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A live-streamer at a 17LIVE event.

17LIVE

In a first for Singapore, shares of 17LIVE began trading Friday following the Asian livestreaming company’s merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.

Shares of 17LIVE fell 2.06% to 3.80 Singapore dollars ($2.84) after opening at SG$4.

This was Singapore’s first listing via a SPAC merger. SPACs, or blank-check firms, are shell companies that raise capital in an IPO and use the cash to merge with a private company in order to take it public.

“We may see more SPACs coming on board,” said Deloitte in a Nov. 16 report, referring to17LIVE’s merger with Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation.

Singapore’s first SPAC, VTAC, was listed in January 2022. It is backed by Vertex Venture Holdings, the venture capital arm of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings.

Local SPACs have two years to acquire a company, with the option for a one-year extension, subject to certain conditions.

Ng Jing Shen, co-founder at 17LIVE, told CNBC on Friday that the company opted to list via a SPAC merger because the blank-check firm was headed by its longtime partner, Vertex. He added that a traditional IPO would have taken longer, while SPAC offered them capitalization early on.

“The more time we save, the more we can capitalize and capture the growth opportunities that we see right now in Southeast Asia.”

The number of digital natives in Southeast Asia is 'huge,' says livestreaming platform

“We see ourselves as a global livestreaming platform. Singapore is a global financial hub so we think it’s a great launchpad for us,” Ng told CNBC ahead of the listing.

The livestreaming platform allows users to interact in real-time with streamers and send them virtual gifts. About 16% of 17LIVE’s monthly active users spend money, with the average monthly revenue generated from each spending user at $302 a month, according to the firm.

“In our business model, we don’t make money from ads. Our business is not in views, it is in interactivity. So we make money off gifts that our users can buy from us,” said Ng.

“They buy these gifts and they give it to the streamers to support them in whatever goal or whatever competition that’s being run. And then we do a revenue share with the streamers,” said Ng, without revealing numbers.

The platform had about 87,000 contracted live streamers as of end June. These content creators are sourced from agencies or through talent scouting, with the contract duration ranging between one and seven years.

New IPOs fizzle out: What's behind the tumbles

“Once they sign with us, they actually go through a training program within our in-house talent management agency. So we teach them how to stream, how to use equipment, how to use the app. And then once they start, we have talent managers to watch their livestreams and guide them along the way,” said Ng.

Launched in 2015 in Taiwan, 17LIVE expanded into Japan in 2017 which now accounts for 70% of its revenue while the rest comes from Taiwan and Southeast Asia, according to the company.

The app also allows users to use their smartphones to upload an avatar and conduct virtual streaming.

The market size for virtual idol, or computer-generated characters designed to resemble real people, in Japan is expected to increase to $3.86 billion by 2027 from $630.7 million in 2022, according to the SPAC merger filing.

In 2022, 17Live generated operating revenue of $363.7 million and incurred a loss of $51 million, according to the filing.

Bid to boost listings market

In September 2021, the Singapore Exchange became Asia’s first major bourse to allow SPAC listings in a move aimed at attracting more firms to list in the city-state amid a stagnating IPO market.

Even before the pandemic, the exchange saw more delistings than listings. From 2009 to 2019, there were 302 delistings, while only 279 companies listed in Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was minister in charge of Singapore’s central bank and is now the country’s president, said in 2020.

“We hope we are showing that there’s an alternative for companies which are fast growing, instead of directly listing in Hong Kong or the U.S.,” Vertex Holdings CEO Chua Kee Lock told CNBC.

Hong Kong has been trying to stimulate its IPO market, with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September proposing measures to enhance its appeal for small- and medium-sized enterprises with high-growth potential.

In August, the Hong Kong government announced a task force to “enhance” stock market liquidity in order to bolster the development of its capital market.

17LIVE has listed amid macroeconomic uncertainties fueled by high inflation, interest rate hikes, and volatile markets. Unlike the stock frenzies of 2020 and 2021, several companies have delayed their listings since 2022, adopting a wait-and-watch approach.

SPAC IPOs fell 76% in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a report by financial and risk advisory firm Kroll.

On why 17LIVE was listed amid an environment of economic uncertainty, Chua said: “I think the market will come back.”

“What is up can never go up forever, right? … What is down cannot be down forever, too.”

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Tripadvisor stock surges 17% as Starboard Value builds sizable stake in online travel company

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Tripadvisor stock surges 17% as Starboard Value builds sizable stake in online travel company

The Tripadvisor logo is displayed on a tablet.

Mateusz Slodkowski | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Tripadvisor stock jumped 17% Thursday after Starboard Value revealed a more than 9% stake in the online travel company, according to a securities filing.

The position was valued at about $160 million as of Wednesday’s close.

Tripadvisor shares have been flat since the start of the year after plummeting more than 30% in 2024. Last year, the travel review and booking company said it created a special committee to explore potential options.

Read more CNBC tech news

Starboard Value has gained a reputation for pushing for changes such as new CEOs and cost cuts by acquiring significant shares in companies.

Most recently, the firm settled a proxy fight with Autodesk, where it gained two board seats. It has previously pushed for changes at Tinder parent Match Group, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Salesforce.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the news late Wednesday.

Tripadvisor did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. Starboard declined to comment on the news.

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Apple’s China iPhone sales grows for the first time in two years

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Apple's China iPhone sales grows for the first time in two years

People stand in front of an Apple store in Beijing, China, on April 9, 2025.

Tingshu Wang | Reuters

Apple iPhone sales in China rose in the second quarter of the year for the first time in two years, Counterpoint Research said, as the tech giant looks to turnaround its business in one of its most critical markets.

Sales of iPhones in China jumped 8% year-on-year in the three months to the end of June, according to Counterpoint Research. It’s the first time Apple has recorded growth in China since the second quarter of 2023.

Apple’s performance was boosted by promotions in May as Chinese e-commerce firms discounted Apple’s iPhone 16 models, its latest devices, Counterpoint said. The tech giant also increased trade-in prices for some iPhone.

“Apple’s adjustment of iPhone prices in May was well timed and well received, coming a week ahead of the 618 shopping festival,” Ethan Qi, associate director at Counterpoint said in a press release. The 618 shopping festival happens in China every June and e-commerce retailers offer heavy discounts.

Apple’s return to growth in China will be welcomed by investors who have seen the company’s stock fall around 15% this year as it faces a number of headwinds.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Apple with tariffs and urged CEO Tim Cook to manufacture iPhones in America, a move experts have said would be near-impossible. China has also been a headache for Apple since Huawei, whose smartphone business was crippled by U.S. sanctions, made a comeback in late 2023 with the release of a new phone containing a more advanced chip that many had thought would be difficult for China to produce.

Since then, Huawei has aggressively launched devices in China and has even begun dipping its toe back into international markets. The Chinese tech giant has found success eating away at some of Apple’s market share in China.

Huawei’s sales rose 12% year-on-year in the second-quarter, according to Counterpoint. The firm was the biggest player in China by market share in the second quarter, followed by Vivo and then Apple in third place.

“Huawei is still riding high on core user loyalty as they replace their old phones for new Huawei releases,” Counterpoint Senior Analyst Ivan Lam said.

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Like Google, China’s biggest search player Baidu is beefing up its product with AI to fight rivals

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Like Google, China's biggest search player Baidu is beefing up its product with AI to fight rivals

Pictured here is the Ernie bot mobile interface, with the Baidu search engine home page in the background.

Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Chinese tech giant Baidu has bolstered its core search platform with artificial intelligence in the biggest overhaul of the product in 10 years.

Analysts told CNBC the move was a bid to keep ahead of fast-moving rivals like DeepSeek, rather than traditional search players.

“There has been some small pressure on the search business but the focus on AI and Ernie Bot is a key move ahead,” Dan Ives, global head of tech research at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC by email. Ernie Bot is Baidu’s AI chatbot.

“Baidu is not waiting around to watch the paint dry, full steam ahead on AI,” he added.

Baidu AI overhaul

Baidu is China’s biggest search engine, but — as is also being seen by Google — the search market is being disrupted.

Users are flocking instead to AI services such as ChatGPT or DeepSeek, which shocked the world this year with its advanced model it claimed was created at a fraction of the cost of rivals.

But Kai Wang, Asia equity market strategist at Morningstar, also noted that short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou are also getting into AI search and piling pressure on Baidu.

To counter this, Baidu made some major changes to its core search product:

  • Users can now enter more than a thousand characters in the search box, versus 28 previously;
  • Questions can be asked in a more direct and conversational manner, mirroring how people now use chatbots;
  • Users can ask questions through voice but also prompt the seach engine with pictures and files;
  • Baidu has integrated its AI chatbot features, which enable users to generate photos, text and videos, into the product.

“This is more aligned with how people use ChatGPT and DeepSeek in terms of how they look for answers,” Wang said.

Outside of China, Google has also been looking to enhance its core search product with AI, highlighting how search has been under pressure from the burgeoning technology.

Baidu on the offense

Baidu was one of China’s first movers when it came to AI, releasing its first models and ChatGPT-style product Ernie Bot to the public in 2023. Since then, it has aggressively launched updated AI models.

However, the Beijing-headquartered company has also faced intense competition from fellow tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent, as well as upstarts such as DeepSeek.

These companies have also been launching new models and infusing AI into their products and Baidu’s stock has fallen behind as a result. Baidu shares have risen around 2.5% this year, versus a 30.5% surge for Alibaba and a 20% rise for Tencent.

“This is a defensive and offensive move … Baidu needs to be aggressive and perception-wise show they are not the little brother to Tencent on the AI front,” Wedbush Securities’ Ives added.

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