Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) is an interactive entertainment company making a big pivot, but how does a Chinese mobile live-streaming leader with over 300 million global users navigate a competitive market?

Despite the challenges, the company is defintely pushing for operational efficiency, with its Q1 2025 income from operations surging 33.3% year-over-year, even as Q2 2025 revenue came in at US$48.5 million.

This resilience is rooted in its core mission-to make everyone happier with sci-tech innovation-and its aggressive shift to building the SJVerse, a Metaverse lifestyle platform, which is the real story you need to understand to assess its value.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) History

You're looking for the bedrock of Scienjoy Holding Corporation, and it's a story of a decade-long pivot from a China-focused live streaming platform to a global, AI-driven metaverse player. The key takeaway is that the company was founded on the early promise of live social entertainment and has since made a hard, strategic turn toward the future, culminating in a significant international presence and a new technology focus.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

Scienjoy Holding Corporation was established in 2011, positioning itself early in the burgeoning Chinese live streaming market.

Original location

The company originated in China, initially focusing its operations and platform development within the domestic market.

Founding team members

Specific details on the initial founding team members are not publicly available in the company's common disclosures, which is not defintely unusual for a firm that has gone through a SPAC merger and subsequent growth.

Initial capital/funding

While the exact initial seed capital is not disclosed, the company did complete a Series B financing round by 2014, indicating significant private investment in its early growth phase.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's history is defined by two major transformative shifts: the move to public markets and the aggressive pivot to the metaverse and globalization.

The 2020 NASDAQ listing was more than just a capital raise; it was a signal of intent to scale globally and diversify away from a purely domestic, competitive Chinese market. This was quickly followed by the acquisition of BeeLive, which pushed the company into international operations. That's a clear action plan: get capital, then go global.

The most recent and critical transformation is the shift from being a live streaming provider to a metaverse lifestyle ecosystem (SJVerse). This is a high-risk, high-reward move, backed by the launch of AI-driven products like 'AI Vista' in June 2024. This strategy is clearly focused on leveraging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Mixed Reality (MR) to create a new user experience, which you can read more about at Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ).

The impact of this pivot is visible in the 2025 financials. While total revenues for the first half of fiscal year 2025 were RMB656.3 million (US$91.1 million), the number of paying users for Q2 2025 stood at 165,239. Here's the quick math: the focus is on a higher Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU) through premium metaverse content, not just maximizing the raw user count. The company is trading volume for value, a classic strategic shift.

• Global Expansion: Established international headquarters in Dubai in 2023, creating a hub for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market growth.
• Metaverse Commitment: Officially released the SJVerse platform in January 2024, signaling a full commitment to AI and MR technologies.
• Operational Efficiency: Despite a revenue decrease in Q1 2025, income from operations increased by 33.3% to RMB13.7 million (US$1.9 million), showing improved cost management as the new strategy takes hold.

The core message here is that Scienjoy Holding Corporation is no longer just a live streaming firm; it's a technology company betting its future on the metaverse and international markets. The numbers show the strategy is in motion, still facing competitive headwinds but demonstrating improved operational efficiency.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) Ownership Structure

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's ownership structure is typical of a smaller, publicly traded company with a significant concentration of shares held by institutional investors and a substantial stake held by its co-founder and CEO.

This dual structure-a large public float alongside a powerful insider stake-means that while the market dictates the share price, the strategic direction is heavily influenced by the executive leadership. For a deeper dive into the company's long-term goals, you should review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ).

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Current Status

Scienjoy Holding Corporation is a publicly traded entity, listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SJ. This public status means the company is subject to all U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting requirements, providing transparency into its financial health and governance structure.

As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization (market cap) stands at approximately $30.06 million. This relatively small market cap places it in the micro-cap category, which often means higher volatility and a closer link between executive decisions and stock performance. The stock price, for example, was trading around $0.718 on November 20, 2025. Small market cap stocks can move fast.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Ownership Breakdown

The company's control is divided primarily between institutional funds and the public float, with a key insider holding a substantial block. This breakdown, based on the most recent data available in the 2025 fiscal year, shows where the real decision-making power resides.

Here's the quick math: Institutional ownership is just under a third of the company, but the CEO's nearly one-fifth stake gives him a significant voice, especially when combined with other insider holdings. This kind of structure suggests that management's interests are defintely aligned with shareholder returns, but they also have the voting power to steer strategy.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Leadership

The company is steered by an experienced executive team, with an average management tenure of approximately 9.8 years as of late 2025, which is a strong indicator of stability and deep industry knowledge. The core executive team is led by a co-founder, ensuring the original vision remains central to operations.

• Xiaowu He (Victor He): Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). A co-founder of Scienjoy, he has served as CEO since October 2011, overseeing overall business strategy, operations, and financing.
• Bo Wan: Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Also a co-founder, Mr. Wan has been COO since October 2011, focusing on business operation, marketing, and human resources.
• Denny Tang: Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Tang joined in February 2020 and brings extensive experience from roles at Ogilvy Beijing and PCCW-NOW TV, managing the financial health and reporting.
• Ray Lei Chen: Head of Investor Relations.
• Pei Lu: Head of R&D Department.

The long tenure of the co-founders, He and Wan, is a crucial factor for investors to consider; they have been in their roles for over 14 years, providing consistent leadership through market cycles.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) Mission and Values

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's (SJ) mission and vision are tightly integrated, centering on using technology to create happiness and building a global metaverse ecosystem, a shift from their traditional live streaming business. This focus on 'sci-tech innovation' is the cultural bedrock underpinning their strategy, especially as they navigate a competitive market that saw Q1 2025 total revenues decrease to US$42.4 million.

Honestly, a company's non-financial narrative is defintely as important as its balance sheet. You need to know what they stand for.

Given Company's Core Purpose

The company's core purpose is to evolve from a mobile live streaming platform-which generated a Q1 2025 gross profit of US$8.2 million-into a comprehensive, technology-driven lifestyle ecosystem. This transformation is embodied in their commitment to the SJVerse (Metaverse Lifestyle Platform), showing a clear pivot to next-generation interactive entertainment.

• Transition business from traditional live streaming to a Metaverse lifestyle.
• Leverage AI and MR (Mixed Reality) to build the SJVerse platform.
• Innovate continuously to provide personalized content and global services.

Official mission statement

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's official mission statement is a compact declaration that links their operational focus (technology and service) directly to their ultimate goal (user satisfaction). It's a simple, powerful statement of intent.

• Make everyone happier with sci-tech innovation and dedicated service.
• Focus on fostering sustainable development in the live-streaming sector.

Vision statement

Their vision is less about where they are today-a platform serving over 300 million users globally-and more about where they are going: the metaverse. This vision is a multi-year roadmap for transforming the user experience and their revenue streams.

• Build the SJVerse, a global metaverse lifestyle platform.
• Integrate AI, MR, and other pioneering technologies into a unified ecosystem.
• Scale personalized content and services to users in over 100 countries.

This strategic pivot is crucial, especially considering the Q1 2025 decrease in paying users, which totaled 151,971 for the quarter, down from the prior year, highlighting the need for a new growth engine.

To understand the players backing this vision, you should read Exploring Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Given Company slogan/tagline

While Scienjoy Holding Corporation doesn't publicly market a short, punchy tagline in the traditional sense, their core mission phrase serves as a de facto slogan that captures the dual focus of their work.

• 'Make everyone happier with sci-tech innovation and dedicated service.'

The real-world action here is the investment in the future: their Q1 2025 income from operations was US$1.9 million, a 33.3% increase year-over-year, which suggests strong operational efficiency to fund this high-tech, long-term vision. That's a solid platform for a big bet.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) How It Works

Scienjoy Holding Corporation operates primarily as a mobile live streaming platform provider in China, generating revenue by facilitating real-time interactive entertainment between broadcasters and users through virtual gifting. The company is now aggressively executing a strategic pivot to a global metaverse lifestyle ecosystem, known as SJVerse, leveraging AI and Mixed Reality (MR) technology for future growth.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Product/Service Portfolio

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Operational Framework

The company's operational process is built on a high-volume, high-engagement content model that converts user attention into direct revenue, mostly from virtual item sales. The core mechanism is straightforward: Broadcasters create live content, users buy virtual currency to purchase gifts, and a portion of that revenue is shared with the broadcaster and their Multi-Channel Network (MCN).

Here's the quick math on the core business: In the second quarter of 2025, Scienjoy reported total revenues of $48.7 million (RMB349.0 million). This revenue is generated from a user base of over 300 million registered users globally, though only 165,239 were paying users in Q2 2025. The focus is clearly on increasing the Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU), which is why the gross margin rose to 19.4% in the first quarter of 2025.

• Content Sourcing: Recruit and manage professional broadcasters, often through MCN partnerships, to ensure a constant flow of high-quality, engaging content across platforms like Showself Live Streaming and Lehai Live Streaming.
• Value Creation: Provide the technological infrastructure, including mobile apps and PC access, that enables real-time interaction, virtual gifting, and in-room games. This is where the social and entertainment value is generated.
• Monetization Cycle: Users purchase virtual items (the product) to send to their favorite broadcasters (the incentive), which is the primary revenue stream. The company takes a cut, and the rest goes to the broadcaster and MCN.
• Ecosystem Expansion: Invest in the new SJVerse platform, which launched in January 2024, to diversify content beyond traditional live streaming into a full metaverse lifestyle.

If you want to understand the long-term vision behind this shift, you should read the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ).

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Strategic Advantages

Scienjoy's market success stems from two decades of operational experience in a highly competitive Chinese live streaming sector, plus a decisive move into the global, next-generation entertainment space. They aren't just reacting; they're trying to pivot the entire business model.

• Established Multi-Platform Ecosystem: Owning multiple live streaming brands (like Haixiu Live Streaming and Hongle Live Streaming) allows for a diversified content offering and user segmentation, capturing different demographics, such as the younger generation aged 18 to 25 years. [cite: 15 in original search]
• High-Value User Focus: The strategy emphasizes converting users into high-quality paying customers, evidenced by the rising ARPPU and the increase in gross margin to 19.4% in Q1 2025. [cite: 13 in original search] This focus on monetization efficiency is defintely a core strength in a mature market.
• Metaverse-Led Global Expansion: The launch of SJVerse and the establishment of Scienjoy Verse Tech Ltd in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) positions the company for global growth, specifically targeting the lucrative MENA region. [cite: 8, 11 in original search] This move de-risks their reliance on the competitive Chinese market.
• AI and MR Technology Integration: Committing to building the SJVerse platform using AI and Mixed Reality technologies provides a critical first-mover advantage in creating a non-stop, immersive metaverse lifestyle experience, differentiating them from pure live streaming competitors.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) How It Makes Money

Scienjoy Holding Corporation generates nearly all of its revenue by operating mobile live streaming platforms where users purchase virtual gifts to reward and interact with broadcasters. This model is a direct monetization of user engagement, effectively turning entertainment consumption into a transaction.

The company's financial engine is built on high-volume, small-dollar transactions from a dedicated base of paying users, with the critical factor being the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) which dictates profitability after the high cost of revenue (broadcaster revenue sharing fees).

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Revenue Breakdown

For the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended June 30, 2025, Scienjoy Holding Corporation reported total revenue of approximately $185.04 million (RMB 1.33 billion). The business model is overwhelmingly concentrated on its core live streaming services, which involves the sale of virtual items.

Live Streaming Services, which includes the sale of virtual items like digital gifts and in-platform currency, is the company's primary and almost exclusive revenue source. This stream is under pressure, showing a TTM revenue decrease of -10.75% year-over-year as of June 30, 2025, driven by intense competition in the Chinese mobile live streaming market and a drop in total paying users. Other/Ancillary Services includes minor revenue from technical development and other business initiatives, which remain a small fraction of the total.

Business Economics

The core economic fundamental of Scienjoy Holding Corporation's business is the high cost of revenue, specifically the revenue sharing fees paid to the platform's broadcasters and their talent agencies. This fee structure is a necessary expense to attract and retain high-quality content creators, but it compresses the gross margin.

• Revenue Sharing Fees: These fees account for the vast majority of the cost of revenue, which was RMB 285.4 million (US$39.8 million) in Q2 2025 alone.
• ARPPU Focus: Despite a decline in total paying users (down to 165,239 in Q2 2025 from 189,860 in Q2 2024), the company has successfully increased its Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU), which is key to offsetting user attrition and improving profitability.
• Gross Margin Improvement: The focus on higher-value users and lower revenue sharing fees has driven the gross margin up to 18.2% in Q2 2025, compared to 17.3% in the same period of 2024. That's a solid trend in a tough market.

Here's the quick math: managing the revenue share percentage by attracting high-spending users, rather than just chasing volume, is the lever for margin expansion. The company is defintely prioritizing quality over quantity in its user base.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's Financial Performance

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's recent financial performance, based on the first half of the 2025 fiscal year (H1 2025), shows a mixed picture of revenue contraction but margin stability, reflecting the competitive landscape and strategic pivot toward higher-value users.

• Total Revenue (H1 2025): Revenue decreased to RMB 656.3 million (US$91.1 million) for the six months ended June 30, 2025, from RMB 691.1 million in H1 2024.
• Gross Margin (H1 2025): The gross margin improved to 18.8%, up from 17.0% in the first half of 2024, demonstrating effective cost management and the success of the ARPPU strategy.
• Net Income (H1 2025): Net income for the first half of 2025 was RMB 9.7 million (US$1.4 million), a significant drop from RMB 36.2 million in H1 2024, primarily due to a substantial decrease in the change in fair value of investment in marketable securities.

What this estimate hides is the volatility of non-operating income; the core operating income decreased less dramatically, to RMB 37.0 million (US$5.2 million) in H1 2025 from RMB 38.9 million in H1 2024. The company is also actively pursuing its metaverse strategy (SJVerse) and AI Performer technology for global expansion, which you can learn more about in Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ).

Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) Market Position & Future Outlook

Scienjoy Holding Corporation's market position as of late 2025 is that of a smaller, profitable niche player in the highly competitive Chinese mobile live-streaming sector, aggressively pivoting to a 'live streaming + gaming' and metaverse-focused strategy for future growth. The company is actively managing a core business facing revenue pressure-with H1 2025 total revenues at approximately $91.1 million-while allocating capital to high-growth, AI-driven ventures like its Dubai-based SJ Verse platform.

You can think of Scienjoy as a trend-aware realist: they know the legacy live-streaming model is maturing, so they're shifting focus to new, higher-margin revenue streams to drive long-term value, even if it means short-term revenue declines in the core segment.

Competitive Landscape

Scienjoy Holding Corporation operates in the Chinese interactive entertainment space, primarily competing with larger, more dominant game-centric live-streaming platforms. Based on H1 2025 revenue in their core live-streaming and entertainment segments, Scienjoy holds a smaller, yet stable, position against the market leaders Huya Inc. and DouYu International Holdings Limited.

Here's the quick math: Scienjoy's H1 2025 revenue of approximately $91.1 million is dwarfed by the combined H1 2025 revenues of its two main competitors, illustrating its position as a smaller, second-tier player that must innovate to survive. The market is consolidating, and the giants are also diversifying their revenue streams.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's strategic pivot to AI and global expansion presents clear upside, but the core business remains under intense pressure from the competitive landscape in China's mobile live streaming market. You need to weigh the high-reward AI/Metaverse bet against the clear near-term risks.

Industry Position

Scienjoy Holding Corporation is a mid-sized player in the highly fragmented Chinese live-streaming and interactive media industry, distinguished by its early and explicit focus on the Metaverse. The company is not a market-share leader, but an innovation-driven challenger, attempting to leapfrog the competition by moving beyond traditional live-streaming. Its market capitalization is relatively small, at around $30.06 million as of November 2025, which makes it a small-cap stock with higher volatility.

• Shifting from a volume-based to a value-based model, evidenced by the focus on increasing average revenue per paying user (ARPPU).
• The strategic move into the Dubai market and the SJ Verse platform is a clear attempt to diversify away from the saturated and heavily regulated China market.
• The company's Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Scienjoy Holding Corporation (SJ) centers on shaping a metaverse lifestyle, which is a significant strategic differentiator from its peers who are primarily focused on game and entertainment live-streaming.

The biggest challenge is bridging the gap between its legacy revenue stream and the nascent, unproven revenue from its Metaverse initiatives. It needs to defintely show commercial traction in its new ventures soon.