Shenzhen Xunlei Network Technology Co., Ltd. recently announced the completion of its acquisition of Shanghai Kuanghui Network Technology Co., Ltd., which is the operating entity of Hupu.

On January 27, 2025, Xunlei announced it had reached an agreement with Shanghai Kuanghui Internet Technology Co., Ltd. to acquire the company for 500 million yuan in cash, with the transaction expected to complete in the first half of 2025. According to the final agreement terms, Xunlei has already paid 400 million yuan in cash consideration before the transaction completion. Xunlei will pay the remaining 100 million yuan cash consideration in two equal installments, 12 months and 24 months after the transaction completion, respectively.

Hupu had twice attempted IPO launches without success. Its first IPO was terminated in 2016 due to financial issues, and after initiating listing guidance in 2019, the effort fell through in 2021.

According to the financing history published by Tianyancha, Hupu has received favor from numerous investors throughout its journey. In 2019, it received 1.26 billion yuan in Pre-IPO financing from ByteDance, when Hupu's market valuation reached as high as 7.875 billion yuan. This financing also set the record for the largest single financing round since the sports community's establishment.

The financing institution was shown as ByteDance's Strategic Investment Department. Looking at its investment activities, this investment in Hupu was among the larger amounts in its investment history.

According to Baidu Encyclopedia, the head of ByteDance's Strategic Investment Department in 2019 should have been Yan Shou. He graduated with a master's degree in automation from Tsinghua University in 2011 and previously worked at Monitor Group and Tencent's Strategic Cooperation Department. He joined ByteDance's Strategic Investment Department in 2015, led the gaming business starting in 2019 and served as head of Nuverse. In March 2024, he was transferred to the Finance Department due to company strategic adjustments.

Whether Yan Shou was responsible for this 1.26 billion yuan investment cannot be verified now. However, with Hupu now being acquired by Xunlei for 500 million yuan, this has become a loss-making deal for ByteDance.

Of course, the Hupu being sold now is not entirely the same as the previous Hupu, as Dewu under Hupu went independent in 2020, and in 2021, Hupu sold its Lurenwang tournament business to Tencent Sports.