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浑水做空YY全文:一个由机器人构成虚拟王国

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浑水做空YY全文:一个由机器人构成虚拟王国

 

  Report Date: November 18, 2020

 Industry: Internet Fraud Company: Joyy Inc. Stock Price: $100.19

 Market Cap: $8 billion Ticker: YY US

 Average Daily Volume (30-day): $109.5 million

  YY:

 You

 Can’t

 Make

 This

 Stuff

 Up.

  Well…Actually

 You

 Can

  While

 trawling

 the

 sewers

 of

 the

 world’s

 capital

 markets

 over

 the

 past

 10

 years,

 irony

 has

 never

 been

 in short

 supply.

  And

 yet,

 nothing

 could

 prepare

 us

 for

 the

 surreality

 of

 Baidu

 announcing

 its

 intention

 to buy

 YY

 Live

 from

 JOYY,

 which

 happened

 just

 as

 we

 were

 preparing

 to

 reveal

 that

 our

 year-long investigation

 shows

 YY

 Live

 is

 about

 90%

 fraudulent.

 It

 was

 clear

 to

 us

 from

 early

 on

 that

 YY

 Live

 was

 almost

 entirely

 fake.

  YY

 Live

 is

 an

 ecosystem

 of mirages.

  Its

 supposedly

 high-earning

 performers

 in

 reality

 take

 home

 only

 a

 fraction

 of

 their

 reported totals.

  The

 purportedly

 independent

 channel

 owners

 are

 largely

 controlled

 by

 YY

 in

 order

 to

 facilitate continuous

 sham

 transactions.

  The

 legions

 of

 benefactor

 fans

 are

 almost

 entirely

 bots

 operating

 from YY’s

 internal

 network

 (~50%

 of

 YY

 Live

 gift

 volume),

 bots

 operating

 from

 external

 bot

 farms,

 and performers

 roundtripping

 gifts

 to

 themselves.

  We

 conclude

 that

 YY

 Live

 is

 ~90%

 fraudulent.

  YY’s international

 livestreaming

 business,

 Bigo,

 seems

 barely

 more

 real.

 So,

 the

 question

 is:

 What

 will

 Baidu

 do?

  It’s

 no

 secret

 that

 Baidu

 is

 struggling

 to

 grow.

  But

 will

 Baidu really

 try

 to

 buy

 “growth”

 in

 the

 form

 of

 an

 almost

 completely

 fake

 business?

  And

 for

 $3.6

 billion

 cash, or

 seven

 percent

 of

 its

 market

 cap?!

  We

 have

 been

 arguing

 for

 the

 past

 10

 years

 that

 the

 rot

 in

 “China Inc.”

 is

 far

 greater

 than

 most

 investors

 either

 understand

 or

 admit.

  Many

 have

 called

 us

 overly

 cynical. Baidu

 /

 YY

 Live

 will

 be

 THE

 test

 of

 whether

 China

 Inc.

 is

 really

 just

 a

 few

 bad

 apples;

 or,

 whether

 the incessant

 cheating,

 lying,

 and

 indifference

 to

 U.S.

 law

 permeate

 the

 highest

 echelons

 of

 China’s

 public companies.

 In

 April,

 Baidu’s

 ethics

 committee

 released

 a

 statement

 in

 response

 to

 the

 arrest

 of

 its

 group

 vice president

 of

 finance

 and

 former

 CFO,

 which

 read

 in

 part: 1

 “Baidu

 resolutely

 cracks

 down

 on

 all

 violations

 of

 the

 law

 and

 discipline,

 and

 has

 zero

 tolerance for

 any

 behavior

 that

 touches

 the

 red

 line

 of

 professional

 ethics.

 It

 will

 never

 relax

 for

 anyone,

 at any

 time!” 2

 1

  https://www.tellerreport.com/business/2020-04-22-baidu-again-exposed-senior-executives-to-corruption--and- who-was-arrested--vice-president-wei-fang-.rySm4XT_8.html

 2

  https://cntechpost.com/2020/04/21/former-baidu-vice-president-transferred-to-judiciary-for-suspected-corruption/

 To

 Baidu

 we

 say,

 “You’ve

 announced

 that

 you’re

 going

 to

 pay

 seven

 percent

 of

 your

 market

 cap

 in

 cash for

 a

 business

 that’s

 almost

 entirely

 fraudulent.

  The

 enormous

 scale

 of

 this

 fraud

 will

 be

 inescapable

 in due

 diligence.

  You

 say

 there

 are

 real

 ethics

 and

 respect

 for

 the

 law

 at

 Baidu?

  Show

 us.”

  Summary We

 are

 short

 JOYY

 Inc.

 (YY)

 because

 we

 conclude

 that

 YY

 is

 a

 multibillion-dollar

 fraud.

  We

 conclude that

 YY’s

 component

 businesses

 are

 a

 fraction

 of

 the

 size

 it

 reports,

 and

 that

 the

 company’s

 reported

 user metrics,

 revenues,

 and

 cash

 balances

 are

 predominantly

 fraudulent.

  Our

 conclusions

 apply

 not

 only

 to

 the legacy

 YY

 Live

 business,

 but

 also

 to

 Bigo,

 YY’s

 online

 dating

 business,

 and

 really

 everything

 these people

 have

 touched.

  

 Approximately

 84%

 of

 YY’s

 reported

 consolidated

 revenue

 appears

 to

 be

 fraudulent.

  Changing

 our base

 case

 assumptions

 to

 more

 company-favorable

 /

 conservative

 assumptions

 yields

 consolidated fraudulent

 revenue

 of

 approximately

 73%.

  

 We

 have

 observed

 three

 primary

 methods

 through

 which

 YY

 commits

 fraud:

  o

 Paying

 User

 (“PU”)

 bots

 from

 YY’s

 own

 servers

 –

 in

 our

 data

 sample,

 gifts

 associated

 with YY’s

 own

 servers,

 disguised

 as

 PUs,

 constituted

 roughly

 half

 of

 the

 total

 value

 of

 all

 gifts sent.

  o

 Performers

 whose

 gifts

 are

 recycled

 into

 the

 system

 through

 alter

 ego

 PU

 accounts.

  We understand

 that

 the

 top

 performers,

 who

 purportedly

 earn

 tens

 of

 millions

 of

 RMB

 per

 year, are

 in

 fact

 often

 on

 fixed

 salaries

 paying

 them

 no

 more

 than

 2.5

 million

 RMB

 per

 year (~$350,000).

  o

 Channel

 owners,

 which

 manage

 performers,

 are

 part

 of

 the

 scheme.

  The

 large

 channel owners

 are

 primarily

 owned

 by

 former

 YY

 employees

 who

 are

 clearly

 “in

 on”

 the

 scam. PRC

 credit

 bureau

 report

 financial

 statements

 for

 the

 five

 largest

 channel

 owners

 show combined

 2018

 revenue

 of

 only

 ~15%

 of

 what

 YY

 claims.

  

 We

 conclude

 that

 YY

 Live,

 Bigo,

 and

 YY’s

 online

 dating

 business

 are

 substantially

 fraudulent:

  o

 We

 conclude

 that

 ~90%

 of

 YY

 Live’s

 livestreaming

 revenue

 is

 fraudulent.

  Livestreaming accounts

 for

 ~95.8%

 of

 purported

 Q3

 2020

 YY

 Live

 revenue.

  o

 We

 conclude

 that

 ~80%

 of

 YY

 Live’s

 online

 dating

 revenue

 is

 fraudulent.

  Online

 dating accounts

 for

 ~20%

 of

 purported

 YY

 Live

 revenue.

  o

 We

 estimate

 that

 ~80%

 of

 Bigo

 revenue

 is

 fraudulent.

  Using

 more

 company-favorable assumptions

 yields

 a

 fraudulent

 revenue

 contribution

 of

 ~60%.

  o

 Bigo’s

 Singapore

 parent

 changed

 auditors

 three

 times

 in

 its

 first

 four

 years.

  Bigo

 also received

 three

 consecutive

 going

 concern

 opinions

 from

 its

 auditor

 in

 2016-2018.

  Bigo

 made a

 major

 restatement

 of

 its

 2017

 financials

 in

 August

 of

 2019,

 months

 after

 the

 acquisition

 by YY

 was

 complete.

  These

 fact

 patterns

 support

 our

 conclusion

 that

 Bigo

 is

 also

 substantially fraudulent.

 o

 Bigo’s

 rot

 stems

 from

 its

 inception.

  YY

 claims

 that

 it

 purchased

 Bigo

 from

 Chairman

 David Li.

  This

 is

 a

 lie

 that

 enabled

 Chairman

 Li

 to

 take

 at

 least

 $156.1

 million

 of

 real

 money

 from YY

 shareholders

 and

 for

 YY

 to

 fraudulently

 report

 remeasurement

 gains

 in

 its

 profits.

  In reality,

 YY

 founded

 Bigo

 –

 not

 Chairman

 Li.

  o

 Bigo

 consolidates

 a

 significant

 amount

 of

 revenue

 from

 Mainland

 China.

  Bigo

 tacked

 on

 a mainland

 China

 business

 Hello

 that

 we

 believe

 to

 be

 almost

 entirely

 fake,

 per

 our

 primary diligence

 and

 discussions

 with

 former

 Bigo

 employees.

  As

 of

 Q3

 2020,

 we

 estimate

 this overwhelmingly

 fraudulent

 PRC

 unit

 was

 still

 13.4%

 of

 Bigo’s

 reported

 revenues.

  

 We

 researched

 YY’s

 businesses

 for

 more

 than

 one

 year,

 taking

 a

 two-prong

 approach.

  The

 first

 prong

 was

 macro

 data

 collection

 and

 analysis

 through

 automated

 means

 of

 115.6

 million

 transactions. The

 second

 prong

 was

 traditional

 Muddy

 Waters

 techniques

 of

 reviewing

 filings

 and

 accounts, undercover

 fieldwork,

 and

 human

 sourcing.

  

 Studying

 various

 purportedly

 top

 earning

 performers

 closely

 shows

 the

 enormity

 of

 the

 fraud

 on

 a micro

 level:

  o

 Purported

 pop

 music

 success

 Modern

 Brothers

 gives

 free

 concerts

 in

 a

 popular

 shopping

 area, and

 yet

 attendee

 “fans”

 are

 paid

 to

 show

 up.

  Modern

 Brothers

 rarely

 performs

 on

 YY

 Live these

 days,

 but

 they

 receive

 gifts

 continuously

 through

 the

 platform

 when

 off

 air.

  Many

 of these

 gifts

 were

 coming

 from

 YY’s

 servers.

 Analyzing

 data

 from

 96

 randomly

 selected purported

 donors

 shows

 that

 ~97.9%

 of

 sampled

 gift

 revenues

 were

 likely

 fake.

  o

 A

 random

 sample

 of

 YY

 PUs

 in

 Wuhan

 during

 its

 COVID-19

 lockdown

 indicated

 that

 ~87.5%

 of

 their

 gift

 revenues

 were

 likely

 fraudulent.

  The

 majority

 of

 the

 fraudulent

 PUs

 had mobile

 device

 IDs

 (IMEIs)

 linking

 back

 to

 YY

 servers,

 while

 a

 significant

 minority

 of

 Wuhan PUs

 displayed

 IP

 addresses

 that

 inexplicably

 jumped

 from

 city

 to

 city

 amid

 the

 lockdown.

  o

 “Big

 Li”

 is

 a

 big

 lie.

  Big

 Li

 won

 YY’s

 2019

 annual

 competition

 for

 the

 most

 gifts

 received. However,

 our

 data

 shows

 that

 during

 this

 December

 event,

 Big

 Li’s

 mobile

 device

 was

 shared with

 his

 largest

 contributor,

 who

 sent

 RMB

 seven

 million

 in

 gifts,

 or

 approximately

 40%

 of the

 total.

  Beyond

 that,

 devices

 associated

 with

 his

 sent

 more

 in

 gifts

 than

 Big

 Li

 received, laying

 bare

 a

 network

 of

 related

 accounts

 that

 recycle

 gifts

 and

 inflate

 YY’s

 revenue

 totals.

  o

 Top

 Bigo

 earner

 RCT_Khan

 purportedly

 receives

 ~$50,000

 in

 gifts

 per

 month

 for

 literally sitting

 at

 his

 desk

 doing

 paperwork.

  His

 stream

 gets

 even

 less

 enthralling,

 with

 the

 camera often

 pointed

 at

 the

 wall

 or

 ceiling.

  Until

 very

 recently,

 his

 purported

 #2

 contributor

 was clearly

 himself.

 (His

 other

 top

 contributors

 are

 almost

 certainly

 part

 of

 a

 gift

 recycling network.)

  o

 We

 lay

 out

 findings

 from

 four

 additional

 top-earning

 performers,

 four

 more

 Top

 PUs,

 and numerous

 interviews

 with

 senior

 members

 of

 the

 YY

 ecosystem

 supporting

 our

 finding

 that YY

 Live

 and

 Bigo

 are

 a

 sham

 and

 their

 gift

 revenue

 is

 substantially

 fake.

 Contents

 Our Data Analysis and Sampling Indicate that ~90% of YY Live Revenue Is Fake

 ................. 5 Data

 Collection

 and

 Analysis

 Methodology

  .............................................................................................. 5

 YY-Controlled

 PUs

 Generated

 Roughly

 Half

 of

 YY

 Gift

 Revenue

 in

 December

 2019

  .............................. 6

 Internal

 Network

 FUs

 and

 YY

 Server

 FUs

 Revealed

 Themselves

 Through

 Glitches

  ................................ 7

 YY

 Live’s

 Platform

 Angels

 Program

 Shows

 Only

 1

 in

 3

 FUs

 Can

 be

 Spotted

 by

 IMEI

 Sharing

  ................. 8

 Sampling

 Wuhan...

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