Chinese streaming firm DouYu terminates $5.3 bln merger with Huya (updated)

DouYu International Holdings

12/07/2021 12:48

(Adds details, shares, background)
    July 12 (Reuters) - DouYu International Holdings Ltd
 DY8Ay.F  said on Monday it had terminated its $5.3 billion deal
with Huya Inc  HUYA.N , two days after China's market regulator
blocked Tencent Holding Ltd's  0700.HK  plans to merge the
country's top two videogame streaming sites. 
    China's State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) on
Saturday said it would block the deal on antitrust grounds,
confirming an earlier Reuters report.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2OM019
    Tencent first announced plans to merge Huya and DouYu last
year in a tie-up designed to streamline its stakes in the firms,
which were estimated by data firm MobTech to have an 80% share
in a market worth more than $3 billion.
    Tencent is Huya's biggest shareholder with a 36.9% stake and
also owns over a third of DouYu, with both firms listed in the
United States, and worth a combined $5.3 billion in market
value.
    U.S.-listed shares of DouYu  DOYU.O  were down 2% premarket,
while those of Huya  HUYA.N  were down ~1%.
    The deal termination also comes amid an ongoing government
crackdown on Chinese tech companies.

 (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by
Ramakrishnan M.)
 ((tiyashi.datta@thomsonreuters.com;))