Kuaishou Reports Jump in Revenue, E-Commerce Growth in First Results Report Since Mega IPO

Chinese video sharing platform Kuaishou Technology recorded a 50% jump in revenue in 2020 as well as a growth in active users in its first report card following the company’s mega initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.

The ByteDance rival reported 58.8 billion yuan ($9 billion) in revenue for 2020, a significant increase from 39.1 billion yuan in 2019, according to Kuaishou’s financial results released on Tuesday. Although the platform is known for its offering of short videos, online marketing services contributed 37.2% of the revenue, while live-streaming contributed 56.5%.

Average daily active users for the year of 2020 reached 264.6 million, an increase of 50.7% from 175.6 million in 2019. Average monthly active users was at 481.1 million, an increase of 45.6% from the year before. 

These active users spend an average of 87 minutes per day on the app last year, the company added.

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Another segment that saw tremendous growth was Kuaishou’s e-commerce business. Gross merchandise value for the platform amounted to 381 billion yuan last year, compared to 59.6 billion yuan in 2019 – more than a five-fold jump. 

“Our increasingly engaged users and the numerous interactions they generated led to significant network effect and valuable business activities within our vibrant ecosystem. As a result, we have seen a substantial increase of our user base and user engagement, as well as a robust growth of our monetization capabilities,” Su Hua, Kuaishou co-founder and CEO stated in a press release.

The company, which is 17.7% owned by Tencent Holdings, raised HK$42 billion ($5.4 billion) in its IPO in Hong Kong, making it the largest technology debut since Uber Technologies Inc went public in 2019. Kuaishou’s shares are trading at more than twice the IPO price, valuing the company at $160 billion.

Kuaishou, founded in 2011 by former Google employees Su Hua and Cheng Yixiao, was originally a GIF-maker app. In 2013, it pivoted to short video sharing and added live streaming features in 2016.