Hong Kong’s TVB shares surge on live-streaming sales

One of Hong Kong’s leading broadcasters, Television Broadcasts Ltd., saw its shares almost double after its stars began selling products on the Alibaba-backed Taobao online platform. 

The company garnered sales of 23.5 million yuan (US$3.37 million) in just six hours of the first of at least 48 live-streamed shows planned for this year, the company said in an emailed statement. 

Shares of TVB, as the company is known, soared a record 98 percent, with trading volume 68 times the full-day, three-month average. The stock has surged more than 200 percent this month after the broadcaster announced its live-stream sales plan in February. 

TVB, the city’s dominant free-to-air broadcaster, had been looking for ways to boost its business after struggling with net losses since 2018 amid increasing competition from internet rivals and a slowing local economy.  

Other local entertainment stocks, Shaw Brothers Holdings Ltd. and Emperor Culture Group Ltd., also each surged at least 85 percent on Wednesday. 

(Bloomberg)