Earnings Labs

Phoenix New Media Limited (FENG)

Q3 2023 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 15, 2023

$1.72

-0.58%

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Same-Day

-3.70%

1 Week

-5.22%

1 Month

-2.24%

vs S&P

-7.20%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Phoenix New Media Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to Muzi Guo from Investor Relations Department. Please go ahead.

Muzi Guo

Analyst

Thank you, operator. Welcome to Phoenix New Media's earnings conference call for the third quarter of 2023. Joining me here today are our CEO, Mr. Yusheng Sun; and our CFO, Mr. Edward Lu. During this call, our management team will begin by providing an overview of our quarterly results, followed by a Q&A session. You can find the financial results for the third quarter of 2023 as well as the webcast of this conference call on our website at ir.ifeng.com. A replay of this call will also be made available on the website within the next few hours. Before we proceed, I would like to draw your attention to our safe harbor statement, which can be found in our earnings press release. This statement is important as it pertains to our forward-looking statements during the call. Additionally, please note that unless otherwise specified, all figures mentioned throughout this conference call are in RMB. Now I will pass the call over to Mr. Sun, our CEO, for his opening remarks. I will provide the translation.

Yusheng Sun

Analyst

[Foreign Language] Hello, everyone. In the second half of the year, we find ourselves navigating a macro environment filled with uncertainties. This challenging backdrop has created headwinds in our advertising business. However, in these trying times, it's imperative that we remain faithful to our core values and competencies, and at the same time, we must proactively adapt our decision-making process and innovation strategies to quickly respond to the ever-evolving market. We need to clarify our core competency, which is news. We will continue to leverage our advantage in news coverage and create an irreplaceable content quality that sets us apart from others, thus better supporting our content marketing efforts. Next, Edward will provide a more detailed rundown of our operation in the third quarter. Edward, please go ahead.

Edward Lu

Analyst

Thank you, Muzi. During the third quarter, we were committed in upholding the quality of our content as a mainstream media outlet. In the current turbulent global landscape and the macro environment, trustworthiness has emerged as an essential requirement for our users. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Palestine conflict, we have compiled over 100 news flash and articles, establishing ourselves as the go-to source for tracking the development of the crisis. Our content has been widely shared by users, resulting in a substantial boost in traffic. This is driven by hot topics, accounted for 30% of the total new visits. In our live broadcast, we provided on-site reporting under the title Live from the Israel-Palestine Conflict Zone at Gaza Border. Our Phoenix journalist, [indiscernible] ventured to Sderot, the city closest to the Israel-Palestine conflict zone at the Gaza border, located less than one kilometer away. The report centered on the local people, the city's situation and the ground reality, offering valuable insights for the audience to grasp the real situation on the ground. On the sports front. We closely followed the Asian Games, achieving high exposure and attention on various social platforms. Our sports and video channels released nearly 100 short videos, accumulating a total view count of 37 million. For news and information, in general, our Phoenix News accounts on Douyin has gained 3.31 million new followers in the third quarter, surpassing a total of 10 million followers. We continue to maximize the dissemination of our content and unlock our business potential on social media platforms. In the post-pandemic era, individuals are experiencing heightened anxiety and fatigue. Users are increasingly seeking content that provides positive energy, particularly in a concise and high-quality form. This is where we come in, closely attuned to users' emotional needs, providing them with positive…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Question comes from the line of Alice Tang from First Shanghai. Please ask your question, Alice.

Alice Tang

Analyst

Good morning, management. Thank you for taking my question. My question is that our company had previously announced a stock buyback plan. Could you please provide us with some insight and updates on the buyback transaction? Thank you.

Edward Lu

Analyst

Thank you for the question. Actually, we have confidence in the company's fundamentals and future performance, which is why the Board of Directors approved the buyback plan. Currently, the company has a very strong cash position, providing enough support for the company's future growth for our considerable durable period. Through this buyback we aim to return some cash to our shareholders from now until the end of February next year. We will execute the plan in compliance with the U.S. securities law and other relevant regulations. And the buyback transactions will be conducted in the open market at market prices. We expect to start the buyback transaction shortly after the Q3 earnings release. Thank you, Alice.

Alice Tang

Analyst

Thank you. That's very helpful.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And that's all we have for question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back to Muzi Guo for any additional closing comments.

Muzi Guo

Analyst

Thank you. We have now come to the end of our Q&A session and our conference call. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. Thank you for joining us today on this call. Have a good day.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.