A Space-Science YouTube Channel Sells for ¥50K: The Smallest Unit of Channel M&A
From Rakko M&A's public list of closed deals: a space-science YouTube channel sold for ¥50K — the smallest unit of channel buying and selling. We record the going rates in the individual-scale M&A market based on the listed data.
This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version and cited primary sources are authoritative for all figures.
The Deal in Numbers (from Rakko M&A’s Closed-Deal Listings)
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Sale price | ¥50K |
| Monthly revenue at listing | Undisclosed / unknown |
| Listing to close | 6 days |
| Marketplace | Rakko M&A (no seller fees) |
How to Read This Case
This deal appears in the closed-deal listings that Rakko M&A publishes on its official site; there is no detailed backstory such as an operator interview. We record it as a data point on actual market conditions, based on the listed information (genre, sale price, monthly revenue).
What This Case Tells Us
A closing at the ¥50K floor of the price range shows that the entry point for channel trading has dropped to pocket-money levels for individuals. For the buyer, it is a time-saving purchase that skips “the early wall of gathering subscribers from zero”; for the seller, it is a way to cash out on the way to an exit.
As a reference, the going rate for selling a personal site is said to be 18–24 months of monthly profit, and the spread in multiples across closed deals — including this one — reflects differing assessments of each genre’s revenue durability, ease of handover, and risk.
Cross-Comparison — Where This Sits Among 15 Rakko M&A Deals Closed in the Same Period
| Genre (type) | Sale price | Monthly revenue | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban legends (YouTube) | ¥100K | ¥1,644 | 60.8 months |
| Gacha toys (website) | ¥280K | ¥14K | 20.4 months |
| History explainers (YouTube) | ¥710K | ¥40K | 17.7 months |
| Compilation-style (YouTube) | ¥3M | ¥277K | 10.8 months |
| Psychology & trivia (YouTube) | ¥4.8M | ¥560K | 8.6 months |
| RPG game (app) | ¥1.75M | ¥250K | 7.0 months |
| Spirituality (YouTube) | ¥1.2M | ¥173K | 6.9 months |
| Overseas reactions (YouTube) | ¥320K | ¥58K | 5.6 months |
| Romance (YouTube) | ¥320K | ¥60K | 5.4 months |
| News clips (current affairs) (YouTube) | ¥400K | ¥176K | 2.3 months |
| Seniors-focused (YouTube) | ¥250K | ¥127K | 2.0 months |
| Camping info (Instagram) | ¥300K | ¥0 | — |
| Diet recipes (Instagram) | ¥65K | Unknown | — |
| Fashion (Instagram) | ¥800K | Unknown | — |
| Space science (YouTube) | ¥50K | Unknown | — |
Line up all 15 deals and the market’s pricing logic comes into focus. Search-traffic websites fetch around 20 months of revenue, YouTube channels 2–18 months, and zero-revenue social accounts are priced on their follower base alone. Even at the same “monthly revenue,” how breakable that revenue is — algorithm dependence, terms-of-service risk, reliance on a specific person — shows up as the difference in multiples.
The Buyer’s and Seller’s Arithmetic
- Buyer’s side: The ¥50K price here pays not for a revenue track record but for an already-built follower and subscriber base (i.e., time saved). The judgment is made against the time it would take to grow an equivalent channel or account from zero — content production, algorithm trial and error
- Seller’s side: A trade of the expected earnings from continued operation for cash now. Especially for YouTube and social accounts, value can drop to zero through demonetization, bans, or algorithm changes, so “cash out while things are good” is a rational call
- This price band (tens of thousands to a few million yen) enjoys the same deep buyer demand as the telecom site that sold for ¥950K in 21 days, and with zero seller fees, the cost of listing on a trial basis is close to nothing
Related Cases
Sources
This article summarizes and analyzes the public sources above. Please refer to the primary sources for details.