Cai Yuedong, the founder of Tong Dao Uncle, a leading astrology culture account on both Weibo and WeChat, sold 72 percent of his shares to Mei Sheng Culture, an A-share listed company, cashing out at nearly 200 million RMB. This acquisition sets a record for content entrepreneurship, and makes Cai a role model for fellow content entrepreneurs.

Many Chinese netizens are familiar with the comic version of Tong Dao Uncle: a handful of hair on the head, eyebrows and nose squeezed together, a mouth brutally coated with a circle of residue. In 2014, Cai started to release posts on Weibo satirizing the characteristics of people with different star signs. In less than 2 years, Tong Dao Uncle, with his shaggy appearance, won more than 10 million fans. He tweets seven astrology-related graphics or videos every day, and the front-page article on his public WeChat account can generate more than 1 million page views in just two minutes.

Frequently referred to as “content entrepreneurship,” the movement is being carried by a whole host of players, many of who are youngsters with plenty of fresh ideas and the know-how to make a career out of them on platforms like Weibo and WeChat. Since 2015, content entrepreneurship has become a hot topic. At least 30 content enterprises have received investment of over 10 million RMB.