Hello Group (MOMO) Telefonkonferenz zu den Q2-Ergebnissen 2026: Auslandswachstum, schwächerer inländischer Ausblick

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Die Hello Group (NASDAQ: MOMO) meldete für das zweite Quartal 2026 einen Umsatz von 2,49 Milliarden RMB, was einem Rückgang von 5 % gegenüber dem Vorjahr, aber einem Anstieg von 4 % gegenüber dem Vorquartal entspricht.
• Der Inlandsumsatz ging im Jahresvergleich um 17 % auf 1,81 Milliarden RMB zurück, was den steuerbedingten Druck auf Momo-Agenturen, die schwache Konsumstimmung und geringere Ausgaben von kaufkräftigen Nutzern widerspiegelt.
• Der Auslandsumsatz stieg im Jahresvergleich um 52 % und im Vergleich zum Vorquartal um 13 % auf 673 Millionen RMB. Damit erreichte er 27 % des Konzernumsatzes im Vergleich zu 17 % im Vorjahreszeitraum.
• Der den Aktionären zuzurechnende Non-GAAP-Nettogewinn lag bei 273,9 Millionen RMB, verglichen mit einem Verlust von 96 Millionen RMB in Q2 2025. Die Non-GAAP-Operativmarge sank von 17,1 % auf 11,1 %.
• Das Management prognostiziert für das dritte Quartal 2026 einen Umsatz von 2,4 bis 2,5 Milliarden RMB, was einem Rückgang im Jahresvergleich von 9,4 % bis 5,7 % entspricht.
• Das Management rechnet nun für das Gesamtjahr mit einem Rückgang des Konzernumsatzes im mittleren einstelligen Prozentbereich. Das Ziel einer bereinigten operativen Marge im niedrigen zweistelligen Prozentbereich bleibt vorbehaltlich von Kostenkontrollen und Verbesserungen der Betriebseffizienz erreichbar.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Momo

Der Umsatz von Momo mit Mehrwertdiensten lag bei 1,54 Milliarden RMB, was einem Rückgang von 16 % im Jahresvergleich, aber einem Anstieg von 2 % gegenüber dem Vorquartal entspricht. Steuerliche Überprüfungen von Agenturen und Streamern blieben eine Belastung, während die schwache Konsumbereitschaft die Monetarisierung begrenzte.

Die Zahl der zahlenden Nutzer stieg im Quartalsvergleich um 200.000 auf 3,9 Millionen, unterstützt durch eine saisonale Erholung des Nutzerverkehrs und themenbezogene Audio- und Video-Aktivitäten. Laut Management verbesserten sich das Plattform-Engagement und die Gesamtnutzerbasis nach Produktiterationen leicht.

Das Unternehmen testete weiterhin KI-gestütztes Matching, personalisierte Kontaktaufnahmen (Icebreaker) und Chat-Tools. Zudem wurden Monetarisierungsfunktionen im Niedrigpreisbereich eingeführt, darunter kostenpflichtige Hervorhebungen von Nutzerbeiträgen zur Steigerung der Reichweite.

Das Management erhöhte die Umsatzbeteiligungsquoten und Subventionen für ausgewählte Audio-Agenturen, um das Angebot während der Steuerkonformitätsprozesse zu sichern. In der zweiten Jahreshälfte plant das Unternehmen, sich auf soziales Engagement und exklusive Dienste für umsatzstarke Nutzer zu konzentrieren, während schwellenarme Audio-Funktionen und Social Games für Gelegenheits- und Long-Tail-Nutzer ausgebaut werden sollen.

Tantan

Tantan erzielte einen Umsatz von 156 Millionen RMB, was einem Rückgang von 18 % im Jahresvergleich und 3 % gegenüber dem Vorquartal entspricht. Die Zahl der zahlenden Nutzer sank im Vergleich zum Vorquartal um 40.000 auf 0,5 Millionen, was hauptsächlich darauf zurückzuführen ist, dass Änderungen der automatischen Verlängerungsregeln von Alipay die Verlängerung von Mitgliedschaften erschwerten.

Die durchschnittliche inländische Nutzerbasis zeigte sich weitgehend stabil mit einem leichten Anstieg. Dies stellt die erste Stabilisierung seit Beginn der Reduzierung der Marketingausgaben Anfang 2022 dar. KI-Icebreaker, Chat-Assistenten und kuratierte Matching-Tools zeigten erste Verbesserungen bei der Matching-Effizienz und der Nutzerbindung.

Tantan führte lebenslange Mitgliedschaften ein, förderte längere Abonnementlaufzeiten und integrierte Douyin Pay sowie WeChat Pay, um die Abhängigkeit von einem einzigen Zahlungskanal zu verringern. Laut Management lag der ROI bei der Nutzerakquise trotz höherer Stückkosten weiterhin bei über 100 %.

Auslandsgeschäft

Der Auslandsumsatz erreichte 673 Millionen RMB, angetrieben von neueren Produkten im Nahen Osten und Nordafrika sowie der Konsolidierung von 2025 erworbenen Dating-Produkten. Eine saisonale Erholung nach dem Ramadan, spielerische Elemente (Gamification) und eventbasierte Maßnahmen unterstützten ebenfalls das Wachstum gegenüber dem Vorquartal.

SoulChill erholte sich weiter von seinem Tiefstand im ersten Quartal, auch wenn die Entwicklung nach der Entfernung aus dem türkischen App Store und geopolitischen Störungen im Nahen Osten hinter den ursprünglichen Erwartungen des Managements zurückblieb.

Yaahlan und Amar verzeichneten ein schnelles Wachstum. Ihr kombinierter Umsatz im zweiten Quartal näherte sich der Größenordnung von SoulChill an, und laut Management übertrafen die beiden Produkte SoulChill im dritten Quartal. Yaahlan erreichte im zweiten Quartal die Gewinnschwelle beim Nettoergebnis, während sich die Verluste von Amar weiter verringerten. Das Management rechnet damit, dass beide Produkte 2027 zum Konzernergebnis beitragen werden, wobei Amar möglicherweise noch etwa sechs Monate von der Gewinnschwelle entfernt ist.

Happn setzte sein Umsatzwachstum durch eine höhere Konversionsrate bei kostenpflichtigen Angeboten sowie einen höheren ARPPU fort. Das Unternehmen weitet die Dating-Plattform auf Märkte wie Korea, Taiwan und das Vereinigte Königreich aus und wägt dabei Marketinginvestitionen gegen die Profitabilität ab.

Prognose des Managements

• Für das dritte Quartal 2026 wird ein Umsatz von 2,4 bis 2,5 Milliarden RMB erwartet, was einem Rückgang von 9,4 % bis 5,7 % gegenüber dem Vorjahr entspricht.
• In der Mitte der Prognosespanne erwartet das Management im Festlandchina-Geschäft einen Umsatzrückgang im hohen 10-Prozent-Bereich und im Auslandsgeschäft ein Wachstum im hohen 30-Prozent-Bereich gegenüber dem Vorjahr.
• Das Management rechnet nun für das Gesamtjahr 2026 mit einem Rückgang des Konzernumsatzes im mittleren einstelligen Prozentbereich, verglichen mit der vorherigen Annahme eines Rückgangs um wenige Prozentpunkte.
• Das ursprüngliche Auslandsumsatzziel von 3 Milliarden RMB erscheint nun anspruchsvoll. Das Management deutete an, das Ziel um 100 bis 200 Millionen RMB zu senken, anstatt Investitionen auf Kosten der Profitabilität zu beschleunigen.
• Das Unternehmen hält für 2026 weiterhin eine bereinigte operative Marge im niedrigen zweistelligen Prozentbereich für erreichbar, sofern weitere Kostenoptimierungen in den Bereichen Personal, Vertrieb und Marketing umgesetzt werden.

Risiken und Beobachtungspunkte

• Die Ausgaben der kaufkräftigsten Live-Streaming-Nutzer von Momo schwächten sich ab Ende des zweiten Quartals stärker als erwartet ab und verschlechterten sich im dritten Quartal weiter. Das Management führte dies auf gedämpfte Vermögenserwartungen bei vermögenden Nutzern zurück.
• Andauernde steuerliche Überprüfungen setzen die Momo-Agenturen und -Streamer unter Druck, was höhere Umsatzbeteiligungen und gezielte Subventionen erforderlich macht.
• Änderungen an Alipays Richtlinien zur automatischen Verlängerung haben die Zahlungskonversion und den ARPPU von Tantan verringert.
• Das Auslandsgeschäft sieht sich mit App-Store-Einschränkungen, geopolitischen Störungen und höheren Kosten für Zahlungskanäle konfrontiert.
• Der höhere Umsatzbeitrag aus dem Ausland steigerte die Zahlungsabwicklungskosten im Verhältnis zum Umsatz, was den Druck auf die Bruttomarge verstärkte.
• Die Filmproduktion führte im zweiten Quartal zu zusätzlichen Verlusten von etwa 60 Millionen RMB, was den Ertragsausblick für das Gesamtjahr belastet.

Highlights der Analysten-Runde

Die Analysten konzentrierten sich auf den schwächeren Ausblick für das Inlandsgeschäft, die geografische Diversifizierung im Ausland und die Rentabilität des Konzerns.

Das Management erklärte, dass die Korrektur des Inlandsumsatzes hauptsächlich auf geringere Ausgaben der Top-Nutzer von Momo und nicht auf eine nachlassende Aktivität zurückzuführen sei. Die Zahl der täglich aktiven Nutzer (DAU), das Engagement und die Basis der zahlenden Nutzer blieben widerstandsfähig, während sich die Nutzer im mittleren Segment, die Long-Tail-Nutzer und das Angebot an Streamern relativ stabil entwickelten. Das Unternehmen sieht keinen erheblichen zusätzlichen regulatorischen Druck, rechnet jedoch damit, dass der makroökonomisch bedingte Ausgabengegenwind bis ins vierte Quartal anhalten könnte.

In Bezug auf das Auslandsgeschäft erklärte das Management, dass die unterschiedlichen Nutzerstrukturen, regionalen Ausrichtungen und Produktformate von SoulChill, Yaahlan und Amar die Widerstandsfähigkeit stärken dürften. Ein stärker als erwartetes Wachstum von Yaahlan und Amar glich den Rückstand von SoulChill teilweise aus, obwohl das Unternehmen nicht plant, die Investitionen über den bisherigen Plan hinaus zu beschleunigen.

Hinsichtlich der Profitabilität räumte das Management ein, dass der schwächere Inlandsumsatz und die Verluste aus der Filmproduktion das ursprüngliche Margenziel erschweren. Dennoch hielt das Unternehmen an dem Ziel einer bereinigten operativen Marge im niedrigen zweistelligen Prozentbereich fest – unter der Voraussetzung strengerer Personal- und Marketingkostenkontrollen sowie fortlaufender Effizienzsteigerungen.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Hello Group's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

Please note, this conference is being recorded today. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Ms. Ashley Jing. Thank you. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Ashley Jing

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Hello Group's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. The company's results were released earlier today and are available on the company's IR website.

On the call today are Mr. Tang Yan, CEO of the company; Mr. Wen Jianhua, CEO of the company; and Ms. Peng Hui, CFO of the company. They will discuss the company's business operations and highlights as well as the financials and guidance. They will all be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session that follows.

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the company's control, which may cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. For the information regarding this and other risks, uncertainties and factors is included in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not take any further obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information due to events or otherwise, except as required under law.

I will now pass the call over to our COO, Mr. Wen Jianhua. Jianhua, please.

Jianhua Wen

Okay. [Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining today's call. The group maintained steady business momentum in Q2. On the domestic side, Momo continued to preserve the healthy functioning of our cash cow business through product innovation and refined operations. While Tantan focused on AI capability building to improve user experience and monetization efficiency. On the overseas side, the synergy across our diversified product portfolio became increasingly evident.

Next, I'll walk you through the key updates.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Starting with the financials for Q2 '26, total group revenue was RMB 2.49 billion, down 5% year-over-year, but up 4% quarter-over-quarter. Domestic revenue reached RMB 1.81 billion, down 17% year-over-year, but up 1% quarter-over-quarter. Overseas revenue was RMB 673 million, up 52% year-over-year and 13% quarter-over-quarter. Overseas revenue accounted for 27% of total revenue compared to 17% in the same period last year. Adjusted operating income was RMB 276 million with a margin of 11%.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Our 2026 priorities continue along 3 main tracks. For Momo, the goal is to ensure stable sustained productivity of our cash cow business. For Tantan, to continue exploring a dating experience and an efficient business model tailored for Asian users. And for our new businesses to deepen overseas presence, enrich our brand portfolio and build a long-term growth engine.

Next, I'll walk you through each.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Let me start with Momo. On the user side, a year of user-oriented product iteration has effectively lifted platform engagement, combined with the sequential recovery from the seasonal low inorganic traffic, this drove a modest increase in Momo's overall user base. Building on this uptick in the overall scale, our audio and video small-ticket scenarios run themed operational events around the World Cup and key seasonal occasions, driving paying users up 200,000 quarter-over-quarter to 3.9 million.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] On the product side, not focused on refining our deep tech matching strategy, precisely paring users with a high intent to chat, which had a positive effect on engagement, retention and overall user scale. AI chat assistants trains its models on real user behavior data to deepen its understanding of user preferences, driving steady growth in future adoption as well as the reply rate in AI greetings. This has both supported long-term retention and user base scale and open up new revenue scenarios. This quarter, we also began [ grade ] testing [indiscernible], which has AI browse user portals to identify common interest, complete on initial screening of potential matches and automatically generate a personalized ice breaker message, further improving matching efficiency and connection success rate.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] On user acquisition, we run a holdout experiment on channel spend for dormant user reactivation, aiming to test whether attribution [indiscernible] in our channel data were leading to inefficiencies in these re-engagement efforts. The results show that there is indeed room for continued optimization in our channel investments, and we are confident we can maintain our current platform scale and revenue with less spend. In Q3, we will continue to improve acquisition efficiency based on these findings.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] turning to Momo's commercial performance. In Q2, Momo's VAS revenue was RMB 1.54 billion, down 16% year-over-year but up 2% quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year decline was mainly driven by 2 factors. Number one, continued tightening on the tax front, which has had a sustained [indiscernible] negative impact on our agencies and broadcasters. Number two, softness in consumer spending due to macro.

Sequential growth came in weaker than in previous years, mainly because since April, some agencies in the audio scenario scaled by operations due to tax-related pressures, which weighted on revenue. In late May, we rolled out targeted subsidies to ease the operating pressure on these agencies, which drove a quick recovery in revenue. In Q2, our overall VAS revenue share and ratio rose by a low single-digit percentage points, both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, mainly because we moderately raised the revenue sharing ratio and subsidy support for certain core agencies in the audio scenarios to ease the supply side financial pressure through the tax compliance process, keeping the supply side stable at a manageable cost.

On the product and operations side, we stayed with our approach of tier monetization and use case innovation. For high-value users, we selected top grossing broadcasters and created AI-generated [indiscernible] to custom gifts for them, which effectively refreshed paying interest among our top spenders.

For mid-tier users, we capitalized on World Cup-related traffic by rolling out interactive game play such as match predictions, which lifted engagement and user stickiness. At the long tail end, we [indiscernible] a moment's boost feature, letting users pay to increase the exposure of their post. This not only produced positive operating data, but also successfully validated a new small ticket payment scenario. This multipronged refined operating approach provided solid support for the stability of our overall revenue base amid the macro downturn.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Now let's turn to Tantan. As of the end of Q2, Tantan had 0.5 million paying users, a modest decrease of 40,000 quarter-over-quarter, mainly due to pressure on paying conversion from Alipay's adjustments to its auto renewal deduction rules.

On the user base, average domestic user scale was stable with a slight uptick in Q2, marking the first stabilization in our user base since we began scaling back marketing spend in early 2022. New user growth stayed under year-over-year pressure amid the lingering effects of lower marketing spend. But on the product side, refined targeting strategies for different user segments improved matching efficiency, lifting retention among both male and female users to varying degrees and contributing positively to overall user base stability.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] In Q2, Tantan's domestic business focused its core efforts on exploring AI-driven improvements to the user experience. Among this, AI icebreaker and AI chat assistant delivered encouraging early results. The team strengthened AI's semantic understanding of users' photos, which feed Tantan's users preference for expressing themselves through images rather than text and use the photo content to generate personalized opening lines, which had a particularly strong pull on female user retention.

To address the pain point of female users receiving too many matches, the new AI [indiscernible] matching feature scans through a large volume of matches to surface the best people to chat with, effectively reducing decision fatigue. In addition, AI one registration and profile optimization, process the user information in bulk with precision, which not only lowers the barrier to onboarding, but also laid a high-quality data foundation for building an AI [ engine ] social manager down the road and enabling deeper, more curated matching and recommendations.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] On user acquisition, external factors pushed up unit acquisition costs year-over-year. And combined with narrowed channel budget, this reduced the number of users acquired from a year ago. However, because organic traffic retains better and drops more slowly than channel traffic, this partially offset the pressure on the overall user base from the reduction in paid acquisition.

Channel ROI declined quarter-over-quarter due to rising unit costs and the impact of Alipay's policy change on ARPPU, but Tantan's overall ROI remained at a healthy level, above 100% payback.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] On the financial side, in Q2, Tantan generated total revenue of RMB 156 million, down 18% year-over-year and 3% quarter-over-quarter. The revenue decline was mainly due to the temporary pressure on membership renewals from Alipay's domestic channel policy adjustments.

In response, we took several measures. First, we launched a lifetime membership product and encouraged the short-cycle subscribers to convert to longer cycle plans, reducing the volatility risk tied to the renewal frequency. Second, we completed an upgrade to our payment infrastructure, integrating Douyin Pay and WeChat Pay to meaningfully reduce the reliance on a single channel. At the same time, we optimized the matching strategy behind Flash Chat, driving revenue growth in that scenario against the broader trend.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Lastly, our new businesses. In Q2, total overseas revenue was RMB 673 million, up 52% year-over-year and 13% quarter-over-quarter. Overseas revenue as a share of group revenue rose 10 percentage points year-over-year to 27%. The acceleration in year-over-year growth was mainly driven by strong momentum from our new MENA products as well as the consolidation of overseas dating products acquired last year.

Sequentially, overseas revenue grew at a double-digit rate, mainly reflecting the natural recovery in the MENA region following the seasonal Ramadan low, along with new gamified features on the product side and same-day events tied to seasonal occasions and the World Cup on the operational side, both of which lifted user engagement and paying propensity and drove revenue growth across the board.

Within the portfolio, SoulChill's progress moderated relative to our initial time line due to external factors, including its removal from the Turkish App Store and the ongoing geopolitical tension in the Middle East since the beginning of the year. However, the product is gradually emerging from its Q1 trough and is showing a clear recovery trend. Notably, the 2 newer products in MENA demonstrated strong growth momentum with their combined revenue in the second quarter already approaching the scale of SoulChill. And alongside this high growth, profitability has also continued to improve.

Yaahlan achieved a net income breakeven for the first time in Q2. Amar, having turned marginal contribution positive earlier this year, has seen its net loss continue to narrow quickly on the back of a rapid revenue growth and operating leverage. This marks a new stage of our MENA strategy moving from a social-driven single product model to a multiproduct matrix working in concert.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] On the other hand, our developed market dating business has maintained high-quality expansion. In the first half of the year, Happn improved paid conversion and ARPPU through iterating on its membership benefit and precision targeting, driving continued revenue growth both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. Building on strong position in its core European markets, Happn begun exploring neighboring markets starting early this year and has seen encouraging early results. The current user and revenue performance in these new markets fully validates their long-term growth potential and lays a solid foundation for the next phase of scaled expansion.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Overall, in the first half of the year, while our domestic business continued to weather external headwinds, our overseas product portfolio has shifted from being supported by a single product to achieving balanced diversified growth. This validates the effectiveness of our sustained investment in globalization over the past several years and has given the group a healthier revenue structure and stronger resilience.

In the second half of the year, we'll continue to strengthen the foundation of our domestic cash cow business through product innovation and refined operations while advancing the scaling of our overseas business so as to create long-term value for both users and shareholders.

Jianhua Wen

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] This concludes my remarks today. Now let me pass the call over to Cathy for the financial review. Cathy, please.

Cathy Peng

Thanks, Jianhua and Ashley. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our conference call today. Now let me take you through the financial review.

Total revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was RMB 2.49 billion, down 5% year-on-year but up 4% quarter-on-quarter. Non-GAAP net income attributable to the shareholders of the company was RMB 273.9 million compared to a net loss of RMB 96 million in the same period of 2025, and RMB 328.8 million in the previous quarter.

Looking into the key revenue items for Q2. Total revenue from value-added services for the second quarter of 2026 was RMB 2.44 billion, down 5% year-on-year, but up 4% quarter-on-quarter. On a geographic basis, PRC Mainland value-added services revenue was RMB 1.77 billion, down 17% year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to continuous tax scrutiny on some of Momo's agencies, combined with weak consumer sentiment due to broader macro pressures and, to a lesser degree, a decline in paying users on Tantan.

PRC Mainland VAS revenue for Q2 '26 was up 1% quarter-over-quarter due to recovery from low seasonality. VAS overseas revenue for the second quarter of 2026 reached [ RMB 664.9 million, ] up 51% year-over-year, driven by strong growth momentum from our new MENA product as well as the consolidation of overseas dating products acquired last year. Sequentially, overseas VAS revenue rose 12%, driven by a recovery in the MENA region after its seasonal low alongside product and operational initiatives.

Turning to cost and expenses. Non-GAAP cost of revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was RMB 1.6 billion, same as the year ago period. Non-GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 35.8% compared to 38.8% from year ago period. Q2 cost of revenue included RMB 56.8 million in film production expenses. Excluding this item, gross profit margin would have been 38.1%, a decline of less than 1 percentage point versus Q2 last year. The decrease was primarily due to payment channel costs rising as a percentage of revenue. This resulted from a geographic mix shift towards international operations, which carry higher payment channel fee structures compared with our domestic businesses.

Although Momo raised agency payout ratio to mitigate impact from tax scrutiny, improved gross margins in the MENA region, coupled with larger revenue contribution from higher-margin overseas dating products offset the margin pressure stemming from Momo's operations. As a result, total revenue share costs as a percentage of revenue remained stable from the year ago period.

Non-GAAP R&D expenses for the second quarter was RMB 171.3 million compared to RMB 172.0 million for the same period last year. Non-GAAP R&D expenses as a percentage of revenue was 7%, same as Q2 last year. We ended the quarter with 1,399 total employees compared to 1,268 from a year ago. The R&D personnel as a percentage of total employees for the group was 56% compared with 58% from Q2 last year. Non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses for the second quarter was RMB 380.4 million compared to RMB 339.7 million for the same period last year, representing a 15% and 13% of total revenue, respectively. The year-over-year increase in sales and marketing expenses was mainly attributable to a greater marketing spend on our new overseas app. This increase was partly offset by ongoing cost controls in Mainland China operations, both Momo and Tantan cut marketing spend, while SoulChill temporary pulled back on channel investments amid external challenges.

Non-GAAP G&A expenses was RMB 75.1 million for the second quarter compared to RMB 67.5 million for the same period last year. The increase was primarily driven by RMB 11 million in exchange gains on euro-dominated deposits stemming from currency fluctuations in Q2 last year compared with a RMB 1.8 million exchange loss in the current quarter. Non-GAAP G&A expenses as a percentage of revenue was 3%, largely unchanged from Q2 last year.

Non-GAAP operating income was RMB 276.1 million, representing a margin of 11.1% compared with RMB 447.7 million and a margin of 17.1% from Q2 '25. As noted earlier, non-GAAP cost of revenue included film production-related expenses. Excluding these items, non-GAAP operating income from our recurring business would have been RMB 332.9 million with a margin of 13.4%. Non-GAAP OpEx as a percentage of total revenue was 25%, an increase from 22% from the year ago period.

Now briefly on income tax expenses. Non-GAAP income tax expenses was RMB 71.2 million for the quarter with an effective tax rate of 23%. In Q2, the company accrued withholding income tax of RMB 18.4 million, which is 10% of undistributed profit generated by our [indiscernible]. Without the withholding tax, our estimated non-GAAP effective tax rate was around 17% in the second quarter.

Now turning to balance sheet and cash flow items. As of June 30, 2026, Hello Group's cash, cash equivalents, short-term deposits, long-term deposits, short-term investments and restricted cash totaled RMB 8.54 billion compared to RMB 8.68 billion as of December 31, 2025. Net cash provided by operating activities in the second quarter of 2026 was RMB 642.3 million. The difference between operating net cash and non-GAAP net income was mainly due to the fact that a substantial amount of Q1 receivables were collected in Q2. Accrued interest and some noncash items, including film production costs and withholding tax.

Lastly, on business outlook. We estimated our third quarter revenue to come in the range from RMB 2.4 billion to RMB 2.5 billion, representing a decrease of 9.4% to 5.7% year-over-year. This is based on the assumption that at midpoint on a year-over-year basis, revenue from our Mainland China business will decline by high teens percentage-wise, while overseas revenue is expected to grow by high 30s percentage wise.

Please be mindful that this forecast represents the company's current and preliminary view on the market and operational conditions, which are subject to change.

That concluded our prepared portion of today's discussion. With that, let me turn the call back to Ashley to start Q&A. Ashley, please. Thanks.

Ashley Jing

[Operator Instructions]. Operator, we're ready for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies.

Fragen und Antworten

Thomas Chong

[Foreign Language] Let me translate myself. In our last earnings call, management talked about the decline in domestic revenue in the second half would be notably leveling versus the first half. However, when we look at the guidance, it seems the decline in Q3 is slightly widening versus the first half of the year. May we know the key reason for the difference? Is it more due to the changes in external macro environment or adjustment about our operational strategy?

And in response to the situation, what specific measures does the company have at the moment? Can management provide more color about the financial -- about the domestic revenue and expenses in the second half?

Unknown Executive

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Our revised outlook for the domestic business is mainly based on some new trends that we've seen in the Momo live streaming revenue since entering the second half of the year. The data shows that the revenue pressure is concentrated mainly in consumption downgrading among high-spending paying users. Although the vast majority of these users in this cohort remain active on our platform, but they've become more cautious about spending and average ARPPU has declined significantly.

Based on our targeted interviews to those cohort of users by our VIP team, we found out that the core driver behind this is weaker wealth expectations among high net worth individuals amid macro volatility, which has dampened spending on social entertainment. But by contrast, mid-tier and long-tail users as well as the broadcasters from the supply side has remained relatively stable.

Unknown Executive

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Based on this view, we will take a tiered operating approach, starting with top-tier users. We will make full use of Momo's strength as a social platform, focusing on deepening social connections rather than simply pushing more spending. And specifically, on the one hand, we will roll out light-weighted social interaction focused features and organize official offline events for hyping users, further strengthening this group's stickiness to the platform and upgrading our VIP exclusive services.

And on the other hand, we will continue to provide high-quality broadcasters with exclusive resources, such as overseas [indiscernible] and short drama production to constantly refresh content supply and sustain high-value users' ongoing interest and engagement around top broadcasters.

Yan Tang

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] For mid-tier and long-tail users, will focus on low barrier high-retention scenarios such as audio-based interactive features and social mini games, using richer use case offering to stabilize the revenue base generated by this user group.

And for the financial figures, I will hand it over to Cathy.

Cathy Peng

Sure. Let me give you a quick update on how we currently think about the domestic business in the second half of 2026. As you may see, our Q3 guidance implies roughly a high-teens year-over-year decline for the domestic business, widening from Q2's 17% year-over-year decline rate. And that underperforms our earlier expectation that in the second half, domestic business could see Y-o-Y decline rate narrowing down from first half.

The key reason Q3 is coming in below our quarter ago expectation is that as [ Tang Zong ] mentioned just now, the domestic business has been facing greater pressure than we anticipated, particularly on user spending sentiment among the very top cohort users in live streaming [ showroom. ].

With regards to the trajectory from Q3 onwards, as in the previous quarters, I would still frame our view around 3 areas that we closely monitor. First is overall spending sentiment, what we've observed since late Q2 is a meaningful reduction in spending from the top cohort of users. These are the users who historically contribute a disproportionate amount of revenue in the [ showrooms. ] And many of them spend in the hundreds of thousands renminbi on a monthly basis.

In Q3, the reduction in spending from this top of pyramid users became more pronounced. Our current assessment is that this reflects continued pressure on the financial outlook of the so-called high net worth users, which is, in turn, affecting their discretionary and entertainment spending. So from a macro spending sentiment perspective, we may continue to see a headwind as we move into Q4.

And the second factor is the regulatory environment. At this point, we are not seeing any significant incremental regulatory pressure, and we expect the environment to remain relatively stable. So this is not a major driver of the change in our outlook.

The third area and one where we continue to see encouraging signs is the underlying health of the platforms. Our DAU and engagement metrics remain relatively resilient, and importantly, Momo paying users -- Momo paying user base in Q2 increased meaningfully from Q1. This is certainly -- there is certainly some seasonality in that sequential improvement. However, we believe it also reflects a relatively healthy and resilient user ecosystem.

So in other words, the weakness we're seeing in revenue is not primarily a function of users leaving the platforms or deterioration in engagement. It's much more concentrated in the spending behavior of the highest net worth users. These users are still active and still paying. They're simply spending less.

So if you put these factors together, I would say the biggest change in our view versus the beginning of the year -- versus at the beginning of the year is the macro spending environment, particularly among the top cohort of users. For that reason, our earlier expectation for a meaningful narrowing of the year-over-year decline in the second half should be adjusted downward.

At this point, given the uncertainty around the macro environment, I don't think it would be appropriate for us to put a specific Q4 number out there. What we can control is continuing to strengthen the fundamentals of both Momo and Tantan, improving user experience and engagement across the platform and make the business more efficient.

On the cost side, we do see opportunities to further optimize our operating expenses. This includes continued discipline around personnel costs. As Jianhua mentioned, in his prepared remarks, additional opportunities to optimize sales and marketing spending in the domestic business.

So while the revenue environment is more challenging than we anticipated at the beginning of the year, we are taking a more balanced approach, remaining focused on improving the underlying health of the platforms, while at the same time, actively managing the cost structure. This should allow us to mitigate some of the pressure on the bottom line, even in a more challenging revenue environment.

Now back to Ashley for more questions.

Ashley Jing

Operator, next question please.

Operator

Your next question comes from Xueqing Zhang with CICC.

Xueqing Zhang

[Foreign Language] My question is about the overseas business. Management mentioned that combined revenue by Yaahlan and Amar in the same quarter was already close to that of SoulChill, while their profitability continued to improve. As the revenue mix of the social entertainment business in the MENA region becomes more diversified, can we expect the company's performance in the region to become more stable and resilient going forward? And how will the structural shift affect the overall margin profile of the MENA business? And can management also share whether there has been any update to the company's full year outlook for overseas business.

Unknown Executive

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] Based on the current momentum, the combined revenue of our 2 new MENA products will surpass SoulChill in Q3. Both products are still maintaining healthy strong growth so we are confident that we can grow them into social products of the scale comparable to SoulChill.

Unknown Executive

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] In addition, these 3 products differ in gameplay, target of user base and regional focus, which will make the group's MENA business more diversified and strengthen both our resilience to external risks and our agility in capturing growth opportunities. Once the new products are established, even if one of them comes under short-term pressure from external regulatory or geopolitical factors, the others can still support the stability of overall regional revenue. We also believe the market for this type of audio, video social products is unlimited to MENA. Our diversified product portfolio gives us a stronger capability to expand into other regions than a single product would.

Unknown Executive

[Foreign Language]

Ashley Jing

[Interpreted] On profitability, both Yaahlan and Amar are improving quickly. Yaahlan already crossed breakeven, and Amar likely still around half a year away. But both products gross margin and contribution margin are improving rapidly and steadily. We believe both products will contribute to group's profit next year.

As for our overseas revenue outlook, I will leave it to Cathy.

Cathy Peng

Before giving a quantitative outlook, let me briefly walk through the 3 key components of the overseas business. First, on SoulChill, our flagship product in the MENA region, the business has underperformed our original expectation somewhat. There were 2 main factors behind that. One was the removal of the app from the App Store in Turkey earlier this year. And the other was the regional conflict that started in April, which had an impact on the operating environment in parts of the Middle East.

The encouraging part is that, as you can see from Q2 results, both revenue and traffic for SoulChill have already recovered from the low point in Q1. We are continuing to see gradual sequential improvement as we move through Q3 and hopefully, Q4 as well. So SoulChill is somewhat below our initial expectation for the year, but the trajectory has been improving over the past couple of quarters.

The second piece is Yaahlan and Amar, as Tang Zong and Jianhua mentioned, the outperformance of these 2 businesses has partially compensated for the shortfall in SoulChill. In Q3, the combined revenue from Yaahlan and Amar has already exceeded that of SoulChill. Both businesses are still growing at a rapid pace while we are also seeing a meaningful improvement in their bottom line performance. So we believe these 2 businesses can continue to make progress and become increasingly meaningful contributors to both the top line and bottom line of the overseas business going forward.

The third piece is the dating and membership subscription businesses, which continue to perform well. Some of the acquired brands, including Happn have been making good progress in new markets, including Korea, Taiwan and U.K. At the same time, we are taking a fairly disciplined approach to investment in these new markets.

We do see opportunities to increase marketing investment to accelerate top line growth. But we also want to maintain a healthy bottom line for the newly acquired dating business. More importantly, we want to make sure that we are building the ecosystem in these markets in a sustainable way rather than simply pushing for short-term user or revenue growth. So there is naturally a balance between the pace of top line expansion and the level of investments that we are willing to pour in within a relatively short time frame. In other words, we'd rather take it right, then take it fast.

So if you wrap up these -- if you wrap these all up and try to look at the takeaway as a whole, I would say that SoulChill perhaps moved a little bit slower than we expected a quarter ago. We do have the potential to maybe compensated by moving faster on expanding the other 2 MENA apps and the dating app. But given that we wanted to balance top line growth and bottom line target, we probably won't push the gas pedal harder than we previously planned.

Therefore, my current view is that the original RMB 3 billion target for overseas revenue for 2026 at this point looks a little bit of a stretch. We'd rather take RMB 100 million or RMB 200 million down from that target.

Maybe back to Ashley to take the last question.

Ashley Jing

Yes. So in the interest of time, let's just take one last question before we close the line. Operator, we're ready.

Operator

Your next question comes from Jenny Yuan with UBS.

Yicheng Yuan

[Foreign Language] My question is on the profit outlook. As management [indiscernible] weaker revenue outlook for domestic business in the second half, how can we think about the impact on the group's overall profitability and the earnings performance going forward?

Cathy Peng

Okay. I'll take that question. Profitability, maybe let me start with the group top line first because that's the first area where our view has changed. As I mentioned back in June during our Q1 conference call, at that time, we expected the group revenue to decline slightly year-over-year, perhaps by a couple of percentage points.

Given the additional pressure we are seeing in the domestic business in the second half, we currently expect the full year group's revenue decline to be somewhat larger, maybe to mid-single-digit range. The second factor affecting profitability is the investment in the 2 movies. With both movies now released, we've recognized roughly somewhere around RMB 60 million of additional losses in Q2. That obviously creates some incremental pressure on the full year bottom line relative to our earlier expectations.

Having said that, we continue to see opportunities to offset some of this pressure through cost management and improving operating efficiency. In particular, we are looking at further optimization of personnel costs as well as sales and marketing spending, especially in the domestic businesses. So putting these factors together, the additional pressure on the top line does make it more challenging to achieve our original margin target, which was I think we pointed towards a low teens adjusted operating margin for 2026. But at this point, we still believe that, that margin target remains achievable, provided that we execute well on the cost side and continue to improve operating efficiency.

Back to Ashley to wrap up the call.

Ashley Jing

I think that's all the time we have. And thank you for joining us today, and we'll see you next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.