Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) executives told investors the company’s overseas business became a materially larger contributor in 2025, helping offset a decline in its domestic operations, while management emphasized continued cost discipline and investment prioritization heading into 2026.
Q4 and full-year results show overseas growth offsetting domestic decline
COO Sichuan Zhang said the company faced “fresh external headwinds” in the second half of 2025 in its domestic business, but described the core platform as stable and the ecosystem as healthy. The company also began providing geographic revenue breakdowns in 2025 to highlight what it called a structural shift toward overseas growth.
For fiscal 2025, total revenue was RMB 10.37 billion, a decrease of less than 2% year-over-year. Domestic revenue fell 11% to RMB 8.37 billion, while overseas revenue increased 71% to RMB 2.0 billion. Overseas revenue accounted for 19% of the annual total, up from 11% in 2024. Adjusted operating income was RMB 1.55 billion, down 10% year-over-year, with a 15% margin.
Momo: AI features, small-ticket spending focus, and tax-related live streaming pressure
Zhang said the company’s strategy for Momo in 2025 was to maintain productivity while keeping the social ecosystem healthy. Product updates included upgraded AI greeting and chat-assist models designed to help users start and sustain conversations, and optimization of real-time chat matching using historical data to target users with higher intent. Management said these changes increased key interaction metrics, including two-way chats and in-depth chat rates.
On user acquisition, management said it cut negative-ROI marketing spend, refined channels based on ROI, and balanced spending between new users and reactivating dormant users, helping reduce acquisition costs despite increased competition. Zhang noted early marketing cuts caused churn among “ultra low spenders” with limited revenue impact, while helping stabilize profitability.
Management said paying users declined sharply in the first half of the year but bottomed in the second half. New features in audio and video scenarios were cited as drivers of a higher paying ratio, with Momo ending Q4 with 3.9 million paying users—up 200,000 quarter-over-quarter. Zhang said the platform added 400,000 paying users in the second half of the year and described the shift toward mid-tier and long-tail users as improving resilience.
In Q4, Momo live streaming revenue was RMB 1.68 billion, down 14% year-over-year and down 6% sequentially. Zhang attributed the decline primarily to new tax regulations and stricter enforcement beginning in October, which reduced motivation among high-grossing streamers and agencies. For full-year 2025, Momo live revenue was RMB 7.09 billion, down 11%. Management also cited macro softness affecting spending by high-value users, and said it increasingly emphasized audio and video scenarios that better fit mid-tier and long-tail users, helping offset some headwinds and supporting gross margin stability through a greater mix of higher-margin scenarios.
Tantan: deliberate marketing cuts, product refresh, and a profitability target
Management described Tantan’s 2025 goal as building a dating experience and business model tailored to Asian users. Tantan ended Q4 with 600,000 paying users, down from 700,000 in the prior quarter. Zhang said marketing cuts drove user declines in recent years, but a return to brand building and experience optimization helped keep organic traffic stable. Management also said most new users now come organically and the platform is no longer reliant on paid channel acquisition, while retention improved slightly.
In Q4, Tantan’s domestic revenue was RMB 136 million, down RMB 41 million year-over-year and RMB 16 million quarter-over-quarter. Full-year 2025 domestic revenue was RMB 613 million, compared to RMB 733 million in 2024, with the decline characterized as a deliberate result of reduced channel investments.
Product initiatives included a new version launched in the first half of 2025 focused on real-person verification and a clearer interface, plus AI tools for profile enrichment and chat assistance and improvements in female-user recommendations. Management said these changes reduced poor matches and irrelevant chats, improving female-user retention and likes per user. To mitigate the revenue impact of fewer paying users, the company restructured membership tiers to increase low-end coverage and paywall exposure for users with high payment potential, which it said raised conversion and ARPU.
Zhang said Tantan aimed for 100% payback on acquisition costs by cutting high-cost channels, and said Tantan achieved full payback on channel investment in Q1 with ROI reaching “new highs” during the year. Based on this trajectory, management said it expects Tantan to generate around RMB 100 million in annual operating profit “for the foreseeable future.”
Overseas: MENA apps scaling, Happn acquisition, and a baseline 2026 revenue view
Management credited the overseas surge to organic incubation and targeted M&A. Zhang highlighted rapid growth in audio and video social products in the MENA region, particularly Yaahlan and amar, which began monetizing at the end of 2024 using learnings from SoulChill. SoulChill remained the largest overseas contributor, though Zhang said its growth came in slightly below expectations due to slower localization that delayed live streaming expansion and expansion into wealthier Gulf countries.
Beyond MENA, the company pointed to progress in Japan with MiraiMind, an AI-powered anime-style companion and romance app, which it said has been well received. In dating, the company separated domestic and overseas versions of Tantan International in the second half of 2025 to enable a more tailored international experience. Zhang also cited the acquisition of Happn, described as a well-known European dating product, as an “important driver” of accelerated overseas growth in Q4, helping the company enter markets including Europe, Turkey, and South America. Management said it plans to bring premium global brands into Asian markets to create synergies.
On a Q&A, CFO Peng Hui said SoulChill contributes “over half” of international revenue, while newer MENA products Yaahlan and amar were described as the current growth engine. Hui said SoulChill had surpassed RMB 1 billion in revenue, while acknowledging its growth should moderate as the base scales and that some expansion plans moved slower than planned in 2025.
For 2026, Hui said a precise quantitative outlook is difficult given varied markets and business models, but suggested “something like RMB 3 billion in overseas revenue for 2026 is a pretty achievable target,” versus around RMB 2 billion in 2025, with potential upside or downside depending on execution and rollout pace.
Regarding geopolitical risk, Hui said the negative impact from the “Iran war” had been limited so far, but warned a prolonged or escalating conflict could adversely affect expansion into Gulf countries and operations in regions including Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Margins, cash position, dividend, and 2026 outlook
CFO Peng Hui reported non-GAAP net income attributable to the company of RMB 281.3 million in Q4, up from RMB 230.5 million a year earlier but down from RMB 404.5 million in the prior quarter. Non-GAAP gross margin in Q4 was 37.8%, compared with 34.7% in the year-ago period. Hui noted Q4 2024 included one-off items in cost of revenue; excluding those, gross margin in Q4 2025 was slightly down 0.4 percentage points year-over-year due to mix and cost factors tied to overseas membership subscription revenue, including higher payment channel costs and personnel costs as a percentage of revenue, partially offset by lower revenue sharing as a percentage of revenue.
For operating expenses, Q4 non-GAAP R&D was RMB 203.9 million, down 4% year-over-year. Non-GAAP sales and marketing expense rose to RMB 339.9 million, driven primarily by marketing investment in overseas apps, partially offset by lower mainland marketing spend. Non-GAAP G&A fell to RMB 85.7 million, reflecting a higher base in Q4 2024 that included legal provisions and due diligence costs.
On the balance sheet, the company ended 2025 with RMB 8.68 billion in cash equivalents, deposits, investments, and restricted cash, down from RMB 14.73 billion a year earlier. Hui attributed the decline to bank loan repayments, special dividend distribution, withholding tax settlements, acquisitions and investments, and ongoing share repurchases.
Management also announced the board approved a special cash dividend of $0.28 per ADS, totaling approximately $42.6 million, described as about 30% of 2025 adjusted net income contributed to Hello Group. Zhang said it marked the eighth consecutive year of dividends.
For Q1, the company guided revenue of RMB 2.3 billion to RMB 2.4 billion, implying a year-over-year decline of 8.8% to 4.8%. Hui said this assumes mainland China revenue declines by mid- to high-teens percentages year-over-year at the midpoint, while overseas revenue grows by high-40s percentages.
Looking further into 2026, Hui framed domestic revenue trends around regulation, macro conditions, and platform fundamentals. She said most of the negative impact from heightened scrutiny of agencies and broadcasters in the second half of 2025 should be absorbed by the end of Q1 2026, assuming no additional tightening. Hui also said paying users returned to net growth beginning in Q3 2025—about 200,000 net adds per quarter—with modest retention improvement.
Hui outlined a baseline view for 2026 of a low- to mid-teens percentage revenue decline for the full year, with mid-teens declines in the first half and moderation in the second half due to easier comparisons and improving fundamentals. She said the timing of a domestic bottom remains difficult to call, but the year-over-year decline could moderate in the second half of 2026, potentially narrowing below 10% by Q4 “if we are lucky,” contingent on stable external conditions.
On overseas profitability, Hui said the overseas business was loss-making in 2025 due to investment in new MENA apps and AI-driven products, estimating an overseas operating loss “roughly in the RMB 200 million range,” while noting the company does not disclose segment operating profit. She said more mature apps such as SoulChill and established dating brands are profitable, and that Yaahlan and amar are narrowing losses with clear payback visibility. Hui said the company expects Yaahlan to turn profitable within 2026 and amar about half a year later. For overseas investment discipline, she said internal requirements target payback within one to three years depending on market maturity and business model.
When asked about 2026 group margins, Hui said Q4 gross margin came in better than prior guidance due to better-than-expected domestic payout dynamics and improving leverage in MENA. She said it is “reasonable to use Q4 gross margin as a reference point” for 2026, while cautioning against extrapolating a single quarter. On profitability direction, she said if revenue is broadly flat and operating expenses grow in the low teens, bottom-line results would likely be below 2025, with an internal objective to keep adjusted operating margin above 10% and “likely in the low teens range.”
About Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO)
Hello Group Inc (NASDAQ: MOMO) is a China-based technology company specializing in mobile social networking and interactive entertainment. Its flagship product, the Momo app, offers location-based social discovery services that enable users to find and connect with new friends based on shared interests and geographic proximity. The platform integrates instant messaging, group chat, and content-sharing features, while also providing premium subscriptions and in-app purchases such as virtual gifts and sticker packs.
In addition to Momo, Hello Group’s portfolio includes Tantan, a dating-focused social app designed to help users build meaningful relationships through profile matching and interest-driven swiping.
