Yeah1 shares fell after YouTube terminated an agreement allowing the firm's content on the channel in March 2019. — Photo courtesy of Yeah1

Local media firm, Yeah1 Group (YEG), recorded a loss of VND158 billion (US$6.8 million) in the fourth quarter of last year, pushing 2019’s total losses to VND372 billion.

In Q4, the firm recorded sales of VND435 billion, a 32 per cent reduction from the same period in 2018.

The fall of Yeah1 shares started in early March 2019, after YouTube said it would terminate its Content Hosting Agreement (CHSA) with subsidiaries and associates of Yeah1 at the end of this month, including US-based ScaleLab LLC and Thailand-based SpringMe Ptd Ltd.

In a statement sent to Yeah1, YouTube said SpringMe, in which Yeah1 has a 17 per cent stake, violated the site’s policies in selecting and managing channels and videos.

Therefore, the statement said, YouTube had to terminate its entire agreement with Yeah1’s subsidiaries and associates that are running YouTube Adsense–based business activities.

Nguyen Anh Nhuong Tong, Chairman of Yeah1 told local media: "We had high expectations for 2019, but could not recover from YouTube’s case.”

Tong added: “Over the past six months, Yeah1 has been continuously restructuring to have some growth. I'm sure Yeah1 will be back in the race.”

Founded in 2006, Yeah1 Group became a top-ranked multi-channel network in Asia. It started listing 31.28 million shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) with the code YEG in June 2018, at the price of VND250,000 each. Now each share of the firm closed at VND37,000 on HoSE. — VNS