Disillusioned with 'unicorn' dream, Yeah1 welcomes new shareholders to restructure and sell capital to Giga1

Artists participating in a music program organized by Yeah1 - Photo: YEG

In 2020, Yeah1 Group Joint Stock Company, under the leadership of Chairman Nguyen Anh Nhuong Tong, joined hands with Tan Hiep Phat Group to develop a digital media ecosystem, in which the Giga1 e-commerce platform plays a key role.

Announcement of foreign investment fund

The goal is to create a closed value chain between content - promotion - consumption, helping products like Number One soft drinks reach the younger generation of customers.

At the same time, Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong, daughter of Mr. Tran Qui Thanh (founder of Tan Hiep Phat), became a major shareholder of Yeah1 with more than 22% of shares.

The cooperation agreements were then expected to help Yeah1's Chairman repay shareholders for his promise to become a billion-dollar company.

However, the crisis occurred when YouTube terminated its cooperation with Yeah1 due to violating its partnership policy, causing a serious drop in revenue. The company's business results continued to decline, major shareholders withdrew their capital one after another. Even the early senior leaders withdrew their capital and left the organization.

Yeah1 then entered a restructuring phase, and a series of personnel from other entertainment and media businesses joined Yeah1's senior management team.

This company attracted attention again when it invested heavily in entertainment programs such as Anh trai vu ngan cong gai to re-approach young audiences.

Recently, Yeah1's Board of Directors announced the sale of all capital at Giga1 Trading Technology Joint Stock Company, the platform that was the center of cooperation with Tan Hiep Phat.

This enterprise has also settled short-term payables of more than VND 16.5 billion with Number One Production, Trade and Service Company Limited.

Recent notable information is the appearance of PYN Elite Fund (Finland), a foreign investment fund holding more than 5% of shares, becoming the first major institutional shareholder to be announced after a long period of restructuring.

How much is Yeah1's total debt left?

After the departure of a series of company founders, has any group of individual or institutional investors invested in to revive Yeah1? Currently, Ms. Le Phuong Thao, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, holds 5.76% of shares and General Director Ngo Thi Van Hanh owns less than 1% of capital.

Before joining Yeah1 in 2022 as CFO of Yeah1 Edigital, Ms. Le Phuong Thao was the marketing communications director of a securities company and chairwoman of Yeah1 since June 2022.

Meanwhile, Ms. Hanh has a lot of experience in the entertainment and media industry, having worked at companies such as Dat Viet, Cat Tien Sa, etc. This leader received a salary of more than 860 million VND in the first three months of this year, an increase of nearly 15% compared to the same period last year.

As of the end of March 2025, Yeah1's total liabilities were over VND500 billion. Regarding short-term loans, a former deputy editor-in-chief of an entertainment magazine was noted in Yeah1's ecosystem for lending Yeah1 over VND117 billion, the largest of the six personal loans, as of the end of 2024.

That is Ms. Vu Thi Tuyet Van, former deputy general director of Cat Tien Sa Group, former deputy editor-in-chief of Saotar E-Magazine and currently CEO of Yeah1 Network. This loan was fully paid off in the first three months of this year.

In addition to borrowing from individuals, Yeah1 mobilized short-term capital from a number of organizations such as more than VND 10 billion from Vital Investments Group Joint Stock Company, a financial services support enterprise with Mr. Nguyen Trung Thanh as legal representative. Mr. Thanh is also the legal representative of Ba Huan Company Limited Branch - Binh Duong Farm.

Responding to shareholders at the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Ms. Le Phuong Thao said that in order to expand production and business, Yeah1 needs capital as well as the need to transfer capacity. Therefore, the company welcomes all opportunities for strategic cooperation, from expertise, capacity transfer to capital.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vo-mong-ky-lan-yeah1-don-co-dong-moi-tai-cau-truc-ban-von-giga1-2025051120291459.htm