PandaTV, China’s third-largest game-centric live streaming site with 7.22 million monthly active users, announced on Sina Weibo that it has started to shut down its servers, following the circulation of an internal letter confirming that the company has decided to dismiss all employees, KrAsia‘s parent company 36Kr reported.
The company made this decision after spending 22 months searching for external sources for funding.
The site, which was founded in 2015 by Wang Sicong, son of billionaire Wang Jianlin, still has millions of monthly active users and an eight-figure cash flow (in yuan), according to the letter.
An infographic compiled by Beijing News show that by December 2018, Douyu’s mobile app had 35.75 million monthly active users, the most among gamer-oriented live streaming sites in China. Huya ranked second with 34.15 million, and PandaTV followed with 7.22 million.
However, Huya’s financial statement for the fourth quarter of 2018 shows that its average mobile monthly active users rose by 30.7% to 50.7 million.
The Nasdaq-listed Huya reported fourth-quarter revenue of US$218.9 million, up 103% year-on-year. The company now has a market capitalization of US$5.14 billion.
Douyu is planning an initial public offering in the US, and wants to raise US$600 million to $700 million, according to the Financial Times.