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Simon Chong Cai, Chief Financing & Investment Officer, explained that the business was strategically reshuffled to focus exclusively on full truckload transactions, discontinuing the less-than-truckload carpooling service. This move aligns the service with a premium, high-reliability brand position. While causing a short-term slowdown in volume, this strategy, combined with a price consistency mechanism, has increased trucker engagement and is expected to build a stronger competitive advantage and a higher-quality ecosystem in the long term.

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Chief Financing and Investment Officer Chong Cai stated that AI is primarily focused on intelligent dispatching via its 'smart truck finder,' which helps shippers communicate with truckers 24/7 and recommends suitable options. Future plans include increasing AI investment to enhance order posting, customer service, and route planning.

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Bill Pang, VP of Corporate Development, responded that 'Marvel Rivals' has seen an upward and stabilized trend in both DAU and revenue since its Season 3 launch, indicating the seasonal content strategy is effective. Regarding 'Sea of Venomance', he described it as a very important product slated for a 2026 launch and stated that more details would be shared closer to the release date.

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CEO William Ding, via interpreter Bill Pang, explained that 'Once Human' is a cross-play game, and many top players choose to make payments on the PC client, which impacts its mobile grossing chart rank. He noted that after the mobile launch, PC concurrent users increased 90% and payments grew 500%. Future plans include adding new game modes and exploring a private server ecosystem to satisfy player demand.

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Bill Pang, an executive, positioned 'Marvel Rivals' as a next-generation shooter with unique gameplay, citing excellent beta test data and a high ranking on Steam's wishlist. Regarding the Blizzard titles, Pang attributed the success to a multifaceted strategy involving cross-branding collaborations, innovative social media marketing, and a deep, collaborative partnership with Blizzard. He expressed confidence in long-term performance due to high player engagement. He confirmed 'Overwatch' would be the next Blizzard game to launch in China but did not provide a specific timeline.

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Margaret Shi, Head of Capital Markets, detailed the expansion to over 300 jointly distributed games and noted a 90% year-over-year increase in gross billings from in-game accessories. She highlighted that this segment is a key growth driver, with the company also strategically entering game publishing, citing the successful pilot for 'Goddess of Victory: Nikke' as an example of their content-led launch strategy.

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Junhong Huang, Acting Co-CEO and SVP, responded that total revenue has likely bottomed out. He expects live streaming revenue to stabilize while game-related services and advertising achieve fast year-over-year growth, leading to overall revenue growth for the year. Regarding geopolitical risks, Mr. Huang stated that HUYA continuously monitors regulations and is prudently assessing potential risks and solutions, including evaluating opportunities in other capital markets, while remaining committed to protecting investor interests.

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Junhong Huang, Acting Co-CEO and SVP, detailed Huya's 'AI plus live streaming' strategy. He highlighted the recent launch of an AI assistant in the app and plans for an AI-powered streamer assistant to help creators with scripts and viewer interaction. The company is also developing stylized AI virtual streamers for event commentary. Huang stated that the goal is to leverage AI throughout the content lifecycle to enhance user experience, improve creator efficiency, and propel the industry towards a technology-driven future, creating long-term value.

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Management reported that its network of new retail stores has surpassed 200 locations. These stores are being enhanced with technologies like AI-assisted test drives and VR experiences to reshape the consumer journey. For data products, Autohome has launched AI smart assistants for new and used cars and a suite of five AI-powered B2B products for OEMs, covering marketing, customer acquisition, and retail. Future plans involve leveraging its extensive data to build a deeper knowledge base and enhance its large language model capabilities.

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CFO Yan Zeng responded that while trade tensions could cause price fluctuations for imported U.S. auto brands, the overall impact on the Chinese auto market is expected to be limited due to the small market share of these vehicles. Consequently, she stated that the direct impact on Autohome's domestic-focused business is very limited.

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CEO Song Yang highlighted Autohome's commitment to shareholder returns, pointing to the dividend growth from RMB 500 million in 2022 to RMB 1.5 billion in 2024. He reiterated the Board's promise to pay out no less than RMB 1.5 billion annually for the next three years. Additionally, he mentioned the active share buyback program, with approximately USD 88.5 million of the USD 200 million plan already executed, as another key method for returning value to shareholders.

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CEO Tao Wu explained that the new car price war has created a sluggish used car market, with reluctant buyers and squeezed dealer profits, leading to slow trading volume growth. He stated that for Autohome's TTP platform, the strategic focus will shift from its traditional C2B strength to capturing more opportunities in the B2B market. Regarding shareholder returns, Mr. Wu highlighted a recently announced RMB 1 billion dividend, bringing the total planned return to RMB 1.5 billion, alongside a USD 200 million share buyback program, affirming the company's commitment to maximizing shareholder value.

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Mingming Su, Chief Strategy Officer, clarified that the strategy focuses on reallocating resources from inefficient initiatives to high-value segments to strengthen core content advantages and alleviate margin pressure. He emphasized that this is not a contraction but a move toward stable, healthy growth. Su highlighted priorities for 2025, including improving margins by reducing content costs, enhancing the revenue mix by growing innovative businesses, and continuing to prioritize shareholder returns through programs like the recent $620 million in buybacks and special dividends.

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Chief Strategy Officer Mingming Su explained that the strategy is a reallocation of resources from inefficient initiatives to high-value segments to improve ROI and alleviate margin pressure. He emphasized that the shareholder returns, including a $20M buyback and $600M in special dividends, were based on surplus cash. The long-term goal is to achieve stable, healthy growth by improving margins, enhancing the revenue mix with innovative businesses, and building a healthy ecosystem.

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An Unknown Executive detailed a multi-pronged approach to cost optimization. This includes refining copyright cost control through selective purchasing and negotiation, optimizing self-produced content via partnerships, and restructuring streamer compensation. The new streamer framework emphasizes ROI, linking pay to content quality and commercialization capabilities, and involves renegotiating contracts to favor performance-based incentives over high base salaries.

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Hao Cao, Vice President of Finance, acknowledged two primary challenges: intense market competition from short-video platforms affecting MAUs, and macroeconomic headwinds reducing consumer spending on live streaming. Cao emphasized that core user metrics like viewing hours remain stable and the company is responding by focusing on this user base, diversifying revenue through gaming services, and controlling costs.

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An executive stated that cross-platform content sharing is a key trend. In Q1, DouYu rolled out jointly-produced events and deepened its partnership with Taobao for content like the Valorant Challenges and e-commerce initiatives. The executive noted these collaborations, while currently small-scale, have proven effective in increasing traffic and user engagement across participating platforms and are expected to catalyze the healthy advancement of the industry.

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