Recently, there were media reports that Chen Shaojie, the CEO of the well-known live streaming platform Douyu, seems to have been out of touch for several days.
On November 6th, the Douyu side confirmed the relevant news to the media. The reporter also learned from multiple insiders that Chen Shaojie is suspected to have been taken away for investigation due to his involvement in the case.
The reporter noticed that the last time Chen Shaojie appeared in public view was on August 14th this year when he attended a conference call with Douyu's second quarter financial analysts.
Chen Shaojie commented on his performance at the meeting and stated that the company continues to be committed to its core strategy - creating a vibrant, game centric content ecosystem; Stable business development will enhance Douyu's competitive advantage and leading position in the domestic game content industry.
Regarding Chen Shaojie's loss of contact, multiple insiders told reporters that Chen Shaojie was taken away for investigation in October, and this incident has been under discussion in the industry for a long time.
A person close to the company told reporters that Chen Shaojie's removal for investigation may be related to illegal and irregular activities in the Douyu platform's live broadcast room.
Some live streaming rooms in the live streaming industry have been involved in illegal activities such as soft gambling and edge pornography, "said a person familiar with the situation. Although the industry has been continuously cracking down on such activities in recent years, some platform insiders may have colluded with and distributed accounts with illegal live streaming rooms.
An industry insider explained that there have been some "soft gambling live streaming rooms" registered using "shell companies" on some live streaming platforms before. "Behind these 'shell companies', platform people often participate, and the gambling funds will be distributed through the' shell companies'." The person revealed that among these large live streaming rooms, the amount involved often exceeds 100 million yuan.
The reporter noticed that in September 2020, the Douyu "Send Nine Outdoor" live broadcast room was exposed by multiple media outlets as suspected of gambling.
According to third-party data, its revenue exceeded 100 million yuan in 2020 alone. In the end, broadcasters Fu and Pan were sentenced to 6 years in prison, and many others were sentenced to probation or fines.
According to public information, two months before the investigation of "Sending Nine Outdoor", there was a business change in the live streaming guild's Jiutu Culture behind it, with the addition of Wuhan Douyu Yule Network Technology Co., Ltd. as a shareholder. The largest shareholder of Jiutu Culture is Fu Hailong, and the legal representative is Pan Bin, also known as "Fu" and "Pan" who were later sentenced.
However, as of press release, Douyu did not disclose more specific information related to Chen Shaojie. Several industry insiders have also stated, "Currently, there are many rumors in the industry, and I'm afraid we'll have to wait for the official announcement in the end
According to public information, Chen Shaojie was born in Jinan in 1984. In 2010, he bought Station A, the originator of the "anime website" in China, and established Station A's "live broadcast" channel. Four years later, Chen Shaojie separated the "Live Broadcasting" channel from Station A and renamed it "Douyu TV".
In the following years, the game live streaming industry rapidly rose, and Douyu successfully introduced Tencent Investment, gradually building Tencent games such as "League of Legends", "King of Glory", and "Dungeons and Warriors" as content barriers for the company.
In July 2019, Douyu was listed on NASDAQ with a market value of nearly $4 billion on the day of its listing. Chen Shaojie's personal wealth also skyrocketed. In October of the same year, Chen Shaojie ranked 1507th on the 2019 Hurun Rich List with a fortune of 2.5 billion yuan.
In 2020, the news that Huya and Douyu, as the two major domestic game live streaming platforms, will complete the merger under Tencent's negotiation, once attracted attention from the capital market.
However, the merger finally ended, and with the acceleration of the live broadcast market of food sharing games on platforms such as Tiktok, Kwai, and Station B, the situation of Douyu has become more difficult.
The reporter noticed that in May of this year, in response to serious ecological issues such as pornography and vulgarity on the Douyu platform, the National Internet Information Office guided the Hubei Provincial Internet Information Office to dispatch a working group to stationed on the Douyu platform for a month long centralized rectification supervision.
After the announcement of this news, the Douyu US stock market fell sharply by up to 15% before the market.
At present, the stock price of Douyu has dropped to less than $1, which is more than 90% lower than the $20 stock price when it first went public.
In fact, in recent years, Douyu has also been seeking change.
In October this year, Douyu led a number of head game anchors to launch a live broadcast debut on Taobao, bringing a variety of game peripheral products such as Genshin Impact, League of Heroes, Crossing the Line of Fire, and attracted 8 million people to watch the premiere.