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.jpg) Headquarters in Beijing | |
| Beike | |
Native name | 贝壳控股有限公司 |
| Company type | Public |
| NYSE: BEKE SEHK: 2423 | |
| Industry | Real estate |
| Founded | 6 July 2018; 7 years ago (2018-07-06) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Beijing,China |
Key people | Peng Yongdong (Chairman & CEO) |
| Revenue |  CN¥77.78 billion (2023) |
| CN¥5.89 billion (2023) | |
| Total assets | CN¥120.33 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | CN¥72.20 billion (2023) |
Number of employees | 116,344 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries | Beike Lianjia |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
KE Holdings Inc. (KE;Chinese:贝壳控股有限公司;pinyin:Bèiké Kònggǔ Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) is apublicly listed Chinesereal estateholding company that engages in the provision of an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services through its subsidiaries. It is the largest online real estate transaction platform in China.
Investors often refer to the collective business as "Beike".
Lianjia (formerly Homelink) was founded as a real estate brokerage byZuo Hui in November 2001 with initially 27 employees.[2]
Due to the competition for real estate brokerages, information was not centralized and it was difficult to maintain accurate up to date information. In April 2018, Zuo, Peng Yongdong and Shan Yigang launched Beike, an online platform that helps match customer to real estate agents. KE was incorporated in July 2018 as a holding company for both Lianjia and Beike.[3][4][5]
At the start, Beike drew most of its senior management from Lianjia. It aimed to establish an independent third-party trading platform similar toTaobao that would allow resources to be open to all real estate agents. Zuo came up with the idea of an agent cooperation network after studying multiple service listing systems in the U.S.[6]
KE received financial backing fromTencent,SoftBank Group andHillhouse Investment.[7][8]
In August 2020, KE held itsinitial public offering on theNew York Stock Exchange (NYSE) raising US$2.12 billion. On the first day of trading, the stock jumped 87% valuing the company at just under US$40 billion.[7][8]
In May 2022, KE became adual-listed company after it listed its shares on theHong Kong Stock Exchange.[9]
KE owns two majors businesses. Lianjia and Beike. Lianjia is a real estate agent while Beike is an online platform that helps match customers to estate agents (which includes Lianjia). Lianjia has been compared toRedfin while Beike has been compared toZillow.[3][5][10]
KE operates four business segments:[3][10]
On 20 May 2021, KE's co-founder and then chairman, Zuo died of illness resulting in KE's stock price dropping more than 10% afterwards. According to a shareholder, although Zuo was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, KE never disclosed his health issues in its regulatory filing which could raise the risk of allegations of failure to disclose key information.[6][7] He was succeeded by Peng as KE's new chairman.[11]
Shortly after, it was stated that theState Administration for Market Regulation was investigating KE for suspectedanticompetitive practices. However KE viaWeChat released a statement saying it was "fake news".[12]
In December 2021,Muddy Waters Research announced it taken ashort position against KE after it released a report stating that KE had committed "systemic fraud" and inflated its sales and revenue figures in its financial statements. KE stated the report was flawed and had used an invalid methodology although it would conduct an internal review of the allegations.[13][14]Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP launched aclass action lawsuit on behalf of investors against KE accusing its disseminating false and misleading Information. In April 2024, judgeGregory H. Woods dismissed most of the shareholder case but stated there was some validity based on the report that KE's filings did contain false statements.[15]
In April 2022, KE was added to theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission watchlist after failing afoul theHolding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.[16]
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