Kuaishou
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology, Social networking, Video software |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder | Su Hua, Cheng Yixiao |
| Headquarters | Haidian District, Beijing , China |
Area served | Worldwide (including China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, UAE, Nigeria) |
| Products | Mobile application for short videos, social networking, video effects editing (branded as Kwai internationally; Snack Video in India, Pakistan, Indonesia) |
| Owner | Partial state ownership (China Internet Investment Fund holds a golden share) |
Kuaishou Technology () is a Chinese publicly listed holding company with partial state ownership, headquartered in the Haidian District of Beijing. Established in 2011 by Su Hua () and Cheng Yixiao (), the firm is traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Kuaishou offers a mobile application designed for sharing short videos, social networking, and video effects editing. Internationally, the app is branded as Kwai, while in countries such as India, Pakistan, and Indonesia, it operates under the name Snack Video.
Ownership and governance
The international division of Kuaishou is managed by the former CEO of the app 99, supported by leadership recruited from prominent technology companies including Google, Facebook, Netflix, and TikTok to spearhead global growth.
A golden share in Kuaishou is held by the China Internet Investment Fund, a state-owned enterprise overseen by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
History
Kuaishou was established in 2011 by engineers Su Hua and Cheng Yixiao, marking it as China's pioneering short video platform. Prior to founding Kuaishou, Su Hua gained experience at Google and Baidu. The company’s main office is located in Haidian District, Beijing.
Initially launched in March 2011 as "GIF Kuaishou" for sharing animated GIFs, the platform shifted focus in November 2012 to become a short video service. By 2013, daily active users reached 100 million, expanding to over 200 million by 2019.
In March 2017, Kuaishou secured a US$350 million funding round led by Tencent. By January 2018, Forbes had estimated its valuation at US$18 billion.
The app experienced a temporary ban in China in April 2018 after content involving teenage mothers was reported. In 2019, Kuaishou collaborated with the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, to investigate artificial intelligence applications in news dissemination.
Due to concerns over data privacy amid geopolitical tensions, the Indian government banned Kwai along with other Chinese applications in June 2020.
Kuaishou announced its intention to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in January 2021, targeting approximately US$5 billion in capital. Upon debuting on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, its share price surged over 160%, elevating market capitalization beyond US$159 billion. Nevertheless, subsequent regulatory challenges caused its stock value to decline nearly 80% from peak levels. By December 2021, the company undertook restructuring measures that included reducing mid-level staff by 30% to cut expenses and mitigate losses.
In October 2022, a minority stake in Kuaishou was acquired by state-owned Beijing Radio and Television Station.
An internal report published by the Financial Times in April 2024 disclosed a redundancy initiative targeting employees in their mid-30s based on age criteria. Later, in June 2024, Kuaishou expanded its global presence by establishing an office in São Paulo, Brazil, through collaboration with the Sichuan international communication center.
Also during June 2024, Kuaishou introduced Kling, a diffusion transformer-based text-to-video AI model capable of producing two-minute videos at 1080p resolution and 30 frames per second. Comparable to OpenAI’s Sora model, Kling is accessible via Kuaishou’s video editing app KwaiCut through a waitlist requiring registration with a Chinese phone number.
Popularity and controversy
By 2019, Kuaishou had amassed over 200 million users worldwide, securing top positions on the "Most Downloaded" lists across eight countries on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, including Brazil where it made its debut in the same year. Its main rival in the market was Douyin, internationally recognized as TikTok. Kuaishou's user base outside China's Tier 1 cities tended to be older, with its initial surge in popularity driven by content showcasing rural lifestyles. In contrast to Douyin, Kuaishou's revenue model leaned more heavily on e-commerce rather than advertising.
Operating under the name Kwai globally, the application faced a ban in India in 2020 along with TikTok. Subsequently, Kuaishou introduced SnackVideo, which also encountered a ban. In Brazil, Kwai has established itself as a prominent social media platform, collaborating with content creators to produce telenovela-inspired videos and partnering with football teams such as CR Flamengo and Santos FC. Additionally, it has sponsored the Copa América tournament. The platform has been identified as a vehicle for disseminating misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines as well as political falsehoods. The company remains committed to growing its presence internationally, focusing particularly on markets in Latin America, the UAE, and Nigeria.
See also
External links
- Articles with short description
- Companies based in Beijing
- Chinese companies established in 2011
- Internet properties established in 2011
- Mobile applications
- Tencent
- Video software
- Social networking services
- Video game streaming services
- Live streaming services
- 2021 initial public offerings
- Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
- Internet censorship in India
- Government-owned companies of China
- Text-to-video generation
- HarmonyOS software
- IOS software
- Android (operating system) software
- Companies in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index