Founded in 2004, VNG started out in the online gaming business. Under the leadership of Le Hong Minh, the company expanded rapidly, launching the popular messaging app Zalo in 2012, Zalo Pay in 2016, cloud computing and data centers between 2006 and 2007, as well as software development and digital advertising services.
Zalo stands out as VNG’s most successful platform, boasting 77 million monthly active users as of June 2024, up 2% from the previous year, with 1.9 billion messages sent daily, a 7% increase.
In gaming, VNG remains the market leader in Vietnam with popular titles like Võ Lâm Truyền Kỳ and Kiếm Thế. Online gaming continues to be the company’s biggest revenue driver in recent years.
This year, VNG targets revenue of 11,069 billion VND and a net profit of around 150 billion VND. The board plans to diversify products and expand markets, investing further in gaming, advertising, data centers, cloud computing, and ramping up AI-powered products.
Over the next three years, VNG aims for overseas revenue from online gaming and AI cloud services to surpass domestic income.
VNG’s charter capital stands at 358.4 billion VND, with VNG Ltd holding 49%, BIGV Technology JSC owning 17.84%, and CEO Le Hong Minh holding 8.846%.
In early 2023, VNG’s stock (VNZ) debuted on the UpCoM exchange at 240,000 VND per share, soaring to a record 1,434,700 VND before dropping to 488,000 VND currently.
Back in 2014, VNG was valued at $1 billion by the World Start-up Report, becoming Vietnam’s first tech unicorn. The company had plans to list on the US stock market but later postponed them.
Despite past successes, VNG’s financial results have declined over the last three years, with losses growing from 72 billion VND in 2021 to 1,534 billion VND in 2022 and 2,317 billion VND in 2023.
In the first half of this year, VNG posted consolidated revenue of 4,314 billion VND, a 30% increase year-over-year. Online gaming services accounted for 72% of revenue, with additional income from telecom value-added services and online advertising.
However, high selling and administrative expenses have eaten into profits, combined with losses from affiliated companies, resulting in a net loss of nearly 586 billion VND. This is an improvement compared to a 1,205 billion VND loss in the same period last year.
VNG recorded an 18 billion VND loss from affiliates in the first half of the year, down from a 206 billion VND loss in the previous year.
The company has 11 direct subsidiaries and 27 indirect ones. As of June 30, VNG invested over 2,213 billion VND in affiliates like Tiki Global, Telio, Funding Asia, and VTH, mostly established overseas. However, these investments have accumulated losses exceeding 1,047 billion VND, reducing VNG’s investment value to 1,166 billion VND.
VNG also holds a large cash and deposit reserve, with over 3,402 billion VND in idle funds as of June 30, down 14% from the end of last year. Total assets exceed 10,126 billion VND.
Regarding debt, VNG has financial borrowings of 2,031 billion VND, up 37% since the start of the year, with short-term debt making up 71%. The debt-to-equity ratio stands at 1.2 times.
