Middle East entertainment platform Yalla sees 110% jump in Q2 revenues

Net income of $18.4 million compared with $16 million in the year-earlier period, while revenue jumped 110.3 percent to $66.6 million, Yalla said in a filing to the New York Stock Exchange.

Monthly active users increased by 77 percent over the year to 22.1 million in the second quarter of 2021. Paying users increased from 5.4 million in the second quarter of 2020 to 6.4 million a year later.

Revenue from chat services were $50.6 million in the second quarter of 2021, while revenue from games services were $16.0 million.

“We recorded another quarter of robust performance as we further enriched our ecosystem and enhanced our monetization capabilities,” said Founder, Chairman and CEO Yang Tao. “We officially launched our new products, Yalla Parchis and 101 Okey Yalla, in South America and Turkey, both have already been receiving positive feedback from the market and topped app rankings.”

“Our increasing popularity with users assures us that we have our fingers on the pulse of the market, and drives us to develop new products, while we continue to provide best-in-class products and services tailored to the needs and preferences of MENA users,” Tao said.

Total costs and expenses rose to $47.8 million in the second quarter of 2021, compared with $15.6 million in the second quarter of 2020, mainly due to the company’s expanding business scale and the recognition of share-based compensation of $13.8 million, Yalla said in the filing.