Kuaishou's overseas team is led by the former CEO of the application99, and staff from Google, Facebook, Netflix, and TikTok were recruited to lead the company's international expansion.[5]
Kuaishou is China's first short video platform[7] that was developed in 2011 by engineer Hua Su and Cheng Yixiao. Prior to co-founding Kuaishou, Su Hua had worked for bothGoogle andBaidu as a software engineer.[8] The company is headquartered inHaidian District,Beijing.[9]
Kuaishou's predecessor "GIF Kuaishou" was founded in March 2011. GIF Kuaishou was a mobile app with which users could make and shareGIF pictures. In 2013, Kuaishou became ashort-video social platform.[10] By 2013, the app had reached 100 million daily users.[11] By 2019, it had exceeded 200million active daily users.[12]
In March 2017, Kuaishou closed a US$350 millioninvestment round that was led byTencent.[11] In January 2018, Forbes estimated the company's valuation to be US$18 billion.[8]
In April 2018, Kuaishou's app was briefly banned from Chinese app stores afterChina Central Television (CCTV) reported on the platform popularizing videos of teenage mothers.[13]
In January 2021, Kuaishou announced it was planning aninitial public offering (IPO) to raise approximately US$5 billion.[16] Kuaishou's stock completed its first day of trading at $300Hong 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, Kuaishou made a debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with its shares soaring by 194% at the opening.[19] The company subsequently encountered major setbacks as a result of heightened regulatory restrictions on Chinese internet firms, which contributed to its share price falling by nearly 80% from its post-IPO peak.[20] By December 2021, Kuaishou announced a major reorganization, including the layoff of 30% of its staff, primarily targeting mid-level employees earning an annual salary of $157,000 or more. This restructuring aimed to cut costs and mitigate financial losses.[20]
In April 2024, aFinancial Times article citing current and former Kuaishou employees stated that the company has been running an ageist redundancy programme known internally as "Limestone", culling workers in their mid-30s.[22] In June 2024, Kuaishou and theSichuaninternational communication center launched a branch center inSão Paulo,Brazil.[23]
As of 2019, it had a worldwide user base of over 200million,[28] leading the "Most Downloaded" lists of theGoogle Play andApple App Store in eight countries, such as Brazil, where it was introduced in 2019.[3] Its main short-video platform competitor wasDouyin, which is known asTikTok outside China.[29] Compared toDouyin, Kuaishou is more popular with older users living outsideChina's Tier 1 cities. Its initial popularity came from videos of Chinese rural life.[7][30] Kuaishou also relied more on e-commerce revenue than on advertising revenue compared to its main competitor.[31]
Kwai (as the app is called outside of China) was banned inIndia in 2020 along with other short video apps like TikTok.[32][33] Kuaishou then released the clone SnackVideo, which was subsequently also banned.[34] The app is one of the most popular social media platforms inBrazil, where Kuaishou partnered with creators to maketelenovela style content,[35] and appeals to football fans by working with football teamsCR Flamengo andSantos FC and sponsoring the tournamentCopa América.[36] Kwai was notable in Brazil for spreading information (andmisinformation) about theCOVID-19 vaccine[3] and political misinformation.[37]
"Manjiao wenhua" (慢脚文化) is asarcasm term onChinese internet on the unethical or illegal contents on Kuaishou. State broadcasterChina Central Television (CCTV) reported that many contents are aboutchild pregnancy. "Dating, pregnancy, bearing a child...these are strictly prohibited in the real time by a minor, but these contents can easily shown to audiences here." In addition, many students from primary or secondary schools make a pose ofsmoking. Wang Zhenhui (王贞会) fromCUPSL stated that these kinds of bad values will give negative effects to the minors.[38]
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Constituents ofHang Seng China 50 Index