Kuaishou Technology (Chinese: 快手; lit. 'quick hand') is a Chinese publicly traded partly state-owned holding company based in Haidian District (Beijing), founded in 2011 by Hua Su (宿华)[1] and Cheng Yixiao (程一笑).[2] The company is known for developing a mobile app for sharing users' short videos, a social network, and video special effects editor.
Native name | 快手 |
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Company type | Public company; partially state-owned |
SEHK: 1024 | |
Industry | Internet |
Founded | March 2011 |
Founder | Su Hua Cheng Yixiao |
Headquarters | , China |
Key people | Su Hua (CEO) |
Revenue | US$ 9.1 billion (2020)[citation needed] |
Owner | China Internet Investment Fund (Cyberspace Administration of China) Beijing Radio and Television Station |
Website | www |
Developer(s) | Kuaishou Technology |
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Operating system | |
Type | Video sharing |
License | Proprietary software |
Website | www |
As of 2019, it has a worldwide user base of over 200 million,[3] leading the "Most Downloaded" lists of the Google Play and Apple App Store in eight countries, such as Brazil. In Pakistan and Indonesia, this app is known as Snack Video.[4] It is often referred to as "Kwai" in overseas markets. Its main competitor is Douyin, which is known as TikTok outside China.[5]
Kuaishou's overseas team is led by the former CEO of the application 99, and staff from Google, Facebook, Netflix and TikTok were recruited to lead the company's international expansion.[6]
The China Internet Investment Fund, a state-owned enterprise controlled by the Cyberspace Administration of China, holds a golden share ownership stake in Kuaishou.[7]
Kuaishou is China's first short video platform.[8] developed in 2011 by engineer Hua Su and Cheng Yixiao. Prior to co-founding Kuaishou, Su Hua had worked for both Google and Baidu as a software engineer.[9] The company is headquartered in Haidian District, Beijing.[10]
Kuaishou's predecessor "GIF Kuaishou" was founded in March 2011. GIF Kuaishou was a mobile app with which users could make and share GIF pictures. In November 2012, Kuaishou became a short video community and a platform with which users could record and share videos.[citation needed] By 2013, the app had reached 100 million daily users.[11] By 2019, it exceeded 200 million active daily users.[12]
In March 2017, Kuaishou closed a US$350 million investment round that was led by Tencent.[11] In January 2018, Forbes estimated the company's valuation to be US$18 billion.[9]
In April 2018, Kuaishou's app was briefly banned from Chinese app stores after China Central Television (CCTV) reported on the platform popularizing videos of teenage mothers.[13]
In 2019, the company announced a partnership with the People's Daily, an official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, to help it experiment with the use of artificial intelligence in news.[14]
In June 2020, the Government of India banned Kwai along with 58 other apps, citing "data and privacy issues".[15] The 2020 border tensions between India and China might have also played a role in the ban, there having been an increasingly political "Boycott China" movement in India due to the competitive relations between the two countries in recent years.[citation needed]
In January 2021, Kuaishou announced it was planning an initial public offering (IPO) to raise approximately US$5 billion.[16] Kuaishou's stock completed its first day of trading at $300 Hong Kong dollars (HKD) (US$38.70), more than doubling its initial offer price, and causing its market value to rise to over $1 trillion HKD (US$159 billion).[17][18]
In February 2021, shares of Kuaishou rose 194% at the opening on its Hong Kong debut.[19][20] Kuaishou was one of the companies worse-hit by the regulatory restrictions on Chinese internet companies and its share price fell nearly 80% from its highest point since going public.[21] In December 2021, it was announced Kuaishou would lay off 30% of its staff, mainly mid-level employees with an annual salary of US$157,000 or more. The reorganization was done to help Kuaishou cut costs and reverse losses.[21]
In October 2022, state-owned Beijing Radio and Television Station took a minority ownership stake in Kuaishou.[22]
Compared to Douyin, Kuaishou is more popular with older users who live outside China's Tier 1 cities. Its initial popularity came from videos of Chinese rural life.[8][23] Kuaishou also relies more on e-commerce revenue than on advertising revenue compared to its main competitor.[24]