Yalla Group Q3 2025 Earnings Report

Yalla Group EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.23
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Yalla Group Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $89.64 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Yalla Group Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2025
• Date: 11/10/2025
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Monday, November 10, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 8:00PM ET

Yalla Group (NYSE:YALA) Limited is a technology company that operates social networking and entertainment platforms serving users primarily in the Middle East and North Africa. The company is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and focuses on digital products designed to support online communication, social interaction and casual gaming.

Its flagship application, Yalla, is a voice-centered social networking platform that provides virtual chat rooms and community features. The company also operates Yalla Ludo, a mobile gaming application based on traditional board games, including ludo and dominoes, with social and multiplayer functionality. Yalla Group has expanded its product portfolio with additional communication and entertainment services for regional users.

Yalla Group was founded in 2016 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020. The company is led by founder, chairman and chief executive officer Yang Tao. Its platforms are primarily tailored to Arabic-speaking and other users across the Middle East and North Africa, while also reaching users in other international markets.

Yalla Group Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat guidance — revenue was $89.6 million, net margin rose to 45.4% (up 1.4 ppt YoY) and net income was $40.7 million, reflecting improved operational efficiency.
• Positive Sentiment: Share repurchase execution — the company repurchased $51.9 million of ADS in 2025, canceled 6.23 million shares, and plans to complete its $150 million buyback within the next year while maintaining similar repurchases in 2026.
• Positive Sentiment: Gaming pipeline and timeline — management is pushing into mid-core/hardcore with Turbo Match live, Boom Survivors launching soon, and a Middle East SLG distribution planned by year-end, with material revenue expected around Q2 2026.
• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven product and marketing gains — in-house multimodal model CMIS plus automated creative testing and an event orchestration engine are deployed across products, improving content moderation, user acquisition efficiency and in-app monetization.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term revenue outlook and higher marketing spend — Q4 revenue guidance of $78–85 million points to short-term softness versus Q3, and selling & marketing expenses rose 30% YoY, indicating higher near-term investment that could pressure short-term growth.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Yalla Group Limited's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today's conference call is being recorded. Now, I will turn the call over to your speaker host today, Ms. Kerry Gao, IR Director of the company. Please go ahead, ma'am.

[Kerry Gao, Director of Investor Relations at Yalla Group Ltd]

Hello everyone and welcome to Yalla's Third Quarter 2025 earnings conference call. We issued our earnings press release earlier today, and it is now available on our IR website as well as on newswire outlets. Before we continue, please note that the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor Provision of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, our future results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in our earnings press release and our annual report filed with the SEC. Yalla does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

[Kerry Gao, Director of Investor Relations at Yalla Group Ltd]

Please also note that Yalla's earnings press release and this conference call include a discussion of unaudited GAAP financial information as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. Yalla's press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited most directly comparable GAAP measures. Today, you will hear from Mr. Tao Yang, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide an overview of our latest achievements and growth strategies. He will be followed by Mr. Saifi Ismail, the company's President, who will briefly review our recent business developments. Mrs. Karen Hu, our Chief Financial Officer, will then provide additional details on the company's financial results and discuss our financial outlook. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call to questions. Mr. Jack Xu, our Chief Operating Officer, will join the Q&A section.

[Kerry Gao, Director of Investor Relations at Yalla Group Ltd]

With that said, I'd now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tao Yang. Please go ahead, sir.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Thank you everyone for joining our Third Quarter 2025 earnings conference call. We delivered another strong set of results in the Third Quarter of 2025. Our total revenues grew to $89.6 million, once again beating the high end of our guidance. Net margin came in at 45.4%, up 1.4 percentage points year-over-year, thanks to continued operational efficiency improvements and our commitment to high-quality growth. The Middle East digital economy continues to gain momentum in the Third Quarter. According to Newzoo's latest report, the region's gaming market is expected to reach around $7.1 billion in 2025, with 75% year-over-year growth, the highest among all regions globally. The increases we are seeing in the number of our mobile users and their interest in exploring more diverse game content reflects the MENA region gaming market's vast potential.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Our strategic direction provisions us to capture the trend and foster a more mature, more robust digital entertainment ecosystem across the region. Meanwhile, we are also looking for opportunities to leverage our varied and growing product portfolio to deliver more exceptional experiences to media users. Our striving game pipeline currently serves as our primary market expansion driver. In the third quarter, we shook the launch of Turbo Match, a match-three title featuring car modification simulation operations on Android. We were pleased to see its initial user acquisition and retention metrics meeting our expectations. With two years of accumulated experience in the match-three genre, we are confident in our team's ability to create games that resonate deeply with our target audience. Furthermore, we expect to launch our self-developed robot game Boom Survivors late this month. Meanwhile, we continue to advance our game distribution initiative.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

We are collaborating with a leading gaming studio on the distribution of a Middle East-focused SLG title. This hardcore title is well on track for a year-end launch following recent testing. We remain dedicated to providing media users with an ever-growing selection of gaming content tailored to media's local culture. For our future media and hardcore game collaborations, we will continue to leverage our existing gaming user base for precise targeting and efficient conversion to steadily deepen penetration of media and mid-core and hardcore game markets. Moving on to our AI initiatives, we are proactively developing AI tools to fuel our growth. Led by CMIS, our in-house developed multimodal AI model, CMIS is now fully deployed across our product line, serving as the intelligent backbone of our content moderation and security.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Supported by our experienced R&D game and extensive Arabic language and visual datasets, CMIS delivers with no leading accuracy in analyzing texts and images and detecting inappropriate content. Another self-developed AI tool, our automated creative testing model, has significantly improved advertising and user acquisition efficiency. Furthermore, our in-house AI event orchestration engine has doubled the frequency of modular in-app campaigns for our flagship product, including Yalla Ludo, driving a leap in operational efficiency. Together, these technological breakthroughs have elevated user experience and boosted in-app purchases, serving as a powerful driver for revenue growth. Next, an update on our $150 million shareholder return program, which we continue to execute and display.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

As of November 7, 2025, the company has repurchased a total of more than 7.7 million ADS or Class A ordinary shares, totaling $51.9 million, achieving our full-year 2025 repurchase commitment of $50 million, well ahead of schedule. As we mentioned on our last call, we will cancel all shares repurchased in 2025, and we have canceled a total of more than 6.2 million shares as of August 11. We aggregate value remaining available for purchase under the current share repurchase program with $48.6 million as of November 11. For next year, we expect to maintain a similar level of share repurchases as in 2025. We are on track to complete our current $150 million share repurchase program within the next year, at which point we plan to launch a new program.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

As always, I want to emphasize that we will continue to place shareholder interests at the core of our capital allocation decisions and optimize our shareholder return strategy to generate long-term value for our shareholders. Last but not least, I'm happy to share that Yalla Group celebrated the fifth anniversary of its public listing at the end of September, capped by a bell-ringing ceremony at the Nova. These past five years have been an incredible journey, one of growth, learning, persistence, and achievement. Yalla is now the largest media-based online social networking and gaming company. We are proud of the leading position we've established in this dynamic market, but our journey is far from over.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Looking ahead, we will remain dedicated to maximizing the synergy between our social and gaming ecosystems and enhancing our AI-fueled technological age, bringing us ever closer to our vision of becoming the most popular platform for online social networking and entertainment activities in MENA. Now, I will turn this call over to our President, Saifi Ismail, for a closer look at our recent developments.

[Saifi Ismail, President at Yalla Group Ltd]

Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Let's take a closer look at our third quarter operations and our product performance. First, I would like to share our operational highlights in the third quarter. We increased average MAUs by 8.1% year-over-year to 43.4 million. Following last quarter's user acquisition channel optimization, our user growth beat us again as expected, supported by AI-powered upgrades and innovation across our product portfolio. Our flagship product saw a fresh wave of momentum with the introduction of new gaming modules. Users can now play a variety of popular mini-games directly within the Yalla platform, significantly boosting engagement and user stickiness. These innovative initiatives also serve as a springboard for integrating more interactive entertainment features into our core products going forward.

[Saifi Ismail, President at Yalla Group Ltd]

This quarter was also backed with engaging and precisely targeted online activities, a key operational strength for Yalla that demonstrates our keen user insights and content creativity. For example, our original event series, Yalla Ludo Carnival, just completed its third consecutive quarterly run with record-high revenue. Its thoughtfully crafted gameplay, paired with stunning visuals, drove strong growth in in-game purchases and gifting activities. On Saudi National Day, Yalla launched the Yalla Season campaign, creating a festive, immersive atmosphere online to resonate with Riyadh Season, a major national festival developed under Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. Meanwhile, thanks to a diverse lineup of in-game and chat room events, 101 Okey Yalla delivered its highest quarterly revenue ever in the third quarter. Yalla innovation reach continues to extend well beyond our business.

[Saifi Ismail, President at Yalla Group Ltd]

In honor of our contribution to the local tech industry's development, we recently received our third award in the Audio Tech Media and Entertainment category at Asian Business Review Magazine's Middle East Technology Excellence Award 2025. These prestigious awards, judged by a panel of esteemed regional industry leaders, recognize companies that drive innovation through transformative products. To sum up, I would reiterate what our CEO said. We are immensely proud of Yalla Group's achievements over the past years. Our deep cultural resonance with users in the MENA region and relentless product innovation are the cornerstones of our sustained growth moving forward. We will remain committed to those values, honoring the trust our users and stakeholders place in us while fostering a thriving, mutually beneficial ecosystem. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Karen, who will discuss our key financial and operational results.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Thank you, Saifi, and hello everyone. Thank you for joining us today. In the third quarter, we continue to pursue high-quality growth and profitability enhancement. Through our excellent execution of ongoing cost management and efficiency-improved initiatives, including AI development and application, our net income grew by 3.9% year-over-year to $40.7 million, and our net margin increased by 1.4 percentage points. Supported by this solid performance and fundamentals, we have strengthened our efforts to return value to stakeholders. As of November 7, we have returned a total of $51.9 million in 2025 to our shareholders through our share repurchase program. We will deepen our commitment to shareholder returns going forward, delivering sustainable long-term value to all stakeholders. Let's move on to our detailed financials for third quarter of 2025.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Our revenues were $89.6 million in the third quarter of 2025, a 0.8% increase from $88.9 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily driven by our broadening user base and enhanced monetization capability. Turning to our costs and expenses, our total costs and expenses were $55.9 million in the third quarter of 2025, a 1% decrease from $56.4 million in the same period last year. Our cost on our revenues was $28.4 million in the third quarter of 2025, a 10.7% decrease from $31.8 million in the same period last year, primarily due to lower commission fees paid to third-party payment platforms as a result of diversified payment channels and lower share-based compensation expenses recognized in the third quarter of 2025.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Cost of revenues as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 31.7% in the Third Quarter of 2025, from 35.8% in the same period last year. Our selling and marketing expenses were $9.6 million in the Third Quarter of 2025, a 30.3% increase from $7.4 million in the same period last year, primarily due to higher advertising and marketing promotion expenses attributable to our continued user acquisition efforts and expanding product portfolio. Selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of total revenues increased to 10.7% in the Third Quarter of 2025, from 8.3% in the same period last year. Our general and administrative expenses were $9.2 million in the Third Quarter of 2025, a 9% decrease from $10.1 million in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in incentive compensation and professional service fees.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

GA expenses as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 10.3% in the third quarter of 2025, from 11.4% in the same period last year. Our technology and product development expenses were $8.6 million in the third quarter of 2025, a 21.4% increase from $7.1 million in the same period last year, primarily due to an increase in salaries and benefits for our technology and product development staff, driven by an increase in the headcount to support the development of new businesses and the expansion of our portfolio. R&D development expenses as a percentage of total revenues increased to 9.6% in the third quarter of 2025, from 8% in the same period last year. As such, our operating income was $33.8 million in the third quarter of 2025, a 3.9% increase from $32.5 million in the same period last year.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Interest income was $6.3 million in the third quarter of 2025, compared with $7.8 million in the same period last year. Investment income was $2.2 million in the third quarter of 2025, compared with $0.1 million in the same period last year, primarily due to increased investments in wealth management products. Income tax expense was $1.6 million in the third quarter of 2025, compared with $1.3 million in the same period last year. As a result of forgoing, our net income was $40.7 million in the third quarter of 2025, a 3.9% increase from. Was $43.1 million, a 0.2% increase from $42.6 million in the same period last year. Moving to our liquidity and capital resources, our cash position remained solid and healthy.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

As of September 30, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, term deposits, and short-term investments of $739.5 million, compared with $656.3 million as of December 31, 2024. We continued to return value through our share repurchase program. As of November 7, 2025, the company had cumulatively complete cash repurchases in the open market of $50 million. 21,621 ADS represents class A ordinary shares for an aggregate amount of approximately $101.4 million. Since the inception of the current share repurchase program, the aggregate value that remained available for purchase under the current share repurchase program was $48.6 million as of November 7, 2025. In addition, the company decided to cancel all share repurchases in 2025. As of August 11, 2025, the company had canceled 6,230,299 ADS, all class A ordinary shares.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Moving to our outlook for the fourth quarter of 2025, we expect our revenues to be between $78 million and $85 million. The above outlook is based on the current market conditions and reflects the company's maintenance, current, and preliminary estimates of the market and operating conditions and customer demand, which are all subject to change. In the interest of time, please refer to our earnings press release for further details on our third quarter 2025 financial results. This concludes our prepared remarks for today, operator. We are now ready to take questions.

[Operator]

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Your first question comes from Xueqing Zhang with CICC.

[Xueqing Zhang, Media Analyst at CICC]

Thanks, Management, for taking my question and congratulations on another strong quarter. My question regards your game business. Could Management brief us on the advancements in mid-core and hardcore games? Thank you.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Thank you for your question, Xueqing. During the quarter, we soft-launched two match-three titles as planned, marking a significant step forward in our mid and hardcore gaming portfolio. Turbo Match stood out in multi-region tests worldwide with its unique blend of car modification and simulation operations gameplay, achieving retention rates that met our criteria for further expansion. As a result, we decided to invest more resources to focus on Turbo Match in the next stage. Based on the test data, we're adding levels and diversifying side gameplay options to set the stage for the next wave of large-scale music acquisition. Meanwhile, our roguelike product is expected to launch officially either this month or next. We have also recently completed a round of testing for our collaborative project, SLG.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Given our high expectations for this title, we are working closely with the content provider to refine its gameplay, visuals, and other details. We expect to launch it by the end of this year. It will take some time for this new product to generate meaningful revenue. For those expecting loadable revenue impacts from these new games, we see the second quarter of 2026 as a key inflection point. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Chloe Wei with CICC.

[Chloe Wei, Equity Analyst at CICC]

Thanks, Management, for taking my question. This is Chloe Wei from CICC. I have a follow-up question about game. How should we think about the strategic role of our match game? Can we think of it as an indicator for your push into the new regions? That's it. Thank you.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Hi, Chloe. I'll take this question. Match-three games do have a broad global user base, making them an ideal entry point for us to explore diversified regional markets. Our recent testing has shown that match-three titles are particularly well-received in markets like Europe and North America. Given this positive user feedback, we certainly plan to increase marketing budgets for markets where performance is strong. Looking back at our growth journey, Yalla Parchis has been steadily performing for years in South America, providing us with valuable cross-market experience. Additionally, Yalla Ludo supports eight languages, reaching diverse countries worldwide. We are open to expanding our market boundaries as we explore products that many users may be interested in. That said, I want to emphasize that the Middle East remains our key strategic region.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

We will continue to deepen our engagement in key markets across MENA while actively expanding into new ones. Thank you, Chloe.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Lincoln Kong with Goldman Sachs.

[Lincoln Kong, Executive Director at Goldman Sachs]

Thank you, Management, for taking my questions. I also like to follow up on the gaming business. So could Management share our company's upcoming gaming strategy, including what are the choices around the content and the market? Thank you.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Hi, Lincoln. Thanks for your in-depth question. The company has identified gaming as one important pillar for our strategic priority for future growth and established a clear dual-track strategy featuring self-developed titles and game distribution. For self-developed games, we are focusing on the casual and mid-core game segments, such as Match 3 and board games. Our team has built substantial experience in the Match 3 category over the past two years. If our Match 3 titles show positive results in the coming months, we look forward to consistently deepening our presence in these segments. On the game distribution side, we're building strategic partnerships with leading global developers, leveraging our strengths in product localization, user acquisition, and local operations to bring more high-quality gaming content to the Middle East. We'll continue to explore game distribution opportunities to further enrich and accelerate our product pipeline.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

We believe that this dual-track strategy will enable us to quickly build a competitive edge in mid-core and hardcore games. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Sarah Hu with Haitong International.

[Sarah Hu, Analyst at Haitong International]

Thank you, Management, for taking my question. So can we please get Management's view on the quarterly performance of our flagship products, Yalla and Yalla Ludo, as well as their outlook going forward? Thank you.

[Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Thank you. See you. During this quarter, both flagship titles achieved significant breakthroughs in product innovation and operational activity. For example, Yalla added an in-app minigames module to enrich users' entertainment experience. Meanwhile, Yalla Ludo New Jacarua 1v1 mode quickly became a hit with users, driving overall community engagement to a new high. Operationally, Yalla Ludo tournaments and Yalla's Riyadh Season themed initiatives amplify the connection between our product and offline entertainment scenarios in the Middle East. Looking ahead, we expect both mature products to remain stable in terms of business scale, and we will continue to pursue incremental growth by introducing new features and strengthening operational activities and initiatives. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Tianheng Liu with SciTech.

[Tianheng Liu, Analyst at SciTech]

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I have two questions on your future plan. Firstly, I think Yalla has completed a sizable share repurchase this year. Could management outline the plans for future shareholder returns? I have a follow-up question.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Okay, thanks, Tianheng. This is Karen. I will take this question. As we just discussed, we successfully completed the previously announced minimum four-year 2025 repurchase commitment of $50 million. As of November 7, 2025, the company had repurchased over 7.7 million ADS for an aggregate amount of $51.9 million. Among that, over 6.2 million ordinary shares' previous repurchases were canceled. We will notify everyone once the remaining shares have been fully canceled. With this year's repurchase commitment achieved, the company continues to execute its share repurchase program based on market conditions. For next year, we expect to maintain a similar level of share repurchase as in 2025. We are expecting to complete our $150 million share repurchase plan within the year of 2026 before we launch a new plan.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

The company remains committed to prioritizing shareholder interests in all capital allocation decisions, maximizing shareholder value through a consistently optimized return strategy. Thank you.

[Tianheng Liu, Analyst at SciTech]

Thank you. Thank you, Karen. That's very helpful. Could the Management also share your revenue and profitability outlook for Q4 and 2026?

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Okay. Given the revenue from new business initiatives, it is expected to have a limited contribution in the fourth quarter. Based on current business trends, we maintain our guidance that full-year 2025 revenue will be broadly in line with 2024 or with low single-digit growth. We expect revenue from our new business initiatives to become more visible over the next one to two quarters. Regarding profitability, we expect our full-year 2025 net margin to reach about 40%. Looking ahead to 2026, we expect R&D spending to follow a similar trend as in 2025, assuming broadly similar business conditions. On the market side, we will dynamically adjust our investments based on the performance of our new products. While maintaining a healthy financial position, we will continue to invest in innovative business initiatives to fuel the company's long-term growth and ensure stable profitability through refined operations. Hope I answered your question.

[Karen Hu, CFO at Yalla Group Ltd]

Thank you.

[Operator]

As there are no further questions now, I'd like to turn the call back over to management for closing remarks.

[Kerry Gao, Director of Investor Relations at Yalla Group Ltd]

Thank you once again for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you in the next quarter. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Yalla's investor relations or PSFA Financial Communications. Both parties' contact information is available in today's press release as well as on our company website. Thank you.

[Operator]

This concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Kerry Gao, Director of Investor Relations
• Tao Yang, Chairman and CEO
• Saifi Ismail, President
• Karen Hu, CFO

Analysts

• Xueqing Zhang, Media Analyst at CICC
• Chloe Wei, Equity Analyst at CICC
• Lincoln Kong, Executive Director at Goldman Sachs
• Sarah Hu, Analyst at Haitong International
• Tianheng Liu, Analyst at SciTech