Bilibili climbs on livestream sales wagon, but may be too late

HONG KONG -- Chinese online video streaming site Bilibili has quietly tiptoed into livestream sales in a bid to curb mounting losses, but it is running up against faster moving competitors as well as a new regulatory crackdown by Beijing.

Over the first nine months of 2021, Bilibili's net losses ballooned 113% to 4.7 billion yuan ($739.26 million) even as revenues grew by two-thirds to 13.6 billion yuan. On Thursday morning, the Shanghai-based company's sliding Hong Kong-traded shares tumbled 6.1% to end the session at HK$281, putting it on course of its lowest closer ever.