Chinese antitrust regulator has decided to block the video game merger of Tencent Holdings Ltd. Tencent is planning to merge the country's top two videogame streaming sites, Huya and DouYu. The antitrust regulator is all set the stop this merger on antitrust ground. Tencent first disclosed it intend to merge Huya and DouYu last year in a tie-up intended to restructure its stakes in the firms. The stakes were projected by data firm MobTech to have an 80% slice of a market worth more than $3 billion and growing fast.
Furthermore, Tencent holds 36.9% shares of Huya. The firm also hold more than third of DouYu. Both the firms listed in the US, and worth a unified $5.3 billion in market value. Moreover, Huya and DouYu are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, as China's most famous video game streaming sites, where users gather to watch e-sports tournaments and follow professional gamers.
Tencent released a statement and said that it "will follow the decision, obey all regulatory requirements, work in accord with applicable laws and regulations, and accomplish its social responsibilities. This stoppage of deal follows the crackdown on Chinese firms by the government.
Huya and DouYu didn’t comment on this matter yet. Zhang Chenying, a member of the state council's anti-trust committee, claimed the deal would be an obstacle in way of just competition. Zhang disclosed that if Huya and DouYu are to combine, the original joint control of Douyu will become Tencent's complete control of a merged entity.