“Risk-Return” Analysis of M&A Logic in Media Market: A Case Study of Game Industry in China

“Risk-Return” Analysis of M&A Logic in Media Market: A Case Study of Game Industry in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article “Risk-Return” Analysis of M&A Logic in Media Market: A Case Study of Game Industry in China Botao Guan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8528617/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Under the background of new regulatory rules, M&A have gradually become a hot business in the capital market in China. The success of cultural products such as “Black Myth·Wukong”, “The Three-Body Problem” and “Li Ziqi” has triggered a heated discussion on the trend of M&A in the media industry. Taking the game industry as an example, this paper summarizes the systemic risks (Beta) and non-systemic risks (Alpha) in the media market from the perspective of “risk-return” theory, as well as the specific forms of these risks. Explore how to integrate media business through structured investment mode to achieve the balance between capital, art and commercialization, so as to reduce risk probability and achieve excess returns. Finally, based on the research findings, this paper attempts to discuss how the “Internet age” will transition to the “medium age”, the formation of incremental markets in this transition process, and what strategic opportunities will be brought. Business and commerce/Business and management Social science/Business and management Business and commerce/Finance Social science/Finance Risk-return Media industry M&A Game industry Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8528617","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":592786244,"identity":"d15bd590-b753-4eac-96b3-b4e67cf96a7a","order_by":0,"name":"Botao Guan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABBUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJACZjDJ3tj4IMHARo6Nvf0AMVoMGBh4Dh82+FCRZszHcyaBSC0SaWmSM84cTpwn4WCAV7l8RPKzxwUVf+T5GXIMpHnbDqe3STAkMPyo2IZTi+GNNHPjGWcMDGc2nDEw5m1Lz22TbjzA2HPmNm4tMxLMgIYbMG442GOQzNtmndsmcyCBmbENn5b0byAt9hsO8xgc5m1jTmeTSDDAq0VeIgdsS+KGY2yJjTPOOCcQ1GLA86ZMesYZ4+SZPcyHGYCBbNgGDOSD+Pwi356+TbqgQs62X/5h+w9gVMrLt7cffPCjAo8tB7CJYhWE29KAT3YUjIJRMApGAQgAAPo0WUsMA6PoAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Tsinghua University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Botao","middleName":"","lastName":"Guan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-06 08:24:05","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8528617/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8528617/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106430348,"identity":"fc44aa87-c3f4-467c-94ca-0de1065b4adf","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 12:58:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":433983,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"RiskReturnAnalysisofMALogicinMediaMarketv3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8528617/v1_covered_1462c85f-1936-4bf8-b5f9-7585e67642a4.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"“Risk-Return” Analysis of M\u0026A Logic in Media Market: A Case Study of Game Industry in China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Risk-return, Media industry, M\u0026A, Game industry","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8528617/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8528617/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUnder the background of new regulatory rules, M\u0026amp;A have gradually become a hot business in the capital market in China. The success of cultural products such as \u0026ldquo;Black Myth\u0026middot;Wukong\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;The Three-Body Problem\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Li Ziqi\u0026rdquo; has triggered a heated discussion on the trend of M\u0026amp;A in the media industry. Taking the game industry as an example, this paper summarizes the systemic risks (Beta) and non-systemic risks (Alpha) in the media market from the perspective of \u0026ldquo;risk-return\u0026rdquo; theory, as well as the specific forms of these risks. Explore how to integrate media business through structured investment mode to achieve the balance between capital, art and commercialization, so as to reduce risk probability and achieve excess returns. Finally, based on the research findings, this paper attempts to discuss how the \u0026ldquo;Internet age\u0026rdquo; will transition to the \u0026ldquo;medium age\u0026rdquo;, the formation of incremental markets in this transition process, and what strategic opportunities will be brought.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"“Risk-Return” Analysis of M\u0026amp;A Logic in Media Market: A Case Study of Game Industry in China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-18 03:40:24","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8528617/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"22a86226-9d30-4eeb-aa7d-ef834241a9e7","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 18th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":63075419,"name":"Business and commerce/Business and management"},{"id":63075420,"name":"Social science/Business and management"},{"id":63075421,"name":"Business and commerce/Finance"},{"id":63075422,"name":"Social science/Finance"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-08T12:57:58+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-18 03:40:24","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8528617","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8528617","identity":"rs-8528617","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}