Yeah1 is Vietnam's largest digital media company. — Photo courtesy of Yeah1

Two leaders of the Vietnamese media company Yeah1 Group bought three million shares of the company from a major shareholder.

After purchasing additional 1.6 million shares, Nguyen Anh Nhuong Tong, chairman of the Board of Directors of Yeah1, now has more than 13 million shares, as much as 44.17 per cent of stake in the company, while CEO Dao Phuc Tri has nearly 2.6 million of shares, or 8.8 per cent of the stake of the company after buying 1.4 million shares.

Former major shareholder, Ho Ngoc Tan sold three million shares. He now has 910,000 shares or 3 per cent and no longer is a major shareholder in the company.

Despite suggestions the purchase would be at a low price, they bought them at 30 per cent higher than the bottom price of the stock established at the end of August. In total, the two leaders paid VND195 billion (US$8.4 million) for the transactions.

As the largest digital media company in Viet Nam, Yeah1’s stock value has dropped 80 per cent from last year’s peak with the company failing to salvage its contract with YouTube. From the peak of VND343,000 ($14.75) in June last year it fell to VND65,000 ($2.8) last week. Today, it dropped 5 per cent to VND62,800 ($2.7)

Founded in 2006, Yeah1 operates TV channels, movie studios, YouTube networks, and digital news. Also operating elsewhere in Southeast Asia countries, it was also the first media company to go public, listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) last June. — VNS