Media firm Yeah1 Group (YEG) has lost nearly VND4 trillion (US$171.7 million) – half of its market value – since early this month, in spite of efforts by company leadership to “save” the price of its stock by purchasing large amounts of YEG shares.

The logo of Yeah1 Group. The firm has lost more value than any other on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange over the last three months. — Photo vietmaz.com

Yeah1 has nearly 31.28 million shares listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) with the code YEG. The company’s shares hit the daily decline limit of 7 per cent in each of the last 11 consecutive sessions. YEG ended Monday at VND110,500 per share after falling by 52 per cent since early this month.

Yeah1 has suffered the biggest loss in the last three months on the HoSE.

The fall of Yeah1 shares started in early March 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 nearly 17 per cent stake, had 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.

A CHSA is a licence for media companies to make earnings from third-party businesses that run ads on the channels.

The media group announced it would sell its entire stake in ScaleLab LLC following the incident with YouTube.

The move was intended to “protect the investment capital and maximise the interests of investors”, Yeah1 said in a statement sent to the HoSE.

The leader and major shareholders of Yeah1 also tried to prevent value losses on the market by buying the stock.

Nguyen Anh Nhuong Tong, Chairman of Yeah1’s Board of Directors registered to buy 100,000 YEG shares in the beginning of March. After the transaction, Tong owned more than 11.43 million shares.

On March 8, Yeah1 announced it had registered to buy back 600,000 shares.

In addition, Hoang Duc Trung, a member of the board, and investment management firm VinaCapital registered to buy 200,000 and 100,000 shares, respectively.— VNS