Not sure if this is the cause of the today’s drop. Any comments from holders? @wpr101 or @brittlerock?
The9 Establishes Another Joint Venture to Operate AI Mobile Advertising Business
07:00:00 AM ET, 12/16/2024 - PR Newswire
Joint Venture Partner Committed Annual Profit of RMB20 Million and 50% Annual Growth
SHANGHAI, Dec. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ – The9 Limited (Nasdaq: NCTY) (“The9”), an established Internet company, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Shanghai The9 Information Technology Co., Ltd. signed a Joint Venture agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) with Shenzhen JiTuo Interactive Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “JiTuo”), an AI algorithms mobile advertising company in China. JiTuo is a game development partner with AppLovin Corporation (Nasdaq: APP) in China. It is also an agency partner for Apple Search Ads in China.
The9 will hold a 51% stake and JiTuo will hold a 49% stake in the Joint Venture. The Joint Venture will become one of The9’s consolidated subsidiaries to operate AI algorithms mobile advertising business, and is expected to provide marketing solution to The9’s upcoming new games including MIR M.
Pursuant to the Agreement, JiTuo committed that it will utilize its advertising AI model and data algorithm system to assist The9’s upcoming new games in optimizing advertising placement materials to enhance the conversion rate and accuracy of advertisements; optimizing the display effect and keywords in the app store to increase the conversion rate of app downloads and acquiring natural traffic. It also committed to The9 that the Joint Venture will have an annual profit of more than RMB20 million (approximately US$2.8 million) in 2025, with profit increasing by at least 50% annually in 2026 and 2027. All after-tax profits of the Joint Venture will be distributed as dividends every quarter according to the shareholding ratio of the Joint Venture partners.
The9 granted JiTuo The9 28,110,000 restricted shares (equivalent to 93,700 ADSs). These restricted shares will be unlocked in stages according to the actual achievement of the Joint Venture’s 2025 profit as committed by JiTuo. If 2025 profit guarantee is achieved, The9 will grant JiTuo the second batch of restricted shares according to this mechanism. If the 2026 profit guarantee is achieved, The9 will grant JiTuo the third batch of restricted shares according to this mechanism.
"We have already established a Joint Venture with an AI algorithms marketing company TongZe. We are very optimistic about this new business line. Therefore, we are excited to enter into another Joint Venture agreement with JiTuo, an AI advertising algorithms and leading app stores search data optimization company in China. These Joint Ventures not only help us to promote our new games efficiently, but also contribute to The9’s financial results of our new business line since we are consolidating these Joint Ventures," said George Lai, CFO and Executive Director of The9.
"JiTuo is a company that utilizes machine large-scale cluster algorithms and controls to optimize and enhance the effect of obtaining traffic through game app store keywords and uses AI models to analyze user behavior to optimize the conversion rate of mobile advertising promotion in app stores. We have successfully represented and distributed mobile games to the Japanese, European, and American markets, accumulating profound game operation and promotion experience. We have also developed multiple successful games for Lion Studios under AppLovin, thus accumulating rich game development experience.
“We have taken on the agency business of the Apple Search Ads and, by leveraging keyword data analysis and optimization technology, have developed the GT Data intelligent promotion platform to provide search traffic acquisition services for leading fintech companies, game companies, e-commerce companies, and AI large model companies in China. In the future, we will strengthen the combination of AI models and search optimization technology and initiate search ad optimization and promotion service businesses in support of the e-commerce direction.” said Guo Yang, CEO of JiTuo.