Owner Scorecard


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DOYU, DouYu International Holdings Limited ADS

Software asset-light Unprofitable

We operate our platform both on mobile apps and PC portals, through which users can enjoy immersive and interactive games and entertainment livestreaming, access to a wide array of video and graphic contents, and participate in community events and discussions.

As a pioneer player in the industry with solid brand awareness, we are a leading game-centric livestreaming platform in China.

Hisotrically, our platform attracted a large number of highly loyal and engaged user base through both organic growth and traffic acquisition.

Latest annual: FY2025 20-F · figures as filed, in CNY · 1 ADS = 1 ordinary share
DOYU · DouYu International Holdings Limited ADS
I

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025
CN¥3.8B
−10.6% YoY · −17% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue CN¥3.8B 5-yr avg CN¥6.0B
Gross margin 13% 5-yr avg 12%
Operating margin 0.1% 5-yr avg −5.2%
ROIC 2% 5-yr avg −11%
Owner-earnings margin −1% 5-yr avg −3%
Free cash flow margin −1% 5-yr avg −3%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What it is
Revenue is Live streaming (57%), Innovative Business (38%) and Advertising and Other (5%).
Situation
Unprofitable. No sustained operating profit across the record; an earnings multiple has nothing to rest on. What the record does show is revenue, the gross-margin trajectory, and the burn against the cash on hand.
What moves the needle
Operating margin has run around −3.0% through the cycle on a 12% gross margin, the operating line deeply negative — so the lever is the path to a margin at all: revenue growth against the cost curve and the cash runway, not the level of a margin that isn't there yet. The cash cycle has run negative through the cycle (a median of −42 days): the operation is paid before it pays, so working capital releases cash as the business grows rather than tying it up. Read this kind of business on retention and the cost of growth. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on debt terms & refinancing, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?
Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median −7%, above 15% in 0 of 6 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

Where the money comes from

read the 20-F →

Revenue spreads across 3 lines, the largest Live streaming at 57%.

Revenue by product line, FY2025
  • Live streaming57%CN¥2.2B
  • Innovative Business38%CN¥1.4B
  • Advertising and Other5%CN¥195M

From the segment footnote of the company's own 20-F. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2017–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMDec 2025
Income statement
CN¥1.9BCN¥3.7BCN¥7.3BCN¥9.6BCN¥9.2BCN¥7.1BCN¥5.5BCN¥4.3BCN¥3.8BCN¥3.8BRevenueRevenue
−0%4%16%16%12%14%12%8%13%13%Gross marginGross mgn
(CN¥618M)(CN¥859M)(CN¥132M)CN¥262M(CN¥649M)(CN¥199M)(CN¥164M)(CN¥574M)CN¥5MCN¥5MOperating incomeOp. inc.
−32.8%−23.5%−1.8%2.7%−7.1%−2.8%−3.0%−13.4%0.1%0.1%Operating marginOp. mgn
(CN¥613M)(CN¥876M)CN¥33MCN¥405M(CN¥620M)(CN¥90M)CN¥36M(CN¥307M)(CN¥29M)(CN¥29M)Net incomeNet inc.
Cash flow & returns
(CN¥381M)(CN¥338M)CN¥813MCN¥668M(CN¥586M)(CN¥68M)(CN¥48M)(CN¥239M)(CN¥52M)(CN¥52M)Operating cash flowOp. cash
CN¥23MCN¥27MCN¥33MCN¥21MCN¥18MCN¥12MCN¥6MCN¥6MCN¥2MCN¥2MDepreciationDeprec.
CN¥209MCN¥512MCN¥747MCN¥242MCN¥16MCN¥11M(CN¥89M)CN¥62M(CN¥25M)(CN¥25M)Working capital & otherWC & other
CN¥24MCN¥33MCN¥16MCN¥19MCN¥7MCN¥6MCN¥5MCN¥710KCN¥291KCN¥291KCapexCapex
1.3%0.9%0.2%0.2%0.1%0.1%0.1%0.0%0.0%0.0%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
(CN¥405M)(CN¥370M)CN¥797MCN¥649M(CN¥593M)(CN¥74M)(CN¥53M)(CN¥240M)(CN¥53M)(CN¥53M)Owner earningsOwner earn.
−21.5%−10.1%10.9%6.8%−6.5%−1.0%−1.0%−5.6%−1.4%−1.4%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
(CN¥405M)(CN¥370M)CN¥797MCN¥649M(CN¥593M)(CN¥74M)(CN¥53M)(CN¥240M)(CN¥53M)(CN¥53M)Free cash flowFCF
−21.5%−10.1%10.9%6.8%−6.5%−1.0%−1.0%−5.6%−1.4%−1.4%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
CN¥2.1BCN¥2.2BCN¥2.2BDividends paidDiv. paid
CN¥115MCN¥580MCN¥805KCN¥109MCN¥106MBuybacksBuybacks
12%-28%-6%-7%-14%2%2%ROICROIC
0%6%-10%-1%1%-7%-1%-1%Return on equityROE
−57%−110%−110%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
CN¥540MCN¥5.6BCN¥8.1BCN¥5.3BCN¥4.5BCN¥4.0BCN¥4.4BCN¥1.0BCN¥1.8BCN¥1.8BCash & investmentsCash+inv
CN¥136MCN¥129MCN¥188MCN¥200MCN¥191MCN¥109MCN¥73MCN¥49MCN¥78MCN¥78MReceivablesReceiv.
CN¥800MCN¥890MCN¥986MCN¥824MCN¥667MCN¥534MCN¥499MCN¥554MCN¥554MAccounts payablePayables
CN¥136M(CN¥671M)(CN¥702M)(CN¥786M)(CN¥633M)(CN¥558M)(CN¥461M)(CN¥450M)(CN¥477M)(CN¥477M)Operating working capitalOper. WC
CN¥6.1BCN¥8.6BCN¥8.0BCN¥7.2BCN¥7.1BCN¥6.7BCN¥4.5BCN¥2.6BCN¥2.6BCurrent assetsCur. assets
CN¥2.9BCN¥1.8BCN¥1.9BCN¥1.8BCN¥1.6BCN¥1.4BCN¥1.2BCN¥1.1BCN¥1.1BCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
2.1×4.8×4.3×3.9×4.5×4.9×3.6×2.3×2.3×Current ratioCurr. ratio
CN¥14MCN¥31MCN¥13MCN¥13MCN¥14MCN¥14MGoodwillGoodwill
CN¥6.5BCN¥9.1BCN¥8.9BCN¥8.2BCN¥8.1BCN¥8.1BCN¥5.4BCN¥3.1BCN¥3.1BTotal assetsAssets
(CN¥540M)(CN¥5.6B)(CN¥8.1B)(CN¥5.3B)(CN¥4.5B)(CN¥4.0B)(CN¥4.4B)(CN¥1.0B)(CN¥1.8B)(CN¥1.8B)Net debt / (cash)Net debt
(CN¥3.0B)CN¥7.2BCN¥6.9BCN¥6.3BCN¥6.6BCN¥6.7BCN¥4.2BCN¥2.0BCN¥2.0BShareholders’ equityEquity
Per share
32.8M32.5M31.4M33.0M32.5M32.0M32.0M30.8M30.2M30.2MShares out (diluted)Shares
CN¥57.57CN¥112.58CN¥231.63CN¥290.85CN¥281.62CN¥222.33CN¥172.95CN¥138.52CN¥126.54CN¥126.54Revenue / shareRev/sh
CN¥-18.71CN¥-27.00CN¥1.06CN¥12.26CN¥-19.06CN¥-2.83CN¥1.11CN¥-9.95CN¥-0.96CN¥-0.96EPS (diluted)EPS
CN¥-12.36CN¥-11.41CN¥25.35CN¥19.65CN¥-18.23CN¥-2.31CN¥-1.65CN¥-7.77CN¥-1.74CN¥-1.74Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
CN¥-12.36CN¥-11.41CN¥25.35CN¥19.65CN¥-18.23CN¥-2.31CN¥-1.65CN¥-7.77CN¥-1.74CN¥-1.74Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
CN¥68.16CN¥71.27CN¥71.27Dividends / shareDiv/sh
CN¥0.73CN¥1.01CN¥0.51CN¥0.57CN¥0.21CN¥0.18CN¥0.16CN¥0.02CN¥0.01CN¥0.01Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
CN¥-92.85CN¥230.32CN¥210.19CN¥192.31CN¥205.20CN¥209.19CN¥136.55CN¥65.85CN¥65.85Book value / shareBVPS

Share counts before 2019 are restated ×4 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
8-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+10.3%/yr−15.3%/yr
Dividends / share+4.6%/yr (1-yr)+4.6%/yr (1-yr)
Capital spending / share−41.8%/yr−55.8%/yr
Book value / share−20.7%/yr

The record, charted

FY2017–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked. Share counts on the current split basis.

Share count
30Mpeak FY2020
ROIC
2%low FY2021
Gross margin
13%low FY2017

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

(CN¥53M)owner earningsvs.(CN¥29M)net incomelow FY2021

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business reported a CN¥29M loss but (CN¥53M) of owner earnings: CN¥23M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Reported net income(CN¥29M)(CN¥307M)CN¥36M(CN¥90M)(CN¥620M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+CN¥2M+CN¥6M+CN¥6M+CN¥12M+CN¥18M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items−CN¥25M+CN¥62M−CN¥89M+CN¥11M+CN¥16M
Cash from operations(CN¥52M)(CN¥239M)(CN¥48M)(CN¥68M)(CN¥586M)
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow−CN¥291K−CN¥710K−CN¥5M−CN¥6M−CN¥7M
Owner earnings(CN¥53M)(CN¥240M)(CN¥53M)(CN¥74M)(CN¥593M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue-1%-6%-1%-1%-6%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

  • No meaningful interest burden
    Little or no interest expense reported
    What this means

    Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.

  • Net cash, debt-free
    Cash CN¥1.8B − debt CN¥0
    What this means

    Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by CN¥1.8B, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • Negative, funded by others
    DSO 7 + DIO 0 − DPO 61 days
    What this means

    Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. A negative cycle is a quiet moat: suppliers and customers fund the operation (Buffett's “float”), the company grows on other people's money. (Little or no inventory, a services / asset-light model, so the inventory leg is ~0.)

Is it a good business?

  • Not enough data
    Industry peers: median 8%
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Consumes cash through the cycle
    9-yr median margin, range -21%–11%; latest (CN¥53M) = operating cash (CN¥52M) − maintenance capex CN¥291K
    Industry peers: median 16%
    What this means

    What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's -1% of revenue this year, a -1% median across 9 years.

  • Loss, and burning cash
    Net income (CN¥29M) · cash from operations (CN¥52M)
    What this means

    The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did not.

How is the cash used?

  • No surplus to allocate
    What this means

    The business didn't generate positive Owner Earnings this year, so any distributions came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not from operations.

  • Investing or harvesting? 0.15×
    Harvesting
    Capex CN¥291K ÷ depreciation CN¥2M
    What this means

    Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 1 of 3 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

  • Adequate size
    Revenue ≥ $2B (a dollar floor) · CN¥3.8B
    What this means

    Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's floor is a dollar figure — about $2B of revenue as a conservative modern stand-in. This company reports in its home currency and we carry no exchange rate, so we show the figure and leave the size bar for you to apply rather than convert it with a number we don't have.

  • Strong liquidity Pass
    Current ratio ≥ 2× · 2.33×
    What this means

    Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.

  • Earnings stability Miss
    A profit every year (9-yr record) · 6 loss years
    What this means

    Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.

  • Dividend record Miss
    Uninterrupted dividends · 2 of 9 yrs
    What this means

    An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.

  • Earnings growth
    Earnings +33% over the record ·
    What this means

    Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.

  • Moderate price
    P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
    What this means

    Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are CN¥-3.32/share (latest year CN¥-0.96), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is CN¥65.85/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2017–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

  • Profitable years 3 of 9
    What this means

    Lost money in 6 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

  • Operating margin −19% → −5% (3-yr avg ends)
    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −19% early to −5% lately, median −3% — pricing power intact or improving.

  • Worst year 2017 · −32.8% op. margin
    What this means

    Operations went underwater in 2017, understand why before trusting the good years.

  • Dividend record paid
    What this means

    Paid a dividend in 2 of the years on record.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Elevated contestability

The product is software or information, the very thing capable AI now produces more cheaply, so the moat is more contestable than the record alone implies.

In its own filing Raised, but not as a competitor

The filing raises AI among its risks, but in other terms (security, regulation, energy or the like), not as a competitor to its product; it frames AI mainly as a capability.

AI has collapsed the cost of building a capable substitute for the very thing this business sells. When a credible alternative can be assembled for a fraction of the incumbent's price, it is pricing power that erodes first, not revenue tomorrow. The live question is whether the moat survives that, not whether it held in the past. Whether that question is answerable at all is yours to decide, against your own circle of competence.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2025

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assetsCN¥2.6B
  • Cash & short-term investmentsCN¥1.8B
  • ReceivablesCN¥78M
  • Other current assetsCN¥795M
Current liabilitiesCN¥1.1B
  • Accounts payableCN¥554M
  • Other current liabilitiesCN¥577M
Current ratio2.33×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio2.33×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio1.55×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capitalCN¥1.5Bthe cushion left after near-term bills
Cash runway33.5 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Deeper floors
Tangible book valueCN¥1.9Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset valueCN¥1.5BGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leasesCN¥7MCN¥7M of it operating leases
Deferred revenueCN¥237Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Peers, Software

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

CompanyRevenueGross marginOp. marginROICOwner earn. margin
APPAppLovin$5.5B70%19.6%10%17%
ZMZoom$4.9B76%11.6%8%33%
PINSPinterest Inc.$4.2B76%-4.1%-5%16%
NIQNIQ Global Intelligence plc$4.2B-2.5%-2%1%
DOYUDouYu International Holdings Limited ADSCN¥3.8B12%-3.0%-7%-1%
MTCHMatch Group Inc.$3.5B73%26.1%17%27%
SABRSabre$2.8B57%9.0%8%-0%
RXTRackspace Technology Inc.$2.7B29%-6.7%-10%6%
Group median70%3.2%3%11%
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Enter the US price, in dollars: the NYSE/Nasdaq quote you hold. Per the filing's own cover, “American depositary shares , every one American depositary share represents one ordinary”; DouYu International Holdings Limited ADS reports in CNY, so every figure in this tool is stated per ADS and translated at CNY 1 = $0.147 (2026-07-17, reference rate) so your dollar quote reconciles exactly. The record tables elsewhere on this page remain as filed, in CNY.

DouYu International Holdings Limited ADS is profitable, but owner earnings are negative this year because capital spending currently outruns operating cash, a build-out, so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no positive base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the steady-state profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.

$
The assumptions

Revenue, delivered−18%/yr’20→’25

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach
Margin the price demands
Owner-earnings margin today−1%

Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "DouYu International Holdings Limited ADS (DOYU), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/DOYU, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← DOX its page in the Manual DPRO →

Industry order: ← DOMO the Software chapter DSGX →