Kuaishou Technology Announces First Quarter 2025 Unaudited Financial Results
- Total revenue grew 10.9% YoY to RMB32.6 billion
- E-commerce GMV increased 15.4% YoY to RMB332.3 billion
- Adjusted net profit rose to RMB4.6 billion with 14% margin
- Overseas segment achieved first-time positive operating profit of RMB28 million
- DAUs reached record high of 408 million, up 3.6% YoY
- Kling AI generated over RMB150 million in revenue in Q1 2025
- Slight decrease in gross profit margin from 54.8% to 54.6% YoY
- Net profit declined from RMB4.1 billion to RMB4.0 billion YoY
First Quarter 2025 Key Highlights
- Average DAUs on Kuaishou APP were 408.0 million, representing an increase of
3.6% from 393.8 million for the same period of 2024. - Average MAUs on Kuaishou APP were 711.7 million, representing an increase of
2.1% from 697.4 million for the same period of 2024. - Total e-commerce GMV(1) was
RMB332.3 billion , representing an increase of15.4% fromRMB288.1 billion for the same period of 2024. - Total revenue increased by
10.9% toRMB32.6 billion fromRMB29.4 billion for the same period of 2024. Online marketing services and live streaming contributed55.1% and30.1% , respectively, to the total revenue. The other14.8% came from other services. - Gross profit increased by
10.4% toRMB17.8 billion fromRMB16.1 billion for the same period of 2024. Gross profit margin in the first quarter of 2025 was54.6% , slightly decreasing from54.8% for the same period of 2024. - Profit for the period was
RMB4.0 billion , compared toRMB4.1 billion for the same period of 2024. Adjusted net profit(2) increased toRMB4.6 billion fromRMB4.4 billion for the same period of 2024. - Operating profit from the domestic segment(3) increased to
RMB4.3 billion fromRMB4.0 billion for the same period of 2024. Operating profit from the overseas segment(3) wasRMB28 million , compared to operating loss ofRMB268 million for the same period of 2024. - During the three months ended March 31, 2025 and up to the market close on May 20, 2025, the Company repurchased approximately 29.2 million shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for a consideration of approximately
HKD1.4 billion .
Mr. Cheng Yixiao, Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Kuaishou, commented, "By further embedding AI technologies across our content and business ecosystem, we achieved solid growth and improved operational efficiency in the first quarter of 2025. Average DAUs climbed to a new high of 408 million. Total revenue grew by
First Quarter 2025 Financial Review
Revenue from our online marketing services increased by
Revenue from our live streaming business increased by
Revenue from our other services increased by
Other Key Financial Information for the First Quarter of 2025
Operating profit was
Adjusted EBITDA(4) was
Total available funds(5) reached
Notes:
(1) Placed on or directed to our partners through our platform.
(2) We define "adjusted net profit" as profit for the period adjusted by share-based compensation expenses and net fair value changes on investments.
(3) Unallocated items, which consist of share-based compensation expenses, other income, and other gains, net, are not included.
(4) We define "adjusted EBITDA" as adjusted net profit for the period adjusted by income tax expenses/(benefits), depreciation of property and equipment, depreciation of right-of-use assets, amortization of intangible assets, and finance expense/(income), net.
(5) Total available funds which we considered in cash management included but not limited to cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, financial assets and restricted cash. Financial assets mainly included wealth management products and others.
Business Review
In the first quarter of 2025, despite a complex and dynamic global macroeconomic environment, we achieved solid financial performance by continuing to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technology across our business. These intelligent upgrades strengthened both our content and business ecosystems, elevating experience for both users and content creators on our platform and improving operational efficiency for merchants and online marketing clients. The average DAUs on the Kuaishou App reached a new record high of 408 million in the first quarter of 2025. Our total revenue grew by
Concurrently, our new business initiatives continued to generate promising results, demonstrating robust momentum as the second growth curve. Kling AI (可靈AI) accelerated its commercialization, generating over
AI business
For Kling AI (可靈AI), we launched Kling AI (可靈AI) 2.0 globally in April 2025, marking a significant upgrade to the large video generation model. The new version maintains global leadership in aspects such as motion quality, semantic responsiveness and visual aesthetics. In this Kling AI (可靈AI) 2.0 model iteration, Kling AI (可靈AI) officially introduced the breakthrough concept of Multi-modal Visual Language (MVL, 多模態視覺語言). Building on this concept, we launched a multi-modal editing feature that allows users to integrate various inputs, such as images, videos, voice and motion paths to produce creative videos. In addition, creators can add, remove, or replace visual elements in a generated video, providing them greater flexibility throughout the editing process. Currently, Kling AI (可靈AI) is being widely applied across various industries, such as advertising, short plays and smart devices. This growing adoption reinforces our conviction in Kling AI (可靈AI) 's potential to become the foundational infrastructure for video creation in the new AI era.
We have integrated AI technology across our content and business ecosystems. AI technology is embedded across our online marketing solutions, which included the AIGC marketing material production, marketing placement agent and large marketing recommendation models boosting our clients' marketing conversion efficiency. In the first quarter of 2025, average daily advertising spending on AIGC marketing materials was around
User and content ecosystem
In the first quarter of 2025, the average DAUs on the Kuaishou App reached 408 million and MAUs reached 712 million, increasing by
The Chinese New Year has always been a key opportunity for user growth and brand marketing. For the 2025 Chinese New Year holiday, we created a festive online community full of Chinese New Year atmosphere for over 400 million users, offering engaging interactive features and an extensive content matrix. The interactive elements sparked greater social interactions across the platform. During the campaign, the pairs of average daily new mutual followers increased by over
Online marketing services
In the first quarter of 2025, revenue from online marketing services grew by
In the first quarter of 2025, external marketing services continued to be the primary growth driver for online marketing services, with particularly strong contributions from the content-consumption sectors and local services sectors. For the content-consumption sectors, marketing spending from short plays experienced rapid year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2025. Marketing clients aligned their campaigns with native in-platform content operations, such as short plays, mini-games and novels, which increased content value and fostered user stickiness, while also deepened the platform's understanding of user preferences. For the local services sectors, we offered multiple lead-based solutions, including native private messaging and lead form collection, helping them to reach customers and improve conversion rates. In the first quarter of 2025, marketing spending from the local services industry increased by more than
Additionally, we actively explored and refined our closed-loop marketing solutions to support e-commerce merchants in building more intelligent omni-domain operations on Kuaishou. In the pan-shelf-based e-commerce segment, we introduced merchants' high-quality contents and products through optimized marketing placement funnels, while our enhanced algorithm strategies improved matching efficiency. In terms of intelligent efficiency enhancement, our Omni-platform Marketing Agent 4.0 delivered greater stability in merchants' omni-domain ad-placements. In the first quarter of 2025, total marketing spending by e-commerce merchants using the Omni-platform Marketing Agent 4.0 or smart hosting products contributed
E-commerce
In the first quarter of 2025, e-commerce GMV grew by
In the first quarter of 2025, small-and medium-sized merchants on Kuaishou grew rapidly, mainly driven by our ongoing efforts to enhance supports for new merchants and the broader application of large models across various scenarios. The number of newly onboard merchants rose by over
In the first quarter of 2025, we advanced our KOL e-commerce by establishing dedicated merchandise operation centers to support KOLs in distributing high-quality products at a greater scale, further strengthening our control over merchandise selection and supply. We also deployed KOLs and operational resources across our platform to engage socialized brands through structured Platform-endorsed Groups (官方團). During the Chinese New Year shopping season, we launched the Blockbusters Initiative (爆品計劃) to focus on high-demand product categories and integrate platform-wide selling capabilities to introduce premium products at competitive prices. For small-and medium-sized KOLs, we supported their growth through initiatives like Rising Star Initiative (新星計劃), offering traffic incentives and city- level operations. During the Women's Day promotion, GMV from KOLs rose by over
In terms of diversified scenarios, we continued to enhance our three-in-one business model that integrates live streaming, shopping mall and short videos. In the first quarter of 2025, pan-shelf-based e-commerce GMV once again outperformed overall GMV growth, accounting for around
Furthermore, our AI large models have elevated the overall service capabilities available to e-commerce merchants. In the first quarter of 2025, utilizing large model agent technology and multi-modal capabilities, problem-solving rate of our intelligent customer service increased to around
Live streaming
In the first quarter of 2025, live-streaming revenue resumed its positive growth trajectory, increasing by
In addition, we continued to strengthen our gaming content ecosystem. By deeply integrating short video, live streaming and community operations, we helped game developers break through traditional promotional boundaries. We also collaborated with major e-sports events on live-streaming copyrights and co-created IP-based events, while operating our own e-sports team, KSG. Beyond content, our "live streaming+" strategy continued to empower traditional industries. In the first quarter of 2025, the average daily number of users submitting resumes on Kwai Hire (快聘) increased by over
Overseas
In the first quarter of 2025, our overseas business continued to make steady progress, with revenue rising by
Local services
In the first quarter of 2025, our local services business deepened its operations in lower-tier cities, by continuing to leverage our user advantages and refining our operations through offering users high-value-for-money local products and services. We achieved a rapid year-over-year increase in GMV for local services in the first quarter of 2025, with over
About Kuaishou
Kuaishou is a leading content community and social platform in
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "might", "can", "could", "will", "would", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "forecast", "intend", "plan", "seek", or "timetable". These forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, may include our business outlook, estimates of financial performance, forecast business plans, growth strategies and projections of anticipated trends in our industry. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Group and are stated herein on the basis of the outlook at the time of this press release. They are based on certain expectations, assumptions and premises, many of which are subjective or beyond our control. These forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect and may not be realized in the future. Underlying these forward-looking statements are a large number of risks and uncertainties. In light of the risks and uncertainties, the inclusion of forward-looking statements in this press release should not be regarded as representations by the Board or the Company that the plans and objectives will be achieved, and investors should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except as required by law, we are not obligated, and we undertake no obligation, to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements that might reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release or those that might reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact
Kuaishou Technology
Investor Relations
Email: ir@kuaishou.com
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT | |||||||
Unaudited | |||||||
Three Months Ended | |||||||
March 31, 2025 | December 31, 2024 | March 31, 2024 | |||||
RMB'Million | RMB'Million | RMB'Million | |||||
Revenues | 32,608 | 35,384 | 29,408 | ||||
Cost of revenues | (14,816) | (16,261) | (13,288) | ||||
Gross profit | 17,792 | 19,123 | 16,120 | ||||
Selling and marketing expenses | (9,897) | (11,317) | (9,384) | ||||
Administrative expenses | (828) | (866) | (462) | ||||
Research and development expenses | (3,298) | (3,451) | (2,843) | ||||
Other income | 53 | 187 | 118 | ||||
Other gains, net | 437 | 592 | 445 | ||||
Operating profit | 4,259 | 4,268 | 3,994 | ||||
Finance (expense)/income, net | (24) | 19 | 114 | ||||
Share of profits/(losses) of investments accounted for using | 2 | (1) | (3) | ||||
Profit before income tax | 4,237 | 4,286 | 4,105 | ||||
Income tax (expenses)/benefits | (258) | (312) | 15 | ||||
Profit for the period | 3,979 | 3,974 | 4,120 | ||||
Attributable to: | |||||||
— Equity holders of the Company | 3,978 | 3,969 | 4,119 | ||||
— Non-controlling interests | 1 | 5 | 1 | ||||
3,979 | 3,974 | 4,120 |
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET | ||||
Unaudited | Audited | |||
As of March 31, | As of December 31, 2024 | |||
RMB'Million | RMB'Million | |||
ASSETS | ||||
Non-current assets | ||||
Property and equipment | 16,139 | 14,831 | ||
Right-of-use assets | 8,061 | 8,891 | ||
Intangible assets | 1,045 | 1,059 | ||
Investments accounted for using the equity method | 169 | 166 | ||
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss | 28,620 | 24,430 | ||
Other financial assets at amortized cost | 41 | 62 | ||
Deferred tax assets | 6,606 | 6,604 | ||
Long-term time deposits | 20,486 | 19,856 | ||
Other non-current assets | 1,372 | 1,105 | ||
82,539 | 77,004 | |||
Current assets | ||||
Trade receivables | 6,346 | 6,674 | ||
Prepayments, other receivables and other current assets | 5,288 | 4,646 | ||
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss | 28,243 | 27,050 | ||
Other financial assets at amortized cost | 190 | 233 | ||
Short-term time deposits | 7,816 | 11,522 | ||
Restricted cash | 51 | 47 | ||
Cash and cash equivalents | 11,598 | 12,697 | ||
59,532 | 62,869 | |||
Total assets | 142,071 | 139,873 |
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET | ||||
Unaudited | Audited | |||
As of March 31, 2025 | As of December 31, 2024 | |||
RMB'Million | RMB'Million | |||
EQUITY AND LIABILITIES | ||||
Equity attributable to equity holders of the Company | ||||
Share capital | - | - | ||
Share premium | 268,159 | 268,733 | ||
Treasury shares | (707) | (341) | ||
Other reserves | 36,361 | 35,776 | ||
Accumulated losses | (238,186) | (242,164) | ||
65,627 | 62,004 | |||
Non-controlling interests | 21 | 20 | ||
Total equity | 65,648 | 62,024 | ||
LIABILITIES | ||||
Non-current liabilities | ||||
Borrowings | 11,100 | 11,100 | ||
Financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss | 120 | 124 | ||
Lease liabilities | 6,045 | 6,765 | ||
Deferred tax liabilities | 12 | 13 | ||
Other non-current liabilities | 22 | 19 | ||
17,299 | 18,021 | |||
Current liabilities | ||||
Accounts payables | 26,460 | 27,470 | ||
Other payables and accruals | 22,542 | 23,113 | ||
Advances from customers | 4,562 | 4,696 | ||
Borrowings | 1,077 | - | ||
Financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss | 4 | 5 | ||
Income tax liabilities | 771 | 873 | ||
Lease liabilities | 3,708 | 3,671 | ||
59,124 | 59,828 | |||
Total liabilities | 76,423 | 77,849 | ||
Total equity and liabilities | 142,071 | 139,873 |
Financial Information by Segment | ||||||||||||
Unaudited Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||
March 31, 2025 | December 31, 2024 | March 31, 2024 | ||||||||||
Domestic | Overseas | Unallocated | Total | Domestic | Overseas | Unallocated | Total | Domestic | Overseas | Unallocated | Total | |
RMB'Million | RMB'Million | RMB'Million | ||||||||||
Revenues | 31,293 | 1,315 | - | 32,608 | 34,089 | 1,295 | - | 35,384 | 28,417 | 991 | - | 29,408 |
Operating profit/(loss) | 4,345 | 28 | (114) | 4,259 | 4,361 | (236) | 143 | 4,268 | 3,991 | (268) | 271 | 3,994 |
Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Accounting Standards Measures to the Nearest IFRS Accounting | ||||||
Unaudited | ||||||
Three Months Ended | ||||||
March 31, | December 31, | March 31, | ||||
2025 | 2024 | 2024 | ||||
RMB'Million | RMB'Million | RMB'Million | ||||
Profit for the period | 3,979 | 3,974 | 4,120 | |||
Adjusted for: | ||||||
Share-based compensation expenses | 604 | 636 | 292 | |||
Net fair value changes on | (3) | 91 | (24) | |||
Adjusted net profit | 4,580 | 4,701 | 4,388 | |||
Adjusted net profit | 4,580 | 4,701 | 4,388 | |||
Adjusted for: | ||||||
Income tax expenses/(benefits) | 258 | 312 | (15) | |||
Depreciation of property and | 782 | 1,093 | 977 | |||
Depreciation of right-of-use assets | 768 | 756 | 716 | |||
Amortization of intangible assets | 22 | 26 | 27 | |||
Finance expense/(income), net | 24 | (19) | (114) | |||
Adjusted EBITDA | 6,434 | 6,869 | 5,979 |
Note: | ||
(1) Net fair value changes on investments represents net fair value (gains)/losses on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss of our investments in listed and unlisted entities, net (gains)/losses on deemed disposals of investments and impairment provision for investments, which is unrelated to our core business and operating performance and subject to market fluctuations, and exclusion of which provides investors with more relevant and useful information to evaluate our performance. |
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SOURCE Kuaishou Technology