 billion compared with RMB 3.46 billion as of March 31, 2026. With that, I'd like to open the call to your question. Thanks, Raymond.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

And hello, everyone. If you are dialing in by phone, please press 5 to ask a question. Then press 6 to unmute yourself. If you are accessing the call from the Tencent meeting or VOV meeting applications, please click the raise hand button at the bottom left. For the benefits of all participants on today's call, if you wish to ask your question to management in Chinese, please immediately repeat your question in English. Today's first question comes from Richie Sun from HSBC. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

speaker
Richie Sun
Analyst at HSBC

Vincent, Raymond, Margaret. 晚上好,感谢你们给我提问的机会。 我想问一下关于俄亚沙的一个进展。 May I ask you to share with us the performance of Ersha in the second quarter, the performance of the commercialization, and the progress in the stock market? Good evening, management. Thank you for taking my question. My question is about Goose Goose Duck. Can you please share the operation update, monetization performance, and summer promotion progress for Goose Goose Duck? Thank you.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

Okay, I will answer this question. Thank you for your question. In the second quarter, EASA, the entire user base, is still very resilient, mainly young users aged 18 to 25 years old. In terms of the long-term flow, we also see that the decline is actually very low. The core users are still very resilient. At the same time, we also maintain a continuous investment in the entire ecosystem management of the game. In the second quarter, Google stock mobile continued to maintain a healthy and engaged player base with users aged between 18 to 25 remaining our core demographic.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

Long-term retention remained stable with a limited user churn, reflecting continued engagement among our core users. We also continue to invest in building a healthy and a positive game environment. Last month, we launched an AI-powered voice moderation system to improve the quality of in-game voice chat and foster a more positive community environment. This has helped enhance both the gameplay and Social Experience for our players and further supports the long-term health of the game.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

In terms of commercialization, EYASA's ability to transform has also been further verified. Since the beginning of April, the entire value of the game's entire commercial value has been continuously released. The beginning of June, the connection between Fuyao and Xiaohongniang, including the connection between us and Xiyouji and Xiaohuangya in July, has further increased the popularity of our products. We'll be back at the end of July with the free version of the App Store. Looking back, we still have a lot of content available. Basically, we plan new theme activities every month. For example, this month, August, we're going to launch the third link to build a network to further enrich our content.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

On monetization, the game continues to demonstrate its strong commercial potential. Since our very first IP collaboration with Empresses in Palace in April, we have continued to unlock new monetization opportunities. Subsequently, we had collaborations with Fox Spirit Matchmaker in June, Journey to the West, and BDuck in July, further boosted player engagement and helped the game return to the number one spot on iOS pre-game charts. at the end of July. We aim to have a robust pipeline of collaborations with new themed events planned on an almost monthly basis. In August, for example, we plan to launch additional collaborations, including JX3, further expanding our content offerings and creating new opportunities to drive player engagement and monetization.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

. . . . . . . . On the content front, it's encouraging to see YouTube Nemo is such a goose hunt

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

and Ma Zhong continue to account for an increasing share of total player time. We also have a robust summer content lineup. In July, we launched a personal island home decorating system, giving players greater freedom to design and customize their own islands. From August through September, we plan to roll out a series of updates spanning core gameplay, social features, AI-powered matches, and tournament features, further enhancing the overall play experience.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

At the same time, we and the R&D team are currently focusing on promoting the micro-game version of WeChat. In the early stage, we will use the stability and core data of the product as the main verification of the data. And we also hope to fully utilize WeChat's entire ecosystem sharing and social communication capabilities to reduce the barriers of inviting users, friends, and organizing such confrontations. . . . . .

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

So we're also working closely with R&D team to develop the WeChat minigame version. At this stage, we're focused on ensuring product stability and testing key operating metrics while taking advantage of WeChat's built-in social and sharing features to make it easier for players to invite friends and organize game sessions. With a solid user base established in the first half of the year, the WeChat minigame version gives us an opportunity to reach new audience across the WeChat ecosystem and drive the next phase of our user growth. The overall will remain fully confident in a long-term health as the stability of Google stock mobile ecosystem as well as its use engagement and monetization potential.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

Our next question comes from Maggie from CLSA. Please go ahead.

speaker
Rafael
Analyst at BOCI

Maggie, please unmute yourself.

speaker
Maggie
Analyst at CLSA

Can you hear me?

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

Yes.

speaker
Maggie
Analyst at CLSA

Thank you, Manager Ceng, for answering my question. I will translate the question. Could management elaborate a bit more on Huya's overall AI initiative? For example, the creator tools, content recommendation, as well as any interactive features. And how are these capabilities expected to drive user growth as well as monetization over the next few months and then over the midterm as well? Thank you.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

Thank you, Maggie, for your question. I will answer this question. As we mentioned in the last quarter, the whole layout of AI is surrounded by four directions. The first is AI plus live broadcast, AI plus game tools, AI plus IP companionship, and AI plus game production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . We are also looking forward to the supply of live content in the future. In the future, we will be able to break through the time and cost constraints of real-time broadcasting to promote this industry to integrate content like real-time and AI. For our company, VM is also the core component of our AI strategy. Thanks to the ability of our entire self-proclaimed model, we can expand our multiple scenes with lower editing costs and higher efficiency. And it can gradually become an important source of growth for users and long-term value for platforms.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

As mentioned last quarter, our AI initiatives remain focused on four areas, live streaming, game tools, IP-based companionship, and AI-assisted game development. So in AI-powered live streaming, we launched VAM 1.0, our proprietary real-time multimodal digital human model during this quarter. So VAM is among the leading solutions in a real-time full duplex digital human space. and we believe it is helping digital humans to move beyond visual and display purposes towards more practical and real-time interactions. By reducing the time and cost constraints associated with human live streamers, VAM could help accelerate the industry's shift towards a hybrid content ecosystem powered by both humans and AI. Our proprietary model enables us to scale AI-powered content across a broader range of user cases with great efficiency and a lower marginal cost, creating new opportunities to expand our content supply on our platform.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

后续我们也将围绕用户体验、模型的能力、 还有我们成本、效益三个主线来进行持续的迭代, 重点来提升整个形象的一致性, 还有包括表情还有动作的表现, 实时对话和语音的自然度, 并且来进一步的降低延迟还有算力的成本。

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

We will continue to enhance our VAM model, focusing on improving the avatar consistency, facial expressions, and body movements, as well as the naturalness of real-time dialogue and speech, while further reducing latency and computing costs.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

In terms of AI game tools, the map tool of Triangle Island, and the assistant of Hikers, Davanto, have continued to perform well. Within half a year, we have already accumulated millions of users, and the flow of users has also maintained a healthy trend. In the second quarter, we also launched the tool of the cloud. For the first time, we have expanded our AI support ability to a category such as self-driving cars. For AI game tools, the Delta Force Map tool

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

and Hextech ARAM assistant have delivered steady performance since their launches. Within six months, they have attracted more than 1 million users and maintain healthy retention. In the second quarter, we launched a team fight tactics assistant marking our first expansion of AI assistant into auto chess genre. Given its strategic complexity and strong need for real-time decision-making, team fight tactic is a natural fit for real-time in-game AI assistance. This will further demonstrate that our AI assistance capabilities can be applied across game genres. Based on user demand, we will gradually explore tools for additional strategy games.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

The value of AI game tools for our main battle is also being continuously verified. With the help of Hikers, after users use these tools, we can see that the number of players who are more active in Huya has increased by more than double. The viewing frequency, the viewing time, and the overall value of the user have been significantly improved. The value of our AI-powered game tools to the Huya platform is becoming increasingly more evident.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

take our Hextech ARAM assistance as an example. After adopting the tool, users more than doubled their monthly active days on Huya platform, while also watching more frequently and for longer periods, resulting in higher overall user engagement and value.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

. . . . . . . .

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

We're also continuing to explore AI-enabled AI companionship and AI-sensitive game development through multi-agent workflows. So later this year, we plan to begin pre-launch promotion for a physical multimodal AI companion product. Our AI-sensitive game development efforts is also at a quite early testing stage with current applications focused on generating and testing casual and lightweight interactive content.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

Our next question comes from Nelson from Citi. Please go ahead.

speaker
Nelson
Analyst at Citi

Hey. So let me translate into English. So thanks management for taking my question. So following the success of Goose Goose Duck, how would VR position its game publishing business in future? Can management share the latest update on your product pipeline and publishing schedule going forward? Thank you.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

Thank you for your question, Nelson. I will answer this question. Game launch is an important part of the transformation of the entire game live broadcast platform to the entire comprehensive game ecosystem service provider. Currently, Huya's core advantage is not only in the flow of traffic, but also in being able to integrate our entire live content, live broadcast evidence, players' community, and competitive resources and commercialization capabilities. Yansha's successful launch also proved that we are in the process of driving the launch of social energy games. It also helps us to gradually establish the ability to integrate from product launch and user acquisition to long-term operation.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

The game publishing is a key part of our transformation from a live streaming platform into a more integrated game service provider. Our core strength goes beyond traffic acquisition. What sets us apart is the strength of our content ecosystem, which enables us to build awareness, engage users, and support games throughout their lifecycle. The successful launch of Google Stock Mobile validated our content-driven publishing approach. and the role of a social engagement in enhancing the game experience. He also helped us to begin building integrated end-to-end capabilities spanning product launch, user acquisition, and long-term operations.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

In terms of product selection, we will continue to work around high-quality games and high-quality IPs. The focus is on the product with stronger content transmission, social interaction, and long-term operating potential. We are also gradually broadening the coverage of products and users. As we mentioned in the previous statement, we currently have three key products that we are actively promoting, including Huyah's exclusively released sword and sword lover reunion, Xiao Xiao Qiyu, and our self-proclaimed self-guided exchange. In addition, we have many more products that are in preparation.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

In selecting products, we'll continue to focus on high-quality games and premium IP, prioritizing titles with strong content appeal, social interactivity, and long-term operational potential, while gradually broadening our genre mix and user reach. As mentioned in our prepared remarks, we're actively advancing three key titles, Legend of Sword, Reunion, Xiaoxiao and Xiyu, both of which will be exclusively published, Exclusively published by Huya And our self-developed title 这道有怪兽 Several other additional titles are also under preparation 总体来看我们整个游戏发行的业务 也是并非依赖俄亚沙这样单一的产品 而是正在逐步形成多个品类的产品矩阵 包括像社交推理 经典武侠 还有休闲消除类等等

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

I would like to emphasize that the success of publishing strategy is not dependent on Goose to Goose Dark mobile game alone. It was just the beginning.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

We are building a diversified portfolio across multiple genres, including social deduction, classic martial art, and casual match three games. We remain committed to a quality first approach and disciplined investments marketing, following a phase strategy that includes pre-launch content marketing, product testing, data validation, gradual scaling, and long-term operations. This approach will enable us to build a broader and more sustainable growth drivers for our game-related services.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

Our next question comes from Rafael from BOCI. Please go ahead. Please go ahead, Rafael.

speaker
Rafael
Analyst at BOCI

Thanks management for letting me ask questions. I am just wondering how does management assess current streaming performance and future streaming operational strategies? Following content optimization exclusions, what is the potential upside for cost savings in the second half of this year? Thank you.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

Thank you, Jeffrey, for your question. I will answer this question. From the second quarter, the income of our live broadcast is about 11 billion yuan. In comparison, it is a decrease in the first position. In comparison, it basically maintains stability. In the second quarter, Livestream Revenue was approximately RMB 1.1 billion.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

down by a low single-digit percentage year-over-year and broadly stable sequentially. Relative to the broader industry, our performance remained resilient. Paying user numbers in our pool have also remained within a relatively stable range over the past several quarters.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

Currently, the entire industry is still facing relatively weak demand for users to pay. The pressure from the platform competition The industry continues to face pressure from software user spending

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

and Yifeng Zhang. Thank you.

speaker
Vincent Junhong Huang
Acting CEO

We are also promoting strong links between entertainment streamers and game streamers on our platform to encourage users to circulate between different content scenarios. At the same time, we also use advertising, game streaming, and delivery, these diversified transformation methods to further explore the entire commercial value of game streamers.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

We are also strengthening collaboration between entertainment and game streamers to drive cross-category use engagement. At the same time, we're expanding monetization opportunities through branded advertising campaigns, joint game operations, and live stream commerce, helping our game streamers to generate more value from their content and audience.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

Our next question comes from Wei Meng from CICC. Please go ahead.

speaker
Wei Meng
Analyst at CICC

Thank you, Director, for answering my question. I would like to ask how the management is looking at the interest rate and... Hello, Wei Meng.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

Hello. Hello, Wei Meng. We cannot hear from you.

speaker
Wei Meng
Analyst at CICC

So let me just say my... Wei Meng, can you please ask again in Chinese? The call just now was a bit short. Okay, let me ask one more question. I just want to ask about the trend of the interest rate and other profits of the business, and what do you think about the growth of the interest rate after the game was released? Okay, so let me translate myself. I would like to ask about the margins and especially the operating performance outlook. And as the gain population revenue scales up, when do you expect the profit contribution to start showing up? Thank you.

speaker
Raymond Peng Lei
CFO

Thank you for your question. Let me answer this question. From the performance of the company, the net profit of the second quarter has increased by 1.2%. So our gross margin improved by 1.2 percentage points year-over-year in the second quarter. Non-GAAP operating profit reached RMB 16 million.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

A very significant year-over-year improvement and a quarter with a meaningful level of operating profit. Looking ahead, as higher margin businesses such as game publishing make up a larger share of revenue, we continue to improve spending efficiency and we see further opportunities to improve both gross margin and operating margin.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

Now, we will take our last question today from Rebecca from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

Hi, 感谢管理层给我的这个机会提问。 我的问题是有关于投资者回报的。 我想请问一下公司近期的股份的回购的进展情况是什么样, 以及未来的股东回报方面, Thanks, management, for taking my questions. Could you please share the latest progress of the company's share buyback and the outline or the plan for the company's share plans for the shareholder return going forward? Thank you.

speaker
Raymond Peng Lei
CFO

Thank you for your question, Rebecca. As for the shareholder return, the company continues to return to the shareholder in a way We continue to return capital to shareholders through cash dividends and share repurchases.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

In the second quarter, we repurchased approximately 3.2 million ADS, representing approximately 1.4% of our total outstanding shares. A portion of these ADSs have already been cancelled and the remainder will be cancelled as planned. We continue to repurchase shares pursuant to our existing Rule 10b-5-1 trading plan.

speaker
Raymond Peng Lei
CFO

We are also very pleased to announce that the board has approved the expansion of our 2026 share purchase program from US$15 million to US$100 million.

speaker
Simultaneous Interpreter
English Translator

The expanded authorization reflects our confidence in Huya's business outlook and our continued commitment to enhancing long-term shareholder value. And Rebecca, maybe I can add a bit more here. So if we calculate at our current market cap of around 554 million US dollars plus our 100 million US dollars buyback program, that would mean roughly 50 million US dollars share repurchases each year. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Huya's Investor Relations through the contact information provided on our website or PSN Financial Communications.

speaker
Zichen Liu
Head of Investor Relations

This concludes today's call and we look forward to speaking to you again next quarter. Thank you.

speaker
Nelson
Analyst at Citi

Thank you.

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