As confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 22, 2021
Registration No. 333-
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM F-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
KANZHUN LIMITED
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Not Applicable
(Translation of Registrants name into English)
Cayman Islands | 7370 | Not Applicable | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
18/F, GrandyVic Building, Taiyanggong Middle Road
Chaoyang Distict, Beijing 100020
Peoples Republic of China
+86 10-8415-0633
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of Registrants principal executive offices)
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Z. Julie Gao, Esq. Shu Du, Esq. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP c/o 42/F, Edinburgh Tower, The Landmark 15 Queens Road Central Hong Kong +852 3740-4700 |
Cathy Yeung, Esq. Allen Wang, Esq. Latham & Watkins LLP 18th Floor, One Exchange Square 8 Connaught Place, Central Hong Kong +852 2912-2500 |
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
as soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box. ☐
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933.
Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
The term new or revised financial accounting standard refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
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Title of each class of securities to be registered |
Proposed maximum aggregate offering price(2)(3) |
Amount of registration fee | ||
Class A Ordinary Shares, par value US$0.0001 per share(1) |
US$ | US$ | ||
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(1) | American depositary shares issuable upon deposit of Class A ordinary shares registered hereby will be registered under a separate registration statement on Form F-6 (Registration No. 333- ). Each American depositary share represents Class A ordinary shares. |
(2) | Includes Class A ordinary shares that are issuable upon the exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional ADSs. Also includes Class A ordinary shares initially offered and sold outside the United States that may be resold from time to time in the United States either as part of their distribution or within 40 days after the later of the effective date of this registration statement and the date the shares are first bona fide offered to the public. These Class A ordinary shares are not being registered for the purpose of sales outside the United States. |
(3) | Estimated solely for the purpose of determining the amount of registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933. |
The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities, and we are not soliciting offers to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS (Subject to Completion)
Dated , 2021.
American Depositary Shares
KANZHUN LIMITED
Representing Class A Ordinary Shares
We are selling American depositary shares, or ADSs. Each ADS represents of our Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share.
This is an initial public offering of American depositary shares, or ADSs, of KANZHUN LIMITED Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the ADSs or our ordinary shares. We anticipate that the initial public offering price will be between US$ and US$ per ADS. We intend to apply for the listing of the ADSs on [the New York Stock Exchange/Nasdaq Global Market] under the symbol .
[Following the completion of this offering, our issued and outstanding share capital will consist of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. will beneficially own all of our issued Class B ordinary shares and will be able to exercise % of the total voting power of our issued and outstanding share capital immediately following the completion of this offering. Holders of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares have the same rights except for voting and conversion rights. Each Class A ordinary share is entitled to one vote, and each Class B ordinary share is entitled to votes and is convertible into one Class A ordinary share. Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances.]
We have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional ADSs from us at the initial public offering less the underwriting discounts and commissions.
We are an emerging growth company under applicable U.S. federal securities laws and are eligible for reduced public company reporting requirements.
Investing in the ADSs involves risks. See Risk Factors beginning on page 18 for factors you should consider before buying the ADSs.
PRICE US$ PER ADS
Neither the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Per ADS | Total | |||||||
Initial public offering price |
US$ | US$ | ||||||
Underwriting discounts and commissions(1) |
US$ | US$ | ||||||
Proceeds, before expenses, to us |
US$ | US$ |
(1) | See Underwriting for additional information regarding compensation payable by us to the underwriters. |
The underwriters expect to deliver the ADSs to purchasers on or about , 2021.
Goldman Sachs | Morgan Stanley | UBS Investment Bank | ||
(in alphabetical order) |
The date of this prospectus is , 2021.
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F-1 |
Until , 2021 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that effect transactions is these ADSs, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealer obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as an underwriter and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.
You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus that we authorize to be distributed to you. We and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide you with any information other than that contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you, and neither we, nor the underwriters take responsibility for any other information others may give you. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy the ADSs, only in jurisdictions where such offers and sales are permitted. The information in this prospectus or any free writing prospectus is accurate only as of its date, regardless of its time of delivery or the time of any sale of the ADSs. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospectus may have changed since that date.
Neither we nor any of the underwriters has taken any action to permit a public offering of the ADSs outside the United States or to permit the possession or distribution of this prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus outside the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus must inform themselves about and observe any restrictions relating to the offering of the ADSs and the distribution of the prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus outside the United States.
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The following summary is qualified in its entirety by, and should be read in conjunction with, the more detailed information and financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition to this summary, we urge you to read the entire prospectus carefully, especially the risks of investing in the ADSs discussed under Risk Factors, before deciding whether to invest in the ADSs. This prospectus contains information from an industry report commissioned by us dated March 2021 and prepared by China Insights Consultancy, an independent research firm, to provide information regarding our industry and our market position in China. We refer to this report as the CIC Report.
Our Vision
Redefine every individuals career development with technology and a passion towards delivering user satisfaction, by optimizing efficiency, equality and choice.
Pain Points Our Industry Faces
The online recruitment industry in China has traditionally suffered from two pain points: job seekers find it difficult to locate suitable job positions, and employers find it hard to secure suitable job candidates. Job seekers and employers keep walking past each other in the dark, yearning for a new platform that can deliver unprecedented efficiency.
We believe three common characteristics of traditional industry players caused such pain points.
First, limited functionality beyond submission and downloading of resumes. Information flows one wayfrom job seekers to employers, via a few pages of stylized introductions, often receiving tardy responses, if any.
Second, a search-based model that unevenly drives internet traffic towards the topfavoring candidates with stellar credentials and well-known corporations with deep pockets, leaving behind the vast majority of average job seekers and SMEs with tremendous unmet demand.
Third, an inability to attract Bosses at scale, relying instead only on recruitment professionals. This resulted from the inefficiencies stemming from the two abovementioned common characteristics. Bosses, including executives, middle-level managers of large enterprises and SMEs, as well as micro business owners, are the only people who truly understand what attributes define the best candidates for a particular job position. This fact is accentuated by the paradigm shift in the Chinese economy towards the next stage of advanced development, and the urgency for businesses to attract a more specialized workforce that can cope with intensified competition.
Who We Are
Cognizant of the industry pain points and their root causes, our founders set out seven years ago to create a transformative product that promotes two-way interactive communication, focuses on intelligent recommendations that is empowering, and brings Bosses onboard the recruitment process. The result was BOSS Zhipina mobile-native product that promotes instant direct chats between Bosses and job seekers, delivers accurate matching results, and is powered by proprietary AI algorithms and big data insights. This proved to be exactly what the industry needed. Despite being a late comer, we have become the largest online recruitment platform in China, as measured by average MAU in 2020, according to the CIC Report.
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Our operating philosophy highly respects job seekers, and we are committed to empowering them by giving them more say in the recruitment process. We do not allow enterprise users to access job seekers resumes unless job seekers give express consent. Job seekers can also make their information selectively visible to different types of enterprise users. We believe the superior user experience we provide to individual job seekers attracts them to our platform. Enterprise users also benefit from our operating philosophy as it creates massive opportunities for them to connect with job seekers efficiently.
Our Platform
We connect job seekers and enterprise users in an efficient and seamless manner mainly through our highly interactive BOSS Zhipin mobile app, which together with our other mobile apps and mini programs create a vibrant network. We are relentlessly focused on enhancing user experience by delivering efficient, intuitive and convenient experience to them throughout the recruitment cycle.
Job seekers: We have a large and fast growing pool of job seekers consisting of white and gold-collar users, blue-collar users and college students.
Enterprise users: We serve an extensive network of employers covering small, mid-sized and large businesses. Bosses and recruiting professionals of companies of all sizes, including large and small businesses, are the enterprise users of our platform.
Bosses: Bosses refer to executives or middle-level managers of large enterprises and SME and micro business owners, who themselves are supervisors. As of December 31, 2020, 65% of our verified enterprise users are not professional recruiting personnel, and we categorize these people as Bosses.
Recruiting professionals: We also serve recruiting professionals, including human resource officers and specialized hiring function employees of an employer, headhunters and hiring staff from human resource agencies.
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We pioneered these features in the online recruiting industry:
| Getting the Bosses involved early on. We get the Bosses involved on our platform from day one of our operation. Bosses are the key decision makers who can better assess candidates capabilities, such as their soft skills and cultural fit, and more efficiently identify the best people for their businesses. Our innovative model facilitates direct interaction between job seekers and Bosses, meeting the Bosses underserved demands to directly participate in the recruiting process at an early stage, and allows us to amass a large number of Bosses. |
| Mobile-native. We started as a mobile app, and we were built for the era of mobile internet, whereas other recruitment platforms were mainly born in the PC age and later piecemeal adapted a mobile interface. We had the largest average MAU in 2020 among online recruitment platforms in China, according to the CIC Report. Our user interface and service design are centered around our mobile offerings, and we provide social-media-app type of enjoyable and intuitive user experience. Our highly interactive mobile-native platform improves user experience and recruitment efficiency by enabling job seekers and enterprise users to engage in meaningful communication anytime, anywhere and receive quick responses. |
| Recommendation-based. Since our inception, we have provided targeted job and candidate matches and recommendations by leveraging our massive high quality data and proprietary technology infrastructure, unlike traditional search-based model. The job and candidate recommendation function of our platform uses a feed stream format, which leverages large, live datasets to deliver accurate and tailored matching results for both job seekers and enterprise users. |
| Direct chat. Either job seekers or enterprise users can initiate direct chat with their counterparties on our platform throughout the recruitment process. Direct chatting ensures that our users are active with real demands for job opportunities or candidates, and users can confirm each others intentions and their suitability before the interview. Therefore, direct chatting makes the job hunting experience highly informative and efficient. |
We highly respect job seekers and are committed to better empowering them by giving them more say in the recruitment process. It is the job seekers themselves, not our platform, who decide which enterprise users can gain access to the job seekers resumes. This provides a powerful protection of job seekers privacy. We are also devoted to protecting job seekers against false information and frauds. We place great emphasis on the importance of ensuring the information presented on our platform is verified and authentic. We use a screening and monitoring system to examine and verify the authenticity of the job openings posted by enterprise users and leverage our advanced technology to detect and respond to threats and frauds continuously.
We believe our technology capabilities are at the core of our platform. Our proprietary AI infrastructure optimizes the analytics of large datasets consisting of massive static and dynamic data contributed by our extensive active user base and highly interactive platform. Our platform generates more data as we digitalize more steps across the recruitment value chain, we are able to gather more data to feed into our AI infrastructure. Our access to data combined with advanced data analytics and AI technology ensures the accuracy and completeness of the recommendation algorithm. Rapid product iteration and constant upgrading of our matching system further enable us to provide more accurate job and candidate matching results.
We adopt an ecosystem-friendly revenue model that balances the supply and demand of jobs and candidates. Most of our enterprise users can use our basic services for free, including posting jobs, browsing mini resumes, chatting with job seekers, hosting video and audio interviews and
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sending offers. For certain positions where the demand exceeds the supply of job seekers to a certain degree, we charge enterprise users a fee for posting such jobs. Enterprise users can also purchase our value-added services to facilitate their recruitment process. We had served 11.4 million verified enterprise users and 5.5 million verified enterprises as of December 31, 2020. In 2020, we had 2.23 million paid enterprise customers.
We have achieved significant growth. Our average MAU grew by 73.2% from 11.5 million in 2019 to 19.8 million in 2020. Our revenues increased by 94.7% from RMB998.7 million in 2019 to RMB1,944.4 million (US$298.0 million) in 2020. Our calculated cash billings increased by 89.7% from RMB1,334.0 million in 2019 to RMB2,529.9 million (US$387.7 million) in 2020. We generated net losses of RMB502.1 million and RMB941.9 million (US$144.4 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our adjusted net losses were RMB467.8 million and RMB284.7 million (US$43.6 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our operating cash flow turned positive and reached RMB395.9 million (US$60.7 million) in 2020. For discussions of our calculated cash billings and adjusted net loss and reconciliation of calculated cash billings to revenues and reconciliation of adjusted net loss to net loss, see Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsNon-GAAP Financial Measures for details.
Our Industry Opportunities
Leveraging our first-mover advantage, innovative business model and market leadership, we believe we can capitalize on the following market trends:
| Large population of potential job seekers with increasing penetration rate of online recruitment, primarily driven by mobile adoption. The total population of non-farm employees in China is expected to reach 612 million in 2025. The penetration rate of online recruitment for job seekers increased from 11.3% in 2015 to 17.9% in 2020, and is expected to reach 34.9% in 2025, according to the CIC Report. The shift from PC to mobile is an ongoing industry trend, and we leapfrogged our peers to build a mobile-native online recruitment platform. Job seekers, especially those from younger generations, are switching their jobs more frequently. Due to the proliferation of mobile internet and smart devices, job seekers are increasingly using online recruitment platforms when looking for jobs and especially value those platforms that can match them with the most suitable jobs more efficiently and conveniently. |
| Significant market potential arising from enterprises growing recruitment needs and the increasing penetration of online recruitment service market. As a result of Chinas economic growth and the disparity between supply and demand in the labor markets, offline recruiting is typically less efficient and cannot meet enterprise users pressing hiring demands. Online recruiting platforms significantly improve the recruitment efficiency and reduce the recruitment cost through technology and innovation. According to the CIC Report, the cost per hire for online recruitment services was approximately one fifth of that for offline recruitment services in 2020. Therefore, more and more businesses begin to turn to online recruitment platforms. The penetration rate of online recruitment for employers in China has increased from 16.9% in 2015 to 24.8% in 2020, and it is expected to reach 36.1% in 2025, according to the CIC Report. In addition to the wider adoption across enterprises for online recruitment solutions, the direct recruitment model attracts more enterprise users across different departments within the same company, further expanding the user base for online recruitment platforms. |
| Massive blue-collar market opportunity. Blue-collar recruitment is a market with massive opportunities. Blue-collar workers are the largest group of employees which accounted for |
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67% of non-farm employees in China. In addition, blue-collar workers generally switch jobs more frequently. According to the CIC Report, in 2025 the average frequency of switching jobs is expected to reach 2.1 times per year for non-farm employees in China. Such high frequency is primarily attributed to blue-collar employees. Enterprises with blue-collar recruiting needs also generally come with a high volume of vacancies. Urbanization has brought structural changes that create even more growth opportunities for blue-collar online recruitment. According to the CIC Report, the online penetration rate for blue-collar job seekers was 13.0% in 2020 and is expected to grow to 29.9% in 2025 and, at the same time the revenue for blue-collar online market was RMB22.8 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach RMB128.4 billion in 2025. |
| Rich opportunities for digitalization across recruitment value chain. Digitalization has created new mode of interaction between people, unlocking untapped potential in the recruitment value chain. Right now, many steps within the recruitment process are still carried out offline, presenting significant opportunities for online recruitment platforms to digitalize the entire job hunting and recruitment process. |
Our Strengths
We believe that the following competitive strengths contributed to our success:
| largest online recruitment platform with full spectrum of user coverage, contributing to stronger network effect; |
| innovative model delivers higher recruitment efficiency and drives rapid expansion; |
| superior individual user experience brings about stronger user loyalty and brand recognition; |
| industry-leading technology capabilities powered by data insights that fuel accurate recommendations; |
| multipronged go-to-market strategy that best serves diverse user demands; and |
| visionary management team with deep industry expertise. |
Our Strategies
We seek to connect and empower job seekers and enterprise users through technology and innovation. We plan to attract more users, including both job seekers and enterprise users to our platform, further enhance our user experience, and improve our brand equity by focusing on the following key growth strategies:
| continuously improve our user experience and increase the breadth and depth of service offerings; |
| further increase our presence in different user groups, especially blue-collar users; |
| continue to invest in technological innovations and deepen our data insights; and |
| explore other potential sectors in the human resource service market and achieve full coverage of users career lifecycle. |
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Summary of Risk Factors
Investing in the ADSs involves significant risks. You should carefully consider all of the information in this prospectus before making an investment in the ADSs. Below please find a summary of the principal risks we face, organized under relevant headings. These risks are discussed more fully in the section titled Risk Factors.
Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry
Risks and uncertainties related to our business and industry include, but are not limited to, the following:
| If we fail to implement new technologies, develop and provide innovative features and services, respond to evolving user preferences, enhance user friendliness of our online recruitment platform, or optimize our technology systems, we may not be able to improve user experience, which may have a material and adverse effect on our user retention, business, financial condition and results of operations; |
| Our business depends on the continued success of our brands, and if we fail to maintain and enhance the recognition of our brands cost-effectively, or the recognition of our brands is adversely affected by any negative publicity concerning us or our directors, management, shareholders or business partners, our reputation and operating results may be harmed; |
| We face significant competition in Chinas dynamic online recruitment service market, and potential market entries by established players from other industries may make competition even more fierce. Our market share, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to compete effectively; |
| We have a limited operating history, and we may not be able to sustain and manage our growth, control our costs and expenses, implement our business strategies or achieve profitability in the future. Any new product or service we may launch and any new market sectors we may enter will come with additional risks; |
| If our technology capabilities in AI and big data analytics fail to yield satisfactory results or fail to improve, our online recruitment platform may not be able to effectively match our job seekers with suitable enterprise users or to optimally recommend services for our users, and our user growth, retention, results of operations and business prospects may suffer consequently; |
| A slowdown or adverse development in the Chinese or global economy still under COVID-19s impact may lower the hiring willingness and budget of our current and potential enterprise users, adversely affecting the demand for our products and services and our business in general; |
| Our users may engage in intentional or negligent misconduct or other improper activities on our online recruitment platform or otherwise misuse our online recruitment platform, which may damage our brand image and reputation, our business and our results of operations; |
| We are exposed to potential legal liabilities associated with the recruitment process, which may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations; |
| If we fail to attract more enterprise users to our online recruitment platform, or if enterprise customers decide to purchase less of our services for any reason, our revenues may stagnate or decline and our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected; and |
| Because we store and process data, some of which contains sensitive personal information, we face concerns over the collection, improper use or disclosure of personal information, which |
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could deter current and potential users from using our services, damage our reputation, result in legal liability, bring regulatory scrutiny, and in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. |
Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure
Risks and uncertainties relating to our corporate structure include, but are not limited to, the following:
| If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating some of our operations in China do not comply with PRC laws and regulations relating to the relevant industries, or if these laws and regulations or the interpretation of existing laws and regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations; |
| The contractual arrangements with our VIE and its shareholders may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control; and |
| Any failure by our VIE or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business. |
Risks Relating to Doing Business in China
We are also subject to risks and uncertainties relating to doing business in China in general, including, but are not limited to, the following:
| Changes in Chinas economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations; |
| Uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us; |
| Litigation and negative publicity surrounding China-based companies listed in the U.S. may result in increased regulatory scrutiny of us and negatively impact the trading price of the ADSs and could have a material adverse effect upon our business, including our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and prospects; and |
| Our ADSs may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect auditors who are located in China. The delisting of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Additionally, the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections deprives our investors with the benefits of such inspections. |
Risks Relating to Our ADSs and This Offering
In addition to the risks and uncertainties described above, we are subject to risks relating to our ADSs and this offering, including, but not limited to, the following:
| There has been no public market for our shares or ADSs prior to this offering, and you may not be able to resell our ADSs at or above the price you paid, or at all; |
| The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors; and |
| [Our proposed dual-class voting structure will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.] |
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Corporate History and Structure
We commenced operations by setting up Beijing Huapin Borui Network Technology Co., Ltd., or our VIE, in December 2013. Our holding company, KANZHUN LIMITED, was incorporated in January 2014 to facilitate offshore financing.
In February 2014, KANZHUN LIMITED established a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong, Techfish Limited. In May 2014, Techfish Limited established a wholly owned subsidiary in China, Beijing Glorywolf Co., Ltd., or our WFOE. In May 2014, we gained control over our VIE through our WFOE by entering into a series of contractual arrangements with our VIE and its sole shareholder then. The contractual arrangements with our VIE were subsequently replaced and superseded by updated agreements as a result of change in our VIEs shareholders in December 2014, June 2016, February 2017, and February 2020.
The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure, including our significant subsidiaries and our VIE, as of the date of this prospectus:
Note:
(1) | Shareholders of our VIE and their respective shareholdings in our VIE and relationships with our company are (i) Mr. Peng Zhao (99.5%), our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and (ii) Mr. Xu Yue (0.5%), our employee. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our Corporate StructureThe shareholders of our VIE may have actual or potential conflicts of interest with us. |
Implication of Being an Emerging Growth Company
As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in revenue for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an emerging growth company pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, as
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amended, or the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements compared to those that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the assessment of the emerging growth companys internal control over financial reporting. The JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company does not need to comply with any new or revised financial accounting standards until such date that a private company is otherwise required to comply with such new or revised accounting standards.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (a) the last day of the fiscal year during which we have total annual gross revenues of at least US$1.07 billion; (b) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering; (c) the date on which we have, during the preceding three-year period, issued more than US$1.0 billion in non-convertible debt; or (d) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of the ADSs that are held by non-affiliates exceeds US$700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter. Once we cease to be an emerging growth company, we will not be entitled to the exemptions provided in the JOBS Act discussed above. We have elected to take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards and acknowledge such election is irrevocable pursuant to Section 107 of the JOBS Act.
[Implication of Being a Controlled Company
Upon the completion of this offering, will beneficially own % of our total issued and outstanding ordinary shares, representing % of our total voting power, assuming that the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs, or % of our total issued and outstanding ordinary shares, representing % of our total voting power, assuming that the option to purchase additional ADSs is exercised by the underwriters in full. As a result, we will be a controlled company as defined under the [NYSE corporate governance listing standards/Nasdaq Stock Market Rules] because will hold more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors. As a controlled company, we are permitted to elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements. If we rely on these exemptions, you will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.]
Corporate Information
Our principal executive offices are located at 18/F, GrandyVic Building, Taiyanggong Middle Road, Chaoyang Distict, Beijing 100020, Peoples Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is + 86 10 8415 0633. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Osiris International Cayman Limited, Suite #4-210, Governors Square, 23 Lime Tree Bay Avenue, PO Box 32311, Grand Cayman KY1-1209, Cayman Islands.
Investors should submit any inquiries to the address and telephone number of our principal executive offices. Our main website is https://www.zhipin.com/. The information contained on our website is not a part of this prospectus. Our agent for service of process in the United States is , located at .
Conventions that Apply to this Prospectus
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to:
| ADRs are to the American depositary receipts that may evidence the ADSs; |
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| ADSs are to the American depositary shares, each of which represents Class A ordinary shares; |
| AI are to artificial intelligence; |
| blue-collar workers are to people who perform manual or service-related work in the secondary sectors such as manufacturing and construction industry and the tertiary sector such as accommodation and catering industry, and local life service industry; |
| Boss are to executives or middle-level managers of large enterprises and SME and micro business owners; |
| BVI are to the British Virgin Islands; |
| China or the PRC are to the Peoples Republic of China, excluding, for the purposes of this prospectus only, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan; |
| Class A ordinary shares are to our Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share; |
| Class B ordinary shares are to our Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share; |
| DAU are to the number of verified user accounts, including both job seekers and enterprise users, that logged on to our mobile applications in a given day at least once; |
| enterprise users are to Bosses and recruiting professionals; |
| gold-collar workers are to people who perform professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work with an annual salary above RMB250,000; |
| Kanzhun, we, us, our company and our are to KANZHUN LIMITED, our Cayman Islands holding company and its subsidiaries and our VIE; |
| key accounts are to paid enterprise customers who contributed RMB50,000 or more of revenue to us in a given year; |
| MAU are to the number of verified user accounts, including both job seekers and enterprise users, that logged on to our mobile applications in a given month at least once; |
| mid-sized customers are to paid enterprise customers who contributed between RMB5,000 and RMB50,000 of revenue to us in a given year; |
| our WFOE are to Beijing Glorywolf Co., Ltd.; |
| online recruitment platform are to our mobile applications, mini programs and websites; |
| paid enterprise customers are to enterprise users and company accounts that have paid for our online recruitment services; |
| RMB and Renminbi are to the legal currency of China; |
| shares or ordinary shares are to our Class A and Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share; |
| SME are to small and medium-sized enterprises; |
| US$, U.S. dollars, $, and dollars are to the legal currency of the United States; |
| white-collar workers are to people who perform professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work with an annual salary equal or below RMB250,000; and |
| VIE are to variable interest entity, and our VIE are to Beijing Huapin Borui Network Technology Co., Ltd. |
10
Unless the context indicates otherwise, all information in this prospectus assumes no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to additional ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares from us. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this prospectus are made at a rate of RMB6.5250 to US$1.0000, the exchange rate in effect as of December 31, 2020 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We make no representation that any Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate, or at all.
11
The Offering
Offering price |
We currently estimate that the initial public offering price will be between US$ and US$ per ADS. |
ADSs offered by us |
ADSs (or ADSs if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs in full). |
ADSs outstanding immediately after this offering |
ADSs (or ADSs if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs in full). |
Ordinary shares issued and outstanding immediately after this offering |
Class A ordinary shares (or Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs) and Class B ordinary shares. |
The ADSs |
Each ADS represents Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share. |
The depositary will hold Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. You will have rights as provided in the deposit agreement among us, the depositary and holders and beneficial owners of ADSs from time to time. |
We do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future. If, however, we declare dividends on our Class A ordinary shares, the depositary will pay you the cash dividends and other distributions it receives on our ordinary shares after deducting its fees and expenses in accordance with the terms set forth in the deposit agreement. |
You may surrender your ADSs to the depositary for cancellation in exchange for Class A ordinary shares. The depositary will charge you fees for any cancellation. |
We may amend or terminate the deposit agreement without your consent. If you continue to hold your ADSs after an amendment to the deposit agreement, you agree to be bound by the deposit agreement as amended. |
12
To better understand the terms of the ADSs, you should carefully read the Description of American Depositary Shares section of this prospectus. You should also read the deposit agreement, which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement that includes this prospectus. |
Option to purchase additional ADSs |
We have granted to the underwriters an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of this prospectus, to purchase up to an aggregate of additional ADSs. |
Use of proceeds |
We expect that we will receive net proceeds of approximately US$ million from this offering, assuming an initial public offering price of US$ per ADS, which is the midpoint of the estimated range of the initial public offering price, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. |
We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for (1) investment in technology infrastructure and research and development to upgrade our service offerings and to improve technology capabilities in areas such as AI and big data analytics, (2) marketing activities to drive user growth and to expand into a wider user base and more geographical markets, (3) exploration of new product and service offerings, such as providing other human resource services, and (4) general corporate purposes. See Use of Proceeds for more information. |
Lock-up |
We [and each of our officers, directors, existing shareholders, and holders of our outstanding share incentive awards] have agreed with the underwriters, subject to certain exceptions, not to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any ADSs, ordinary shares or similar securities for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus. See Shares Eligible for Future Sale and Underwriting for more information. |
Listing |
We intend to apply to have the ADSs listed on the [New York Stock Exchange/Nasdaq Global Market] under the symbol . The ADSs and our ordinary shares will not be listed on any other stock exchange or traded on any automated quotation system. |
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Payment and settlement |
The underwriters expect to deliver the ADSs against payment therefor through the facilities of the Depository Trust Company on , 2021. |
[Directed Share Program |
At our request, the underwriters have reserved for sale, at the initial public offering price, up to an aggregate of ADSs offered in this offering to some of our directors, officers, employees, business associates and related persons through a directed share program.] |
Depositary
The number of ordinary shares that will be outstanding immediately after this offering:
| is based on 679,154,619 issued and outstanding ordinary shares as of the date of this prospectus, assuming [(i) the automatic re-designation of ordinary shares held by into Class B ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering (ii) the automatic re-designation of all of our remaining ordinary shares into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering; and (iii) the automatic conversion and the re-designation of the issued and outstanding preferred shares on a one-for-one basis into Class A ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of this offering]; |
| includes Class A ordinary shares in the form of ADSs that we will issue and sell in this offering, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs; and |
| excludes Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of our outstanding options and additional Class A ordinary shares reserved for future issuances upon exercise of options to be granted under our 2020 Share Incentive Plan. |
14
SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA
The following summary consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, summary consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2019 and 2020 and summary consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statement included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP. Our historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future periods. You should read this Summary Consolidated Financial Data section together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included elsewhere in this prospectus.
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands, except for share amount and per share data) |
||||||||||||
Summary Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Loss: |
||||||||||||
Revenues: |
||||||||||||
Online recruitment services to enterprise customers |
986,859 | 1,927,178 | 295,353 | |||||||||
Others |
11,861 | 17,181 | 2,633 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total revenues |
998,720 | 1,944,359 | 297,986 | |||||||||
Operating cost and expenses: |
||||||||||||
Cost of revenues(1) |
(137,812 | ) | (240,211 | ) | (36,814 | ) | ||||||
Sales and marketing expenses(1) |
(916,832 | ) | (1,347,532 | ) | (206,518 | ) | ||||||
Research and development expenses(1) |
(325,569 | ) | (513,362 | ) | (78,676 | ) | ||||||
General and administrative expenses(1) |
(132,999 | ) | (797,008 | ) | (122,147 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total operating cost and expenses |
(1,513,212 | ) | (2,898,113 | ) | (444,155 | ) | ||||||
Other operating income, net |
2,573 | 8,849 | 1,356 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Loss from operations |
(511,919 | ) | (944,905 | ) | (144,813 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Financial income, net |
145 | 3,098 | 475 | |||||||||
Foreign exchange gain/(loss) |
1 | (5,074 | ) | (778 | ) | |||||||
Investment income |
9,718 | 9,095 | 1,394 | |||||||||
Other expenses |
| (4,109 | ) | (630 | ) | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Loss before income tax expense |
(502,055 | ) | (941,895 | ) | (144,352 | ) | ||||||
Income tax expense |
| | | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net loss |
(502,055 | ) | (941,895 | ) | (144,352 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Accretion on convertible redeemable preferred shares to redemption value |
(232,319 | ) | (283,981 | ) | (43,522 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders |
(734,374 | ) | (1,225,876 | ) | (187,874 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders |
||||||||||||
Basic and diluted |
(6.86 | ) | (11.03 | ) | (1.69 | ) | ||||||
Pro forma net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted(2) (unaudited) |
|
(1.46 |
) |
|||||||||
Pro forma weighted-average ordinary shares outstanding, basic and diluted(2) (unaudited) |
662,525,120 | |||||||||||
Non-GAAP financial measures: |
||||||||||||
Calculated cash billings(3) |
1,333,974 | 2,529,888 | 387,722 | |||||||||
Adjusted net loss(3) |
(467,805 | ) | (284,659 | ) | (43,626 | ) |
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Notes:
(1) | Share-based compensation expenses were allocated as follows: |
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Share-based compensation expenses: |
||||||||||||
Cost of revenues |
944 | 1,920 | 294 | |||||||||
Sales and marketing expenses |
8,443 | 21,473 | 3,291 | |||||||||
Research and development expenses |
13,595 | 30,883 | 4,733 | |||||||||
General and administrative expenses |
11,268 | 602,960 | 92,408 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
34,250 | 657,236 | 100,726 | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
(2) | Unaudited pro forma basic and diluted net loss per share was computed to give effect to (1) the automatic conversion of all issued and outstanding convertible preferred shares into 551,352,134 ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of this offering, using the if converted method as if the conversion and reclassification had occurred as of the beginning of the year; and (2) recording unrecognized compensation expense related to certain stock options with direct connection with the completion of this offering as if the performance condition for these stock option had been achieved. The following table presents the reconciliations (i) from net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders to pro forma net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders, and (ii) from weighted average ordinary shares outstanding to pro forma weighted average ordinary shares outstanding. |
(in RMB in thousands, except for share and per share data)
For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 |
||||
Numerator |
||||
Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders |
(1,225,876 | ) | ||
Pro forma adjustment of conversion of preferred shares |
283,981 | |||
Pro forma adjustment of share-based compensation expenses |
(22,127 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Numerator for pro forma basic and diluted loss per share |
(964,022 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Denominator |
||||
Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in computing net loss per share |
111,172,986 | |||
Pro forma effect of conversion of preferred shares |
551,352,134 | |||
|
|
|||
Denominator for pro forma basic and diluted loss per share |
662,525,120 | |||
|
|
|||
Pro forma net loss per share, basic and diluted |
(1.46 | ) |
(3) | For discussions of calculated cash billings and its reconciliation to revenues and discussions of adjusted net loss and its reconciliation to net loss , see Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsNon-GAAP Financial Measures. |
16
The following table presents our summary consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2019 and 2020:
As of December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Summary Consolidated Balance Sheet Data: |
||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
407,355 | 3,998,203 | 612,751 | |||||||||
Short-term investments |
1,142,015 | 536,401 | 82,207 | |||||||||
Total current assets |
1,707,793 | 4,747,312 | 727,557 | |||||||||
Total assets |
1,878,999 | 5,083,279 | 779,046 | |||||||||
Deferred revenue |
614,820 | 1,200,349 | 183,962 | |||||||||
Other payable and accrued liabilities |
293,202 | 418,259 | 64,100 | |||||||||
Total current liabilities |
1,007,855 | 1,720,023 | 263,605 | |||||||||
Total liabilities |
1,045,514 | 1,796,396 | 275,310 | |||||||||
Total mezzanine equity |
2,494,421 | 5,587,000 | 856,245 | |||||||||
Total shareholders deficit |
(1,660,936 | ) | (2,300,117 | ) | (352,509 | ) |
The following table presents our summary consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020:
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Summary Consolidated Cash Flow Data: |
||||||||||||
Net cash (used in)/generated from operating activities |
(105,663 | ) | 395,911 | 60,676 | ||||||||
Net cash (used in)/generated from investing activities |
(1,223,803 | ) | 467,305 | 71,617 | ||||||||
Net cash generated from financing activities |
993,475 | 2,882,112 | 441,703 | |||||||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents |
43,113 | (154,480 | ) | (23,675 | ) | |||||||
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents |
(292,878 | ) | 3,590,848 | 550,321 | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year |
700,233 | 407,355 | 62,430 | |||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year |
407,355 | 3,998,203 | 612,751 |
17
An investment in our ADSs involves significant risks. You should carefully consider all of the information in this prospectus, including the risks and uncertainties described below, before making an investment in our ADSs. Any of the following risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In any such case, the market price of our ADSs could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry
If we fail to implement new technologies, develop and provide innovative features and services, respond to evolving user preferences, enhance user friendliness of our online recruitment platform, or optimize our technology systems, we may not be able to improve user experience, which may have a material and adverse effect on our user retention, business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our success depends upon our ability to attract and retain job seekers and enterprise users. Our ability to retain and attract job seekers largely depends on the number of job postings and employers on our online recruitment platform. Our ability to retain and attract enterprise users primarily depends on the number of the job seekers using our online recruitment platform. To encourage more enterprise users and job seekers to come and stay on our online recruitment platform, improving user experience for both of them is a must.
An important way to improve user experience and attract more users is to introduce innovative services and features that are useful for users and that encourage more frequent use of our online recruitment platform. To develop, support and maintain such innovative services and features often requires implementation of new technologies, and we intend to continue to devote resources to the development of additional technologies and services. However, implementation of new technologies in our system may take a long time and may involve technical challenges and large amounts of capital and personnel resources. We may not be able to effectively integrate new technologies on a timely basis, or at all, which may decrease user satisfaction with our services. Such technologies, even if integrated, may not function as expected or may be unable to attract and retain a substantial number of users to use our online recruitment platform. Our failure to keep pace with rapid technological changes may cause our user retention to suffer.
In addition, we must also continue to respond promptly to evolving user preferences, enhance the user friendliness of our online recruitment platform, optimize our mobile applications, and otherwise continue to improve our technology systems, all of which may require us to incur substantial costs and expenses. For example, as part of our efforts to meet evolving user preferences, we have established a dedicated team to develop products and services uniquely designed to meet the needs of blue-collar job seekers. If such costs and expenses fail to effectively translate into improved user experience or user growth, we may not be successful in retaining and attracting our users.
We cannot assure you that our efforts to improve user experience and increase user base will always be successful. We also cannot predict whether our new products, service and features will be well received by users consistently, or whether we will be successful in cost-effectively implementing new technologies, enhancing user friendliness of our online recruitment platform, and otherwise improving our technology systems. If we cannot improve user experience, we may not be able to retain or attract users, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.
18
Our business depends on the continued success of our brands, and if we fail to maintain and enhance the recognition of our brands cost-effectively, or the recognition of our brands is adversely affected by any negative publicity concerning us or our directors, management, shareholders or business partners, our reputation and operating results may be harmed.
We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brands is important to the success of our business. Well-recognized brands are critical to increasing the number and the level of engagement of our users. Since we operate in a competitive industry, brand maintenance and enhancement also directly affect our ability to maintain our market position. We have continued to exercise strict quality control on our online recruitment platform to ensure that our brand image is not tarnished by substandard services. We have also conducted and will continue to conduct various marketing and brand promotion activities both online and offline to enhance our brands, to guide public perception of our brands, products and services, and ultimately to distinguish our online recruitment platform from those of our competitors. We have historically spent significantly on these marketing and promotional activities, with our sales and marketing expenses accounting for 69.3% of our revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020, and we may need to increase such sales and marketing expenses in the future to continue to maintain and enhance brand awareness and brand loyalty, to retain and attract users as well as to promote our online recruitment platform. However, there can be no assurance that these sales and marketing activities will be successful or that we will be able to achieve the brand promotion effect we expect from them. If we cannot properly manage our sales and marketing expenses or if our sales and marketing activities underperform our expectations, our financial condition, results of operations and business prospects will be damaged as a result.
Moreover, any negative publicity relating to our company, services or our directors, management, shareholders or business partners, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brands and the perception of our brands in the market. As our business expands and grows, we may be exposed to heightened public scrutiny in markets where we already operate as well as in new markets where we may operate. We could become a target for regulatory or public scrutiny in the future and scrutiny and public exposure could severely damage our reputation as well as our business and prospects.
Furthermore, our brand names and our business may be harmed by aggressive marketing and communication strategies by competitors and third parties. We may be subject to government or regulatory investigation or third-party claims as a result and we may be required to spend significant time and incur substantial costs to react to and address these consequences. There is no assurance that we will be able to effectively refute each of the allegations within a reasonable period of time, or at all. Additionally, public allegations, directly or indirectly, against us or our directors, management, shareholders or business partners, may be posted online by anyone on an anonymous basis. The availability of information on social media platforms is virtually immediate, as is its impact. Social media platforms may not necessarily filter or check the accuracy of information before publishing them, and we may be afforded little or no time to respond. As a result, our reputation may be materially and adversely affected, our ability to attract and retain users and maintain our market share may suffer, and our financial conditions may deteriorate.
We face significant competition in Chinas dynamic online recruitment service market, and potential market entries by established players from other industries may make competition even more fierce. Our market share, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to compete effectively.
The online recruitment service market in China is competitive and rapidly evolving. We face constant pressure to attract and retain users, expand the market for our products and services and incorporate new capabilities and technologies. Our online recruitment platform competes with other major dedicated job search platforms and niche market players that focus on certain industry verticals,
19
such as technology, or user segments, such as job seekers for high-end positions. Other large internet companies and classified advertisement platforms have also entered the market for online recruitment services. In addition, we face competition from professional networking platforms and existing participants in the offline recruitment industry who may develop online recruitment services and products.
Many of our competitors or potential competitors have long operating histories, have international strategic partners, have local government sponsorship, have a larger user base, and may have greater financial, management, technological development, sales, marketing and other resources than we do. They may also be able to adopt our business model and intensify competition. As a result, we may experience reduced margins, loss of market share or less use of our services and products by job seekers and enterprise users. Existing or future competitors could develop or offer services and products which provide significant performance, price, creative, technological or other advantages over counterparts from us. If we are unable to compete effectively with current or future competitors as a result of these or other factors, our market share, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.
We have a limited operating history, and we may not be able to sustain and manage our growth, control our costs and expenses, implement our business strategies or achieve profitability in the future. Any new product or service we may launch and any new market sectors we may enter will come with additional risks.
We have experienced rapid growth in our business and operations since our inception in 2014, which places significant demands on our management, operational and financial resources. We have also been loss-making since our inception, and we generated net losses of RMB502.1 million and RMB941.9 million (US$144.4 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Given our limited operating history, our continued net losses and the rapidly evolving market where we compete, we may encounter difficulties as we establish, expand or enhance our operations, feature and service development, sales and marketing efforts, technology and general and administrative capabilities. As a result, we may not generate net profits or sustain our historical levels of growth in the future. We believe that our continued growth and our ability to achieve profitability will depend on many factors, including our ability to further improve our user experience and broaden the spectrum of our service offerings, to further increase our presence in different user groups, especially blue-collar users, to continue to invest in technologies and deepen our data insights, and to explore other potential sectors in the human resource service market and achieve full coverage of users career lifecycle. There can be no assurance that we will achieve any of the above, and our failure to do so may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Particularly, our efforts to expand our product and service offerings to users and explore other sectors in the human resource service market will require significant resource investments from us, and such efforts may not be successful. Expansion into new product and service offerings or other sectors in the human resource service market may be subject to risks such as:
| limited brand recognition (compared with our established products and services or market sectors); |
| costs incurred in product and service development and marketing; |
| lack of experience and expertise in connection with the new product and service or market vertical; |
| adjustment to the preferences and customs of a different group of users; |
| compliance with potential new regulations and policies; |
20
| difficulties in managing upsized operations and maintaining operational efficiency; and |
| competition with new competitors, including those with more established local presence. |
The occurrence of any of these risks could negatively affect our business in new markets and consequently our business and operating results.
We expect our costs and expenses to continue to increase in the future as we expand our user base, broaden our service offerings and develop and implement new products, services and features that may entail more complexity. We expect to continue to invest in our infrastructure in order to provide our products and services more rapidly and reliably to users. Continued growth could strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our users, develop and improve our operational, financial, legal and management controls, and enhance our reporting systems and procedures. If we are unable to generate adequate revenues and to manage our costs and expenses, we may continue to incur significant net losses in the future and may not be able to achieve or subsequently maintain profitability. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our operation as it grows, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed.
If our technology capabilities in AI and big data analytics fail to yield satisfactory results or fail to improve, our online recruitment platform may not be able to effectively match our job seekers with suitable enterprise users or to optimally recommend services for our users, and our user growth, retention, results of operations and business prospects may suffer consequently.
The core functionalities of our online recruitment platform, namely personalized matching between job seekers and employers, onboard identity verifications, ongoing risk assessment of employers, and service recommendation for users, are all dependent on our technology capabilities in AI and big data analytics. Our technology capabilities in AI and big data analytics, therefore, are crucial to us continuing to retain and attract users to our online recruitment platform. Our users will continue to compare the core functionalities of our online recruitment platform against those of the platforms run by our competitors, and may switch to a competitor platform if our online recruitment platform underperforms their expectations. In addition, managing some of the other important aspects of our operations, such as sales and marketing activities, also requires us to make decisions informed by our AI technology and data analytics. Any failure to improve our technology capabilities in AI and big data analytics and any failure of our technology capabilities in those regards to produce satisfactory results may materially and adversely affect our user retention, financial condition and results of operations.
A slowdown or adverse development in the Chinese or global economy still under COVID-19s impact may lower the hiring willingness and budget of our current and potential enterprise users, adversely affecting the demand for our products and services and our business in general.
COVID-19 has had a severe and negative impact on the Chinese and the global economy, and whether this will lead to a prolonged downturn in the economy is still unknown. The growth of the Chinese economy has slowed in recent years. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the global macroeconomic environment was facing challenges, such as the economic slowdown in the Eurozone since 2014, uncertainties over the impact of Brexit and the ongoing global trade disputes and tariffs. The growth of Chinas economy has slowed down since 2012 compared to the previous decade and the trend may continue. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the worlds leading economies, including the United States and China. In addition, there have been concerns about the relationship between China and the United States resulting from the current trade tension between the
21
two countries. There have been further uncertainties related to the U.S. Federal Reserves progressive policies to strengthen the market in 2020. It is unclear whether these challenges and uncertainties will be contained or resolved and what effects they may have on the global political and economic conditions in the long term. Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, as well as changes in domestic economic and political policies and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global or Chinese economy may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Substantially all of our operations are conducted in China, and the vast majority of our revenues are generated from providing services to enterprise customers operating in China. In an environment of slower economic growth or recession, employers may take actions such as hiring fewer employees, engaging in hiring freezes, reducing hiring budgets or the number of hiring headcounts, and curtailing spending on online recruitment services and other human resource related services. As a result, if there are slowdowns or other adverse developments in Chinas economic growth, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow may be materially and adversely affected.
Our users may engage in intentional or negligent misconduct or other improper activities on our online recruitment platform or otherwise misuse our online recruitment platform, which may damage our brand image and reputation, our business and our results of operations.
Our online recruitment platform has instant messaging functions that allow users to communicate with each other and engage in job application activities. We adopt a comprehensive suite of registration procedures to verify the identity of our job seekers and enterprise customers. Job seekers are required to complete our mobile phone verification process by providing personal and professional information such as name, education background, employment status, recent employment, work experience, position desired, and salary expectation. We also implement a robust multi-factor onboard screening system to examine and verify the authenticity of the identification information of enterprise users, which leverages a combination of factors. Since we have limited control over the real-time and offline behavior of our users, it is still possible for our online recruitment platform to be misused by our users for inappropriate or illegal purposes.
We have implemented control procedures on our online recruitment platform to detect and block illegal or inappropriate content and illegal or fraudulent activities conducted through the misuse of our online recruitment platform. We may be required by relevant governmental authorities to report certain misbehaviors for further investigation if such misbehaviors are subject to regulatory investigation or other governmental proceedings. Despite our detection and filtering efforts, we may not be able to identify every incident of inappropriate content or illegal or fraudulent activities, prevent all such content from being further disseminated or prohibit such activities from occurring. We may not be able to filter all the content generated by our users as it appears, especially in the context of instant messaging between job seekers and enterprise users. Therefore, our users may engage in illegal, obscene or incendiary conversations or engage in unethical or illegal activities via our online recruitment platform.
If user misconduct and misuse of our online recruitment platform for inappropriate or illegal purposes occur on our online recruitment platform, claims may be brought against us for torts, defamation, libel, negligence, copyright, patent or trademark infringement. In response to allegations of illegal or inappropriate activities conducted through our online recruitment platform, relevant governmental authorities may intervene and hold us liable for non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations and subject us to administrative penalties or other sanctions, such as requiring us to restrict or discontinue some or all of our features and services. In addition, our users may suffer or allege to have suffered physical, financial or emotional harm caused by contacts initiated on our online recruitment platform. Our business and public perception of our brands may be materially and adversely affected if we do face civil lawsuits or other liabilities initiated by such affected users.
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Defending any actions brought by such affected users could be costly and require significant time and attention of our management and other resources, which would materially and adversely affect our business.
We are exposed to potential legal liabilities associated with the recruitment process, which may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We are exposed to potential claims associated with the recruitment process, including claims by enterprise users seeking to hold us liable for recommending a job seeker who subsequently proves to be unsuitable for the position filled, claims by current or previous employers alleging breach of employment contracts, claims by job seekers against us alleging our failure to maintain the confidentiality of their personal information and employment searches or alleging discrimination or other violations of employment law or other laws or regulations by our enterprise users, and claims by either employers or their employees alleging the failure of our products and services to comply with laws or regulations relating to employment, data privacy or other related matters. We do not maintain insurance coverage for liabilities arising from claims by employers, employees, candidates or third parties. Any such claims, regardless of merit, may force us to participate in time-consuming, costly litigation or investigation, divert significant management and staff attention, and damage our reputation and brand names.
If we fail to attract more enterprise users to our online recruitment platform, or if enterprise customers decide to purchase less of our online recruitment services for any reason, our revenues may stagnate or decline and our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.
In 2020, approximately 99% of our revenues were generated from enterprise customers. Enterprise customers are by far the most important source of revenue for us, and attracting more enterprise users to our online recruitment platform is therefore of critical importance to us. Due to their contribution to our revenues and ability to spend, large businesses with sufficient funds would benefit us most as a revenue source, and we need to invest in developing and promoting products and services that meet their needs. Additionally, SMEs can also be a source of enterprise user growth for us, as they have historically been underserved and usually lack direct access to a scaled user base and effective means to promulgate their businesses. In order to expand our market reach to more small and mid-sized businesses, especially in less developed cities, we provide free or lower-fee services or annual subscription packages to them so they can take advantage of our online recruitment platform. We, however, cannot assure you that our efforts will convince more enterprise users to use our online recruitment platform. There is also no guarantee that our existing enterprise customers will continue to pay for our online recruitment services at the same frequency or price going forward, as competition or alternative means of job hunting may put pressure on the demand and pricing for our online recruitment services. If we are not successful in expanding our enterprise user base or improving our monetization of enterprise customers, our revenues may stagnate or decline and our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.
Because we store and process data, some of which contains sensitive personal information, we face concerns over the collection, improper use or disclosure of personal information, which could deter current and potential users from using our services, damage our reputation, result in legal liability, bring regulatory scrutiny, and in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to the laws, regulations, guidelines and industry recommendations relating to the protection of personal information in China, which covers areas such as the collection, storage, processing or use of such personal information. For example, under the Cyber Security Law of the
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Peoples Republic of China that became effective on June 1, 2017, network service providers have various personal information security protection obligations, including restrictions on the collection and use of personal information of users, and they are required to take steps to prevent personal data from being divulged, stolen, or tampered with. See also RegulationRegulations Relating to Privacy Protection. Any concerns or claims about our practices with regard to the collection, storage, processing or use of personal information or other privacy-related matters, even if ungrounded, could damage our reputation and results of operations.
In particular, if we fail to secure our users identity and protect their identity-specific data, including but not limited to name, education background, employment status, recent employment history of job seekers and business license information of enterprise users, our users may be vulnerable to insults, harassment, blackmails or physical injuries, and their family, property and other assets may also be put at risk. As a result, we may be held liable for these incidents, and our users may feel insecure and cease to use our online recruitment platform. Our reputation may also be seriously harmed and we may be unable to retain and attract users, which would in turn have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Any system failure or compromise of our security that results in the unauthorized access to or release of personal or private information, such as data, photo or messaging history of our users could significantly limit the adoption of our services, as well as harm our reputation and brands, result in litigation against us, liquidated and other damages, regulatory investigations and penalties, and we could be subject to material liability. We expect to continue expending significant resources to protect against security breaches. The risk that these types of events could seriously harm our business is likely to increase as we expand the scope of services we offer and as we increase the size of our user base.
In addition, regulatory requirements regarding the protection of personal information are constantly evolving and can be subject to different interpretations or significant change from time to time, making the extent of our responsibilities in that regard uncertain. An example of such evolving regulatory requirements is the Draft Law of Personal Information Protection, which was published for public comments on October 21, 2020. When it is passed in the future, this law will function jointly with the Cyber Security Law to regulate Chinas online spheres in relation to personal information protection. Our practice may become inconsistent with these laws and regulations. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, this could result in an order requiring that we change our practices, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Complying with new data privacy and information security laws and regulations could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a manner materially adverse to our business. See also Risks Relating to Doing Business in ChinaUncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us.
Moreover, we could be required to disclose certain personal information to PRC governmental authorities for the purpose of, among others, safeguarding the national security, investigating crimes, investigating infringement of information network communication rights, and cooperating with the supervision and inspection of telecommunication regulatory authorities. Disclosing personal information under such circumstances may cause our users to lose trust in our ability to safeguard their privacy. Failure to comply with these requirements could subject us to administrative penalties or other regulatory or enforcement actions.
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Content posted or displayed on or linked to our online recruitment platform may be found objectionable by PRC regulatory authorities and may subject us to penalties and other negative consequences.
The PRC government has adopted laws and regulations governing internet and wireless access and the distribution of information over the internet and wireless telecommunications networks. Under these laws and regulations, internet content providers and internet publishers are prohibited from posting or displaying over the internet or wireless networks content that, among other things, violates the principle of the PRC constitution, laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of China or the public interest, or is obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory. Furthermore, internet content providers are also prohibited from displaying content that may be deemed by relevant government authorities as instigating ethnical hatred and harming ethnical unity, harming the national religious policy, socially destabilizing or leaking state secrets of the PRC. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the revocation of licenses to provide internet content or other approvals, licenses or permits, the closure of the concerned platforms and reputational harm. The operator may also be held liable for any censored information displayed on or linked to their platform. The liabilities and penalties resulting from such non-compliance may materially and adversely damage our business and results of operations.
On December 15, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, released the Provisions on Ecological Governance of Network Information Content, or PEGNIC, which came into force on March 1, 2020. The PEGNIC is one of the latest regulations governing the distribution of information over the internet and wireless telecommunications networks in which it classifies the network information into three categories, namely the encouraged information, the illegal information and the undesirable information. While illegal information is strictly prohibited from distribution, the internet content providers are required to take relevant measures to prevent and resist the production and distribution of undesirable information. PEGNIC further clarifies the duties owed by the internet content providers in preventing the display of content that against the PEGNIC, such as obligations to improve the systems for user registration, account management, information release review, follow-up comments review, website ecological management, real-time inspection, emergency response and disposal mechanism for cyber rumor and black industry chain information.
We have designed and implemented procedures to monitor content on our online recruitment platform. However, it may not be possible to determine in all cases the types of content that could result in our liability as a distributor of such content, and we may not be able to capture all violating content in time, especially in instant messaging. If any of the content posted or displayed on our online recruitment platform is deemed by the PRC government to violate any content restrictions, we may not be able to continue to display such content and could become subject to penalties, including confiscation of income, fines, suspension of business and revocation of required licenses, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
PRC regulatory authorities may also conduct various reviews and inspections on our business operations, especially those related to content distribution, from time to time. If any non-compliance incidents in our business operations are identified, we may be required to take certain rectification measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, or we may be subject to other regulatory actions such as administrative penalties. It may be difficult to determine the type of content or actions that may result in liability to us and, if we are found to be liable, we may be prevented from operating our business in the PRC. Moreover, complying with relevant regulatory requirements may result in limitation to our scope of services, reduction in user engagement or loss of users, diversion of our management teams attention and increased operational costs and expenses. The costs of compliance with these regulations may continue to increase as a result of more content being made available by an increasing number of users of our online recruitment platform, which may adversely affect our results of operations.
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Any lack of or failure to maintain requisite approvals, licenses or permits applicable to our business may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and compliance with applicable laws or regulations may require us to obtain additional approvals or licenses or change our business model.
Our business is subject to supervision and regulation by various governmental authorities in China. These governmental authorities include the CAC, The Ministry of Commerce, or MOFCOM, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT, the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the SAMR, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, or the MCT, the National Radio and Television Administration, and their corresponding local regulatory authorities. These governmental authorities promulgate and enforce laws and regulations that cover a variety of business activities that relating to our operations, such as provision of internet information, among other things. These regulations in general regulate the entry into, the permitted scope of, as well as approvals, licenses and permits for, the relevant business activities.
We have obtained the value-added telecommunication service license concerning the internet information service, or ICP license, for provision of internet information services. The ICP license is essential to the operation of our existing and future business and is subject to regular government review or renewal. However, we cannot assure you that we can successfully renew our ICP license in a timely manner or at all as required by PRC laws to operate our online recruitment platform. Due to the evolving nature of the interpretation and application of the laws and regulations applicable to our industry in China, we cannot assure you that the permitted scope and other aspects of our ICP license are sufficient as legally required to conduct all of our present business. The scope of our current ICP license does not cover instant information interaction services. The regulatory authorities may determine that the scope of our ICP license is not broad enough to carry on all of our businesses and require that we expand the scope of our ICP license. We may not be able to meet such requirement, because holding a license for providing internet news information, or Internet News Information Service License, is a prerequisite to expanding the scope of our ICP license to include instant information interaction services. However, to our knowledge, Internet News Information Service Licenses are only granted to news providers and state-owned entities in practice. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not been subject to any penalties imposed by, or any investigations initiated by, the relevant governmental authorities due to any insufficiency in the scope of our current ICP license, but we may be subject to such penalties or investigations in the future, in which case we may be involved in legal proceedings, have any illegal gains confiscated, have our relevant business suspended, or face other penalties.
As of the date of this prospectus, we have not obtained certain approvals, licenses and permits that may be required for some aspects of our operations. According to the PRC Administrative Provisions on Internet Audio-Visual Program Services, a provider of online audio-visual service must obtain a license for online transmission of audio-visual programs, or Audio-Visual License issued by the National Radio and Television Administration. We are required to but have not obtained the Audio-Visual License for providing internet audio-visual program services through our online recruitment platform, including providing certain short educational videos for users, providing in-app streaming interviewing and allowing users to upload and share short career-related videos. We do not consider such services to be material to our business and the revenues generated through the provision of such services account for an insignificant portion of our total revenue. We are not eligible to apply for an Audio-Visual License under the current regulatory regime, because we are not a wholly state-owned or state-controlled entity as required for this license under PRC law. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not been subject to any material penalties imposed by, or any investigations initiated by, the relevant governmental authorities because we provide internet audio-visual program services through our online recruitment platform without an Audio-Visual License, but we may be subject to such penalties or investigations in the future, in which case we may be involved in legal proceedings, have
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any illegal gains confiscated, have our relevant business suspended, or face other penalties, which we believe would not materially and adversely affect our business, financial conditions and results of operation.
We may be required to apply for and obtain additional licenses, permits or approvals, make additional registrations, update our registrations or expand the scope of our permits and approvals, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to meet these requirements timely, or at all, in the future. As we expand our business scope and explore different business initiatives, the business measures we have adopted or may adopt in the future may be challenged under PRC laws and regulations. For instance, while we believe we are not subject to any online game virtual currency laws and regulations for certain virtual tokens we offer in our mobile applications, the PRC government authorities may take a view contrary to ours. As a result, we may be required to obtain additional approvals or licenses. If we fail to timely obtain, maintain or renew all the required licenses or permits or make all the necessary filings, we may be subject to various penalties or other regulatory actions, such as confiscation of revenues from the unlicensed activities, the imposition of fines and the discontinuation or restriction of our operations. Any such penalties may disrupt our operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is subject to the complex and evolving laws and regulations in China. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations that involve matters important to or may otherwise impact our business, including, among others, provision of value-added telecommunications services, talent intermediary services, information security and censorship, foreign exchange and taxation. See also Regulation. The introduction of new products and services may subject us to additional laws, regulations, or other government scrutiny.
These laws and regulations are continually evolving and may change significantly. As a result, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the rapidly evolving industry in which we operate. In addition, these laws and regulations may be interpreted and applied inconsistently by different agencies or authorities, and inconsistently with our current policies and practices. These laws and regulations may also be costly to comply with, and such compliance or any associated inquiries or investigations or any other government actions may
| delay or impede our development of new services, |
| result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, |
| require significant management time and attention, and |
| subject us to remedies, administrative penalties and even criminal liabilities that may harm our business, including fines assessed for our current or historical operations, or demands or orders that we modify or cease existing business practices. |
The promulgation of new laws or regulations, or the new interpretation of existing laws and regulations, in each case that restrict or otherwise unfavorably impact the ability or manner in which we provide our services could require us to change certain aspects of our business to ensure compliance, which could decrease demand for our products and services, reduce revenues, increase costs, require us to obtain more licenses, permits, approvals or certificates, or subject us to additional liabilities. To the extent any new or more stringent measures are required to be implemented, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
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If our job seekers or employers profiles are out-of-date, inaccurate, fraudulent or lack credible information, we may not be able to effectively create value for our users, which could materially and adversely impact our reputation and business prospects.
We adopt a comprehensive suite of registration procedures to verify the identity of our job seekers and enterprise users, and we also have ongoing risk assessment procedures for enterprise users. Our intelligence system detects suspicious user input that may undermine the integrity of the community and will then require such users to go through additional authentication procedures. With these rigorous verification procedures in place, we still cannot assure you that we will be able to remove all the job seekers and enterprise users that submit out-of-date, inaccurate, fraudulent or otherwise incredible profile information to our database. If we are not able to effectively filter out these job seekers and enterprise users, our users that submit legit and accurate profile information may be misled or even defrauded by them, wasting their time and resources in the process, and our reputation and business prospects will also be materially and adversely impacted as a result.
If user traffic to our online recruitment platform stagnates or declines for any reason, our operating and financial prospects may be harmed.
Our ability to attract and maintain user traffic to our online recruitment platform is important for our continuing growth. If user traffic to our online recruitment platform declines for any reason, our business and results of operations may be harmed. We depend in part on various app stores, online articles, internet search engines and portals to direct a significant amount of user traffic to our mobile applications and websites. However, the amount of user traffic directed to our mobile applications and websites is not entirely within our control. Our competitors better relationship with certain app stores or social media platforms, greater online presence or news coverage, and more search engine optimization efforts may result in their mobile applications and websites receiving more directed user traffic or a higher search result page ranking than ours. App stores could recommend mobile applications from our competitors more prominently than they do ours, social media platforms may direct more attention to products and services from our competitors, and internet search engines could revise their methodologies, which may adversely affect the placement of our search result page ranking. Any such changes could decrease user traffic to our mobile applications and websites and adversely affect the growth of our user base, which may in turn harm our business and operating results.
We may need additional capital, and we may be unable to obtain such capital in a timely manner or on acceptable terms, or at all.
To pursue our business objectives and respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances, including to improve our brand awareness, develop new services or further improve existing services, expand into new markets and acquire complementary businesses and technologies, we may require additional capital from time to time. However, additional funds may not be available when we need them on reasonable terms, or at all. Our ability to obtain additional capital is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including:
| our market position and competitiveness in the industry where we operate; |
| our future profitability, overall financial condition, results of operations and cash flows; |
| general market conditions for capital raising activities by online recruitment services companies in China; and |
| economic, political and other conditions in China. |
If we are unable to obtain additional capital in a timely manner or on acceptable terms, or at all, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives and respond to business opportunities,
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challenges or unforeseen circumstances could be significantly limited, and our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our future capital needs and other business reasons could require us to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain a credit facility. The sale of additional equity or equity-linked securities could dilute our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations or our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders.
We face risks associated with the misconduct of our employees, business partners and their employees and other related personnel, and we may be subject to allegations, harassing or other detrimental conduct by third parties and other forms of negative publicity, which could harm our reputation and cause us to lose market share and users.
We rely on our employees to maintain and operate our business and have implemented internal policies to guide the actions of our employees. However, we do not have full control over every action of our employees, and any misbehavior of our employees could materially and adversely affect our reputation and business. For example, if our employees download pirated software to their work computers or perform other unauthorized actions on our technology systems, we may be exposed to security breaches. Despite the security measures we have implemented, our systems and procedures and those of our business partners may be vulnerable to security breaches, acts of vandalism, software viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming or human errors or other similar events caused by our employees, our business partners and their employees and other related personnel, which may disrupt our delivery of services or expose the identities and confidential information of our users and personnel. If an actual or perceived breach of our security occurs, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed, we may lose current and potential users, and we may be exposed to legal and financial risks, including those from legal claims, regulatory fines and penalties, which in turn could adversely affect our business, reputation and results of operations.
With respect to employees, we could also in the future face a wide variety of claims, including discrimination (for example, based on gender, age, race or religious affiliation), sexual harassment, privacy, labor and employment claims. Often these cases raise complex factual and legal issues, and the result of any such claims are inherently unpredictable. Claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could require significant amounts of management time and corporate resources to defend, could result in significant media coverage and negative publicity, and could be harmful to our reputation and our brands. If any of these claims were to be determined adversely to us, or if we were to enter settlement arrangements, we could be exposed to monetary damages or be forced to change the way in which we operate our business, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We also work with our business partners in our business operation, and their performance affects the image of our brands. However, we do not directly supervise them in providing services to us or our users. Although we generally select business partners with strong reputation and track record, we may not be able to successfully monitor, maintain and improve the quality of their services. In the event of any unsatisfactory performance by our business partners and/or their employees, our business operation may be negatively impacted and our users may experience disruptions in services or decline in service quality, which may materially and adversely affect our reputation, our ability to retain and expand our user base, and our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Our online recruitment platform depends on effective interoperation with mobile and computer operating systems, hardware, networks, regulations, and standards that we do not control. Changes in our online recruitment platform or to those operating systems, hardware, networks, regulations, or standards may seriously harm our user retention, growth, and engagement. Our business depends on our ability to maintain and scale our technology infrastructure. Any service disruption in our services could damage our reputation, result in a potential loss of users and decrease in user engagement, and seriously harm our business.
Our online recruitment platform, especially its mobile applications, must remain interoperable with popular operating systems, such as iOS and Android, and related hardware. We have no control over these operating systems or hardware, and any changes to these systems or hardware that degrade the functionality of our services, or give preferential treatment to competitive online platforms, could seriously harm usage of our online recruitment platform. We plan to continue to introduce new services in the future. It may take time to optimize such services to function with these operating systems and hardware, thereby impacting the popularity of such services.
To deliver high quality products and services through our online recruitment platform, it is crucial that our online recruitment platform works well with a range of mobile technologies, systems, networks, regulations and standards that we do not control. In particular, any future changes to iOS or Android operating systems may impact the accessibility, speed, functionality and other performance aspects of our online recruitment platform.
Our business and the continuing performance, reliability and availability of our technology systems and online recruitment platform also depend on the performance and reliability of Chinas internet, mobile, and other infrastructures that are not under our control. Disruptions in internet infrastructure or the failure of telecommunications network operators to provide us with the bandwidth needed to provide our products and services may interfere with the speed and availability of our products and services on our online recruitment platform. If our online recruitment platform is unavailable when users attempt to access them, or if our online recruitment platform does not respond as quickly as users expect, users may not return to use our online recruitment platform as often in the future, or at all, and may use our competitors products or services instead. In addition, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by Chinas telecommunications operators. If mobile internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, user traffic may decrease, which may in turn cause our revenue to significantly decrease.
We may, from time to time, be subject to legal proceedings during the course of our business operations. Our directors, management, shareholders and employees may also from time to time be subject to legal proceedings, which could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.
From time to time, we are subject to allegations, and may be party to legal claims and regulatory proceedings, relating to our business operations and business partners. Such allegations, claims and proceedings may be brought by third parties, including users, employees, business partners, governmental or regulatory bodies, competitors or other third parties, and may include class actions. The outcome of litigation, particularly class action lawsuits, is difficult to assess or quantify. Plaintiffs in these types of lawsuits may seek recovery of very large or indeterminate amounts, and the magnitude of the potential loss relating to such lawsuits may remain unknown for substantial periods of time. We may incur significant expenses related to such proceedings, which may negatively affect our operating results if changes to our business operations are required. There may also be negative publicity associated with litigation that could decrease user acceptance of our online recruitment services, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. In addition, our directors, management, shareholders and employees may from time to time be subject to litigation,
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regulatory investigations, proceedings and/or negative publicity or otherwise face potential liability and expense in relation to commercial, labor, employment, securities or other matters, which could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations. As a result, litigation may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.
After we become a publicly listed company, we may face additional exposure to claims and lawsuits. These claims could divert management time and attention away from our business and result in significant costs to investigate and defend, regardless of the merits of the claims. In some instances, we may elect or be forced to pay substantial damages if we are unsuccessful in our efforts to defend against these claims, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread across the world and has created unique global and industry-wide challenges. COVID-19 has resulted in quarantines, travel restrictions, and the temporary closure of offices and facilities in China and many other countries. New COVID-19 variants have also emerged, potentially extending the period during which COVID-19 will negatively impact the global economy.
Our revenue growth was negatively impacted in the first quarter of 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. We started to recover in late first quarter of 2020. People may spend less time at home or online and more time on outdoor activities going forward due to possibilities such as availability of effective vaccines and loosening of restrictions on travel and public gatherings. The increased unemployment and reduced income to both job seekers and businesses resulting from COVID-19 could also hinder the disposable income job seekers can spend on our products and services and lessen the hiring willingness and budgets of our enterprise users. In addition, we may need to make adjustments to operation hours, make work-from-home arrangements and even temporarily close our offices in the event that COVID-19 strikes in a future wave, and we may experience lower work efficiency and productivity during such period. While we might have benefited from the increased online traffic resulting from COVID-19 to our online recruitment platform, there is no guarantee that we can rely on such benefit in the future.
The potential downturn brought by and the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic may be difficult to assess or predict, and any associated negative impact on us will depend on many factors beyond our control. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our long-term results remains uncertain, and we are closely monitoring its impact on us. Our business, results of operations, financial conditions and prospects could be adversely affected directly, as well as indirectly to the extent that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic harms the Chinese and global economy in general. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also heighten many of the other risks described in this Risk Factors section.
Our operating metrics are subject to inherent challenges in measurement, and real or perceived inaccuracies in those metrics may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
We regularly review operating metrics, such as the number of our paid enterprise customers and MAU, to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance and make strategic decisions. These metrics are calculated using internal company data and have not been validated by an independent third party. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring usage and user engagement across our large user base. Errors or inaccuracies in our metrics could result in incorrect
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business decisions and inefficiencies. For example, if a significant understatement or overstatement of the number of users were to occur, we may expend resources to implement unnecessary business measures or fail to take required actions to attract a sufficient number of users to satisfy our growth strategies.
Our measures of operating metrics may differ from estimates published or adopted by third parties, including but not limited to business partners, market and investment research organizations (including short-selling research firms), investors and media, or from similarly titled metrics used by our competitors or other companies in the relevant industries due to differences in methodology and assumptions. If these third parties do not perceive our operating metrics to be accurate representations of operations, or if we discover material inaccuracies in our operating metrics, our brand value and reputation may be materially harmed, our users and business partners may be less willing to allocate their resources or spending to us, and we may face lawsuits or disputes in relation to the inaccuracies. As a result, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.
Computer and mobile malware, viruses, hacking and phishing attacks, spamming and improper or illegal use of our online recruitment platform may affect user experience, which could reduce our ability to attract users and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Computer and mobile malware, viruses, hacking and phishing attacks have become more prevalent in our industry, have occurred on our online recruitment platform in the past, and may occur again in the future. Although it is difficult to determine what, if any, direct harm may result from an interruption or attack, any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of our online recruitment platform and technology infrastructure to the satisfaction of our users may seriously harm our reputation and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users.
In addition, spammers may use our online recruitment platform to send targeted and untargeted spam messages to users, which may affect user experience. In spamming activities, spammers typically create multiple user accounts for the purpose of sending spam messages. Although we attempt to identify and delete accounts created for spamming purposes, we may not be able to effectively eliminate all spam messages from our online recruitment platform in a timely fashion. Our actions to combat spam may also require diversion of significant time and focus of our technology team from improving our online recruitment platform. As a result, our users may use our online recruitment platform less or stop using them altogether, which may result in continuing operational costs to us.
If the software used in our online recruitment platform and technology systems contains undetected programming errors or vulnerabilities, our business could be adversely affected.
Our online recruitment platform and technology systems rely on software, including software developed or maintained internally and/or by third parties. In addition, our online recruitment platform and technology systems depend on the ability of such software to store and process large amount of data. The software on which we rely in the past has contained, and may now or in the future contain, undetected programming errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities. Some errors may only be discovered after the code has been released for external or internal use. Errors, vulnerabilities, or other design defects within the software on which we rely may result in a negative experience for users using our online recruitment platform, delay introductions of new features or enhancements, result in errors or compromise our ability to protect the data of our users and/or our intellectual property or lead to reductions in our ability to provide some or all of our services. In addition, any errors, bugs, vulnerabilities, or defects discovered in the software on which we rely, and any associated degradations or interruptions of service, could result in harm to our reputation and loss of users, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operation results.
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Our online recruitment platform and technology systems contain open source software, which may pose particular risk to our proprietary software and online recruitment platform features and functionalities in a manner that negatively affect our business.
We use open source software in our online recruitment platform and technology systems and will continue to use open source software in the future. To handle risks in this regard, we have set up an internal system that monitors any change in the source code of any open source software we use in our operation, made risk management plan for open source software, and increasingly invested in developing our proprietary software. Despite these risk management efforts, open source software licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide our services through the various features and functionalities of our online recruitment platform. Additionally, we may face claims from third parties claiming ownership of, or demanding release of, the open source software or derivative works that we developed using such software. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to make our software source code freely available, purchase a costly license or cease offering the implicated services unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement. This re-engineering process could require significant additional technology and development resources, and we may not be able to complete it successfully.
We are dependent on app stores to distribute our mobile applications.
We offer our online recruitment services through our online recruitment platform, an important component of which is our mobile applications. Our mobile applications are offered via app stores operated by third parties, such as Apple App Store and various Android app stores, which could suspend or terminate our users access to our mobile applications, increase access costs or change the terms of access in a way that makes our mobile applications less desirable or harder to access. As such, the promotion, distribution and operation of our mobile applications are subject to such distribution platforms standard terms and policies for application developers, which are subject to the interpretation of, and frequent changes by, these distribution channels. If Apples App Store or any Android app stores interpret or change their standard terms and conditions in a manner that is detrimental to us, or terminate their existing relationship with us, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. In the future, it is possible that compliance requirements of app stores may cause us to suspend our mobile applications from such stores. As a result, our ability to expand our user base may be hindered if potential users experience difficulties in or are barred from accessing our mobile applications. Any such incident may adversely affect our brands and reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to risks relating to third-party online payment platforms.
Currently, we collect payments for our services through third-party online payment systems. In all these online payment transactions, secured transmission of confidential information such as our users credit card numbers and personal information over public networks is essential to maintaining users trust and confidence on our online recruitment platform.
We do not have control over the security measures of our third-party online payment vendors. Any security breaches of the online payment systems that we use could expose us to litigation and possible liability for failing to secure confidential user information and could, among other things, damage our reputation and the perceived security of all of the online payment systems that we use. If a well-publicized internet or mobile network security breach were to occur, users may become reluctant to pay for our services even if the publicized breach did not involve payment systems or methods used by us. In addition, billing software errors could damage user confidence in these online payment systems. If any of the above were to occur and damage our reputation or the perceived security of the online payment systems we use, we may lose users and users may be discouraged from purchasing our services, which may have a material adverse effect on our business.
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In addition, there are currently only a limited number of reputable third-party online payment systems in China. If any of these major payment systems decides to cease to provide services to us, or significantly increase the percentage they charge us for using their payment systems for our services, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.
Our results of operations are subject to fluctuations due to seasonality.
We experience fluctuations in our revenue streams which affect our ability to predict quarterly results. For example, our revenue growth is higher during the fourth quarters of each year as many enterprises have unused yearly recruitment budget that they prefer to spend before the end of the year. We typically experience lower growth in our first quarters as recruitment activities generally slow down around the Chinese New Year. Due to these factors, our revenues may vary materially from quarter to quarter and quarterly results may not be comparable to the corresponding periods of prior years. Such uncertainty makes it difficult for us to predict revenues for a particular quarter. Therefore, actual results may differ significantly from our targets or estimated quarterly results, which could cause the price of our ADSs to fall.
We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property, which could cause us to be less competitive, and third-party infringements of our intellectual property rights may adversely affect our business.
We believe that our patents, copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property are essential to our success. See also BusinessIntellectual Properties. We have devoted considerable time and energy to the development and improvement of our online recruitment platform and our technology system infrastructure.
We rely on a combination of patent, copyright and trademarks laws, trade secrets protection and other contractual restrictions for the protection of the intellectual property used in our business. Effective intellectual property protection may not be available or may not be sought, and contractual disputes may affect the use of the intellectual property governed by private contract. Although our contracts with users and business partners typically prohibit the unauthorized use of our brands, images and other intellectual property rights, there can be no assurance that they will always comply with these terms. These agreements may not effectively prevent the unauthorized use of our intellectual properties or disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy for such unauthorized use or disclosure of personal information. Although we enter into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with our employees, and we also have in place various relevant internal rules and polices that require compliance from our employees, these agreements could be breached, the internal rules and policies could be violated, we may be involved in disputes in respect of these agreements and internal rules and policies for which we may not have adequate remedies, and our proprietary technology, know-how or other intellectual property could otherwise become known to third parties. In addition, third parties may independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information, limiting our ability to assert any trade secret rights against such parties.
While we actively take steps to protect our proprietary rights, such steps may not be adequate to prevent the infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not registered certain trademarks for certain goods or services we use in our business. We also cannot assure our registered trademarks have covered an adequate scope of our existing and future business operations and as of the date of this prospectus, we are in the process of registering certain trademarks that are necessary based on the current scope of our business. However, there can be no assurance that any of our trademark applications will ultimately proceed to registration or will result in registration with adequate scope for our business, particularly if such requested trademarks are found to conflict with the registered trademarks owned by third parties,
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including our competitors. Some of our pending applications or registrations may be successfully challenged or invalidated by others. If our trademark applications are not successful, we may have to use different marks for affected services, or seek to enter into arrangements with any third parties who may have prior registrations, applications or rights, which might not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.
It is often difficult to maintain and enforce intellectual property rights in China. Statutory laws and regulations are subject to judicial interpretation and their enforcement may lack consistency. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our related contractual rights in China. Preventing any unauthorized use of our proprietary technology, trademarks and other intellectual property is difficult and expensive, and litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights. Future litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources, and could disrupt our business, as well as materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We have been and may be in the future subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.
We have ever been and may in the future be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third party owners or right holders of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and content for services we provide or for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to, recorded, stored or made accessible on our online recruitment platform, or otherwise distributed to our users, including in connection with the music, movies and videos played, recorded, stored or made accessible on our online recruitment platform during user profile display or advertisement display, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.
Generally, companies in the internet-related industries are frequently involved in litigation based on allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, invasion of privacy, defamation and other violations of other parties rights. The validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in internet-related industries, particularly in China, are uncertain and still evolving. As we face increasing competition and as litigation becomes a more common method for resolving commercial disputes in China, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims or other legal proceedings.
We allow users to upload text, pictures, audio, video and other content to our online recruitment platform and users to download, share, link to and otherwise access other content on our online recruitment platform. Under relevant PRC laws and regulations, online service providers, which provide storage space for users to upload works or links to other services or content, could be held liable for copyright infringement under various circumstances, including situations where the online service provider knows or should reasonably have known that the relevant content uploaded or linked to on its platform infringes upon the copyright of others and the online service provider failed to take necessary actions to prevent such infringement. We have procedures implemented to reduce the likelihood that content might be used without proper licenses or third-party consents. However, these procedures may not be effective in preventing the unauthorized posting or distribution of copyrighted content, and we may be considered failing to take necessary actions against such infringement. Therefore, we may face liability for copyright or trademark infringement, defamation, unfair competition, libel, negligence, and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials that are delivered, shared or otherwise accessed through our online recruitment platform.
Defending claims is costly and can impose a significant burden on our management and employees, and there can be no assurance that favorable final outcomes will be obtained in all cases.
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Such claims, even if they do not result in liability, may harm our reputation. Any resulting liability or expenses, or changes required to be made to our online recruitment platform to reduce the risk of future liability, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects.
Our advertising content may subject us to penalties and other administrative actions.
Under PRC advertising laws and regulations, we are obligated to monitor our advertising content to ensure that such content is true and accurate and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Violation of these laws and regulations may subject us to penalties, including fines, confiscation of our advertising income, orders to cease dissemination of the advertisements and orders to publish an announcement correcting the misleading information. In circumstances involving serious violations by us, PRC governmental authorities may force us to terminate our advertising operations or revoke our licenses. See RegulationRegulations Relating to Advertisement.
While we have made significant efforts to ensure that our advertisements are in full compliance with applicable PRC laws and regulations, we cannot assure you that all the content contained in such advertisements is true and accurate as required by the advertising laws and regulations, especially given the uncertainty in the interpretation of these PRC laws and regulations. If we are found to be in violation of applicable PRC advertising laws and regulations, we may be subject to penalties and our reputation may be harmed, which may negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Increasing focus with respect to environmental, social and governance matters may impose additional costs on us or expose us to additional risks. Failure to comply with the laws and regulations on environmental, social and governance matters may subject us to penalties and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The PRC government and public advocacy groups have been increasingly focused on environment, social and governance, or ESG, issues in recent years, making our business more sensitive to ESG issues and changes in governmental policies and laws and regulations associated with environment protection and other ESG-related matters. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds, and other influential investors are also increasingly focused on ESG practices and in recent years have placed increasing importance on the implications and social cost of their investments. Regardless of the industry, increased focus from investors and the PRC government on ESG and similar matters may hinder access to capital, as investors may decide to reallocate capital or to not commit capital as a result of their assessment of a companys ESG practices. Any ESG concern or issue could increase our regulatory compliance costs. If we do not adapt to or comply with the evolving expectations and standards on ESG matters from investors and the PRC government or are perceived to have not responded appropriately to the growing concern for ESG issues, regardless of whether there is a legal requirement to do so, we may suffer from reputational damage and the business, financial condition, and the price of our ADSs could be materially and adversely effected.
Existing or future strategic alliances, long-term investments and acquisitions may have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation and results of operations.
We may enter into strategic alliances, including joint ventures or minority equity investments, with various third parties to further our business purpose from time to time. These alliances could subject us to a number of risks, including risks associated with sharing proprietary information, non-performance by the third party and increased expenses in establishing new strategic alliances, any of which may materially and adversely affect our business. We may have limited ability to monitor or control the actions of these third parties and, to the extent any of these strategic third parties suffers negative
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publicity or harm to their reputation from events relating to their business, we may also suffer negative publicity or harm to our reputation by virtue of our association with any such third party.
In addition, if appropriate opportunities arise, we may acquire additional assets, products, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our existing business. Future acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets and businesses into our own would require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our business operations. Acquisitions may not achieve our goals and could be viewed negatively by users, business partners or investors. Acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the occurrence of significant goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant. In addition to possible shareholders approval, we may also have to obtain approvals and licenses from relevant governmental authorities for the acquisitions and to comply with any applicable PRC laws and regulations, which could result in increased delay and costs.
Our business depends substantially on the continuing efforts of our executive officers and other key employees. If we lose their services or do not plan their succession effectively, our business operations and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.
Our future success depends heavily on the continuing services of our executive officers and other key employees. In particular, we rely on the expertise, experience and vision of our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peng Zhao, as well as other members of our senior management team. If one or more of our executive officers or other key employees were unable or unwilling to continue their services with us or are otherwise subject to any legal or regulatory liabilities in their personal capacity or otherwise, we might not be able to replace them easily, in a timely manner, or at all. Competition for qualified talent is intense, there can be no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain qualified employees. As a result, our business may be materially and adversely affected, our financial condition and results of operations may be severely affected, and we may incur additional expenses to recruit, train and retain key personnel.
Moreover, if any of our executive officers or other key employees joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose know-how, trade secrets, business partners, user base and market share. Each of our executive officers and key employees has entered into an employment agreement, a confidentiality and intellectual property ownership agreement and a non-compete agreement. However, these agreements may be deemed invalid or unenforceable under PRC laws and other applicable laws and regulations in other jurisdictions. If any dispute arises between our executive officers or key employees and us, there can be no assurance that we would be able to enforce these agreements in China and other jurisdictions, where these executive officers and key employees may reside.
Effective succession planning is also important to the long-term success of our business. If we fail to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and smooth transitions involving key employees, it could significantly hinder our strategic planning and execution. The loss of senior management or any ineffective transitions in management could delay or prevent the achievement of our development and strategic objectives, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
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Competition for qualified personnel is often intense. If we are unable to recruit, train and retain sufficient qualified personnel while controlling our labor costs, our business may be materially and adversely affected.
Our ability to continue to conduct and expand our operations depends on our ability to attract and retain a large and growing number of qualified personnel in China and also globally. Our ability to meet our labor needs, including our ability to find qualified personnel to fill positions that become vacant, while controlling labor costs, is generally subject to numerous external factors, including the availability of a sufficient number of qualified persons in the markets where we operate, unemployment levels within those markets, prevailing wage rates, changing demographics, health and other insurance costs and adoption of new or revised employment and labor laws and regulations. If we are unable to locate, attract or retain qualified personnel, or manage leadership transition successfully, the quality of service we provide to users may decrease and our financial performance may be adversely affected. In addition, if our costs of labor or related costs increase for other reasons or if new or revised labor laws, rules or regulations or healthcare laws are adopted or implemented that further increase our labor costs, our financial performance could be materially and adversely affected.
We may not have sufficient insurance to cover our business risks, so that any uninsured occurrence of business disruption may result in substantial costs to us and the diversion of our resources, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
We provide social security insurance for our employees as required by PRC law, and we also provide supplemental commercial medical insurance for our employees. We do not maintain business interruption insurance or key-man insurance. We consider this practice to be reasonable in light of the nature of our business, which is in line with the practices of other companies of similar size in the same industry in China. In addition, insurance companies in China currently offer limited business-related insurance products. Any uninsured occurrence of business disruption, litigation or natural disaster, or significant damages to our uninsured equipment or facilities could disrupt our business operations, requiring us to incur substantial costs and divert our resources, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
If we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely impacted.
Prior to this offering, we have been a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal control over financial reporting. In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified two material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, a material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
The material weaknesses that have been identified relate to (i) our lack of sufficient competent financial reporting and accounting personnel with appropriate understanding of U.S. GAAP to address complex U.S. GAAP technical accounting issues and to prepare and review the consolidated financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC, and (ii) our lack of period-end financial closing policies and procedures for preparation of consolidated financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC.
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Following the identification of the material weaknesses and other significant control deficiencies, we have taken measures and plan to continue to take measures to remediate these deficiencies. See Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsInternal Control Over Financial Reporting. However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address these deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting, and we cannot conclude that they have been fully remediated. Our failure to correct these deficiencies or our failure to discover and address any other deficiencies could result in inaccuracies in our financial statements and impair our ability to comply with applicable financial reporting requirements and related regulatory filings on a timely basis. Moreover, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could significantly hinder our ability to prevent fraud.
After we become a public company in the United States, we will be subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, will require that we include a report from management on our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F beginning with our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. In addition, once we cease to be an emerging growth company as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal control over financial reporting or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, after we become a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.
During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, we may identify other or more material weaknesses or deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. Generally speaking, if we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations and lead to a decline in the trading price of our ADSs. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our consolidated financial statements for prior periods.
We have granted and expect to continue to grant share-based awards in the future under our share incentive plan, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.
In order to attract and retain qualified employees, provide incentives to our directors and employees, and promote the success of our business, we adopted a share incentive plan in September 2020 (the 2020 Share Incentive Plan). As of the date of this prospectus, the maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares that may be issued under the 2020 Share Incentive Plan is 145,696,410, and 118,702,358 options to purchase our Class A ordinary shares have been granted and outstanding, excluding options that were forfeited or canceled after the relevant grant dates. For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, we recorded RMB34.3 million and RMB657.2 million (US$100.7 million) in share-based payment expenses, respectively.
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We believe the granting of share-based awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based awards to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based payment expenses may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
We face certain risks related to our leased properties.
We lease real properties in China from third parties primarily as office space. We have not registered some of our lease agreements for these properties with the PRC governmental authorities as required by PRC law. Although the failure to do so does not in itself invalidate the lease agreements, we may be ordered by the PRC government authorities to rectify such noncompliance and, if such noncompliance is not rectified within a given period of time, we may be subject to fines imposed by PRC government authorities ranging from RMB1,000 and RMB10,000 for each lease agreement that has not been registered with the relevant PRC governmental authorities. In addition, our use of certain leased properties does not comply with the approved use stipulated in the title certificates of such properties. Our lease agreements may be claimed as null and void by the relevant PRC governmental authorities, and we may not be able to continue to use such leased properties as a result of such non-compliance and may have to relocate to other premises. In addition, certain of our leased properties were subject to mortgage when we entered our lease agreements. If the ownership of such properties changes as a result of the foreclosure of the mortgage, we may not be able to enforce our rights to the leased properties under the respective lease agreements against the mortgagee. We cannot assure you that suitable alternative locations are readily available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and if we are unable to relocate our affected operations in a timely manner, our operations may be adversely affected.
The ownership certificates or other similar proof of most of our leased properties have not been provided to us by the relevant lessors. Therefore, we cannot assure you that such lessors are entitled to lease the relevant real properties to us. If the lessors are not entitled to lease the real properties to us and the owners of such real properties decline to ratify the lease agreements between us and the respective lessors, we may not be able to enforce our rights to lease such properties under the respective lease agreements against the owners. As of the date of this prospectus, we are not aware of any claim or challenge brought by any third parties against us or our lessors with respect to the defects in our leasehold interests. If our lease agreements are claimed as null and void by the owners of the leased real properties, we could be required to vacate the properties and incur additional costs, in the event of which we could only initiate the claim against the lessors under relevant lease agreements for indemnities for their breach of the relevant leasing agreements. We cannot assure you that suitable alternative locations are readily available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and if we are unable to relocate our officers in a timely manner, our operations may be interrupted.
We face risks related to natural and other disasters, including severe weather conditions or outbreaks of health epidemics, and other extraordinary events, which could significantly disrupt our operations.
In addition to the impact of COVID-19, our business could be materially and adversely affected by natural disasters, other health epidemics or other public safety concerns affecting the PRC, and particularly Beijing. Natural disasters may give rise to server interruptions, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures, internet failures or other operation interruptions for us and our business partners, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or malfunction of software or hardware as well as adversely affect our ability and the ability of our business partners to conduct daily operations. Our business could also be adversely affected if employees of ours or our business partners are affected by health epidemics. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that any health epidemic harms the Chinese economy in general.
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Our headquarters is located in Beijing, China, where most of our directors and management and the majority of our employees currently reside. Most of our system hardware and the back-up systems supplied by third-party cloud service providers are hosted in facilities located in China. Consequently, if any natural disasters, health epidemics or other public safety concerns were to affect China and Beijing in particular, our operation may experience material disruptions, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure
If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating some of our operations in China do not comply with PRC laws and regulations relating to the relevant industries, or if these laws and regulations or the interpretation of existing laws and regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.
Foreign ownership in entities that provide internet and other related businesses, including but not limited to, the value-added telecommunication services, internet culture business and radio and television program services, is subject to restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations, unless certain exceptions are available. Specifically, the operation of certain value-added telecommunications services are considered restricted, and foreign ownership of an internet information service provider may not exceed 50%, and the major foreign investor is required to have a record of good performance and operating experience in managing value-added telecommunications business. The provision of radio and television program services and the internet cultural services are considered prohibited.
We are a Cayman Islands company and our PRC subsidiaries are considered a foreign-invested enterprise. To ensure compliance with the PRC laws and regulations, we conduct our foreign investment-restricted business in China through Beijing Huapin Borui Network Technology Co., Ltd., or our VIE, and our VIE currently holds the value-added telecommunication business license and other licenses necessary for our operation of such restricted business, based on a series of contractual arrangements by and among Beijing Glorywolf Co., Ltd., or our WFOE, our VIE and its shareholders. These contractual agreements enable us to (i) exercise effective control over our VIE, (ii) receive substantially all of the economic benefits of our VIE, and (iii) have an exclusive call option to purchase all or part of the equity interests in our VIE when and to the extent permitted by PRC law. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we exert control over our VIE and consolidate financial results of our VIE in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP. See Corporate History and Structure for further details.
In the opinion of our PRC legal counsel, Tian Yuan Law Firm, (i) the ownership structures of our VIE and our WFOE in China are not in violation of mandatory provisions of applicable PRC laws and regulations currently in effect; and (ii) the agreements under the contractual arrangements among our WFOE, our VIE and its shareholders governed by PRC law are valid and binding upon each party to such agreements and enforceable against each party thereto in accordance with their terms and applicable PRC laws and regulations currently in effect. However, we have been further advised by our PRC legal counsel that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations. Thus, the PRC government may ultimately take a view contrary to the opinion of our PRC legal counsel. If the PRC government otherwise find that we are in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations or lack the necessary permits or licenses to operate our business, the relevant governmental authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including, without limitation:
| revoking the business licenses and/or operating licenses of our PRC entities; |
| imposing fines on us; |
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| confiscating any of our income that they deem to be obtained through illegal operations, or imposing other requirements with which we or our VIE may not be able to comply; |
| discontinuing or placing restrictions or onerous conditions on our operations; |
| placing restrictions on our right to collect revenues; |
| shutting down our servers or blocking our online recruitment platform; |
| requiring us to restructure our ownership structure or operations, including terminating the contractual arrangements with our VIE and deregistering the equity pledges of our VIE, which in turn would affect our ability to consolidate, derive economic interests from, or exert effective control over our VIE; |
| restricting or prohibiting our use of the proceeds from this offering or other of our financing activities to finance the business and operations of our VIE; or |
| taking other regulatory or enforcement actions that could be harmful to our business. |
Any of these events could cause significant disruption to our business operations and severely damage our reputation, which would in turn have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If occurrences of any of these events results in our inability to direct the activities of our VIE that most significantly impact their economic performance, and/or our failure to receive the economic benefits and residual returns from our VIE, and we are not able to restructure our ownership structure and operations in a satisfactory manner, we may not be able to consolidate the financial results of our VIE in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
The contractual arrangements with our VIE and its shareholders may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control.
We have to rely on the contractual arrangements with our VIE and its shareholders to operate the business in areas where foreign ownership is restricted, including but not limited to, provision of certain value-added telecommunication services. These contractual arrangements, however, may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over our VIE. For example, our VIE and its shareholders could breach their contractual arrangements with us by, among other things, failing to conduct the operations of our VIE in an acceptable manner or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests.
If we had direct ownership of our VIE in China, we would be able to exercise our rights as a shareholder to effect changes in the board of directors of our VIE, which in turn could implement changes, subject to any applicable fiduciary obligations, at the management and operational level. However, under the current contractual arrangements, we rely on the performance by our VIE and its shareholders of their obligations under the contracts to exercise control over our VIE. The shareholders of our VIE may not act in the best interests of our company or may not perform their obligations under these contracts. If any dispute relating to these contracts remains unresolved, we will have to enforce our rights under these contracts through the operations of PRC law and arbitration, litigation and other legal proceedings and therefore will be subject to uncertainties in the PRC legal system. See Any failure by our VIE or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business.
Any failure by our VIE or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business.
If our VIE or its shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce
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such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and contractual remedies, which we cannot assure you will be sufficient or effective under PRC law. For example, if the shareholders of our VIE were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in our VIE to us or our designee if we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their contractual obligations. In addition, if any third parties claim any interest in such shareholders equity interests in our VIE, our ability to exercise shareholders rights or foreclose the share pledge according to the contractual arrangements may be impaired. If these or other disputes between the shareholders of our VIE and third parties were to impair our control over our VIE, our ability to consolidate the financial results of our VIE would be affected, which would in turn result in a material adverse effect on our business, operations and financial condition.
All the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC law and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. See Risks Relating to Doing Business in ChinaUncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us. Meanwhile, there are very few precedents and little formal guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a consolidated VIE should be interpreted or enforced under PRC law. There remain significant uncertainties regarding the ultimate outcome of such arbitration should legal action become necessary. In addition, under PRC law, rulings by arbitrators are final, parties cannot appeal the arbitration results in courts, and if the losing parties fail to carry out the arbitration awards within a prescribed time limit, the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would require additional expenses and delay. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer significant delay or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our VIE, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected.
The shareholders of our VIE may have actual or potential conflicts of interest with us.
The shareholders of our VIE may have actual or potential conflicts of interest with us. These shareholders may breach, or cause our VIE to breach, or refuse to renew, the existing contractual arrangements we have with them and our VIE, which would have a material and adverse effect on our ability to effectively control our VIE and receive economic benefits from it. For example, the shareholders may be able to cause our agreements with our VIE to be performed in a manner adverse to us by, among other things, failing to remit payments due under the contractual arrangements to us on a timely basis. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these shareholders and our company, except that we could exercise our purchase option under the exclusive call option agreements with these shareholders to request them to transfer all of their equity interests in the VIE to a PRC entity or individual designated by us, to the extent permitted by PRC law. For Mr. Peng Zhao, who is our director and Chief Executive Officer and also a major shareholder of our VIE, we rely on him to abide by the laws of the Cayman Islands, which provide that directors and officers owe a fiduciary duty to the company that requires them to act in good faith and in what they believe to be the best interests of the company and not to use their position for personal gains. The shareholders of our VIE have executed powers of attorney to appoint our WFOE to vote on their behalf and exercise voting rights as shareholders of our VIE. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or
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dispute between us and the shareholders of our VIE, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in disruption of our business and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.
The shareholders of our VIE may be involved in personal disputes with third parties or other incidents that may have an adverse effect on their respective equity interests in our VIE and the validity or enforceability of our contractual arrangements with our VIE and its shareholders. For example, in the event that any individual shareholder of our VIE divorces his or her spouse, the spouse may claim that the equity interest of our VIE held by such shareholder is part of their community property and should be divided between such shareholder and his or her spouse. If such claim is supported by the court, the relevant equity interest may be obtained by the shareholders spouse or another third party who is not subject to obligations under our contractual arrangements, which could result in a loss of the effective control over our VIE by us. Similarly, if any of the equity interests of our VIE is inherited by a third party with whom the current contractual arrangements are not binding, we could lose our control over our VIE or have to maintain such control by incurring unpredictable costs, which could cause significant disruption to our business and operations and harm our financial condition and results of operations.
Although under our current contractual arrangements, (i) our VIEs shareholders spouses have executed spousal consent letters under which the spouses agree not to assert any rights over the equity interest in our VIE held by these VIE shareholders, and (ii) it is expressly provided that our VIE and its shareholders shall not assign any of their respective rights or obligations to any third party without the prior written consent of our WFOE, we cannot assure you that these undertakings and arrangements will be complied with or effectively enforced. In the case any of them is breached or becomes unenforceable and leads to legal proceedings, it could disrupt our business, distract our managements attention and subject us to substantial uncertainties as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.
Contractual arrangements in relation to our VIE may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities and they may determine that we or our VIE owes additional taxes, which could negatively affect our financial condition and the value of your investment.
Under applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. We could face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements in relation to our VIE were not entered into on an arms length basis in such a way as to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, and adjust the taxable income of our VIE in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could, among other things, result in a reduction of expense deductions recorded by our VIE for PRC tax purposes, which could in turn increase its tax liabilities without reducing our PRC subsidiaries tax expenses. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties on our VIE for the adjusted but unpaid taxes according to the applicable regulations. Our financial position could be materially and adversely affected if our VIEs tax liabilities increase or if it is required to pay late payment fees and other penalties.
Our current corporate structure and business operations may be substantially affected by the newly enacted Foreign Investment Law.
On March 15, 2019, the National Peoples Congress promulgated the PRC Foreign Investment Law, which took effect on January 1, 2020. Since it is relatively new, substantially uncertainties exist in relation to its interpretation and implementation. The PRC Foreign Investment Law does not explicitly classify whether VIEs that are controlled through contractual arrangements would be deemed as
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foreign invested enterprises if they are ultimately controlled by foreign investors. However, it has a catch-all provision under definition of foreign investment that includes investments made by foreign investors in China through other means as provided by laws, administrative regulations or other methods prescribed by the State Council. Therefore, it still leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions of the State Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment, at which time it will be uncertain whether our contractual arrangements will be deemed to be in violation of the market access requirements for foreign investment in the PRC and if yes, how our contractual arrangements should be dealt with.
The PRC Foreign Investment Law grants national treatment to foreign-invested entities, except for those foreign-invested entities that operate in industries specified as either restricted or prohibited from foreign investment in The Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Access of Foreign Investment jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC, and took effect in July 2020. The PRC Foreign Investment Law provides that (i) foreign-invested entities operating in restricted industries are required to obtain market entry clearance and other approvals from relevant PRC government authorities;(ii) foreign investors shall not invest in any industries that are prohibited under the Negative List. If our control over our VIE through contractual arrangements are deemed as foreign investment in the future, and any business of our VIE is restricted or prohibited from foreign investment under the negative list effective at the time, we may be deemed to be in violation of the PRC Foreign Investment Law, the contractual arrangements that allow us to have control over our VIE may be deemed as invalid and illegal, and we may be required to unwind such contractual arrangements and/or restructure our business operations, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business operation.
Furthermore, if future laws, administrative regulations or provisions mandate further actions to be taken by companies with respect to existing contractual arrangements, we may face substantial uncertainties as to whether we can complete such actions in a timely manner, or at all. Failure to take timely and appropriate measures to cope with any of these or similar regulatory compliance challenges could materially and adversely affect our current corporate structure and business operations.
We may lose the ability to use and enjoy assets held by our VIE that are critical to the operation of our business if our VIE declare bankruptcy or become subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.
Our VIE holds certain assets that may be critical to the operation of our business. If the shareholders of our VIE breach the contractual arrangements and voluntarily liquidate our VIE, or if our VIE declares bankruptcy and all or part of its assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors or are otherwise disposed of without our consent, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business activities, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if our VIE undergoes an involuntary liquidation proceeding, third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of its assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially or adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Relating to Doing Business in China
Changes in Chinas economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
The vast majority of our operations are located in China. Accordingly, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be influenced to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally and by continued economic growth in China as a whole.
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The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the Chinese government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China are still owned by the government. In addition, the Chinese government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The Chinese government also exercises significant control over Chinas economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.
While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The online recruitment service industry is highly sensitive to general economic changes. Any adverse changes in economic conditions in China, in the policies of the Chinese government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China. Such developments could adversely affect our business and operating results, lead to a reduction in demand for our services and adversely affect our competitive position. The Chinese government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. The growth rate of the Chinese economy has gradually slowed since 2010, and the impact of COVID-19 on the global and Chinese economy in 2020 is severe. Any prolonged slowdown in the global and Chinese economy may reduce the demand for our services and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us.
The PRC legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike the common law system, prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. The PRC legal system is evolving rapidly, and the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules may contain inconsistencies and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.
Our WFOE is a foreign-invested enterprise and is subject to laws and regulations applicable to foreign-invested enterprises, and our WFOE and our VIE are also subject to various Chinese laws and regulations generally applicable to companies incorporated in China. However, since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.
From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of protection we enjoy than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all, and which may have a retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of any of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. In addition, any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. Such uncertainties, including uncertainty over the scope and effect of our contractual, property
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(including intellectual property) and procedural rights, and any failure to respond to changes in the regulatory environment in China could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.
Litigation and negative publicity surrounding China-based companies listed in the U.S. may result in increased regulatory scrutiny of us and negatively impact the trading price of the ADSs and could have a material adverse effect upon our business, including our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and prospects.
We believe that litigation and negative publicity surrounding companies with operations in China that are listed in the U.S. have negatively impacted stock prices for such companies. Various equity-based research organizations have published reports on China-based companies after examining, among other things, their corporate governance practices, related party transactions, sales practices and financial statements that have led to special investigations and stock suspensions on national exchanges. Any similar scrutiny of us, regardless of its lack of merit, could result in a diversion of management resources and energy, potential costs to defend ourselves against rumors, decreases and volatility in the ADS trading price, and increased directors and officers insurance premiums and could have a material adverse effect upon our business, including our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and prospects.
Our ADSs may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect auditors who are located in China. The delisting of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Additionally, the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections deprives our investors with the benefits of such inspections.
The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit our shares or ADSs from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the U.S.
Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this prospectus, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditor is located in China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditor is currently not inspected by the PCAOB.
On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. We will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies us as having a non-inspection year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC. The SEC is assessing how to implement other requirements of the HFCA Act, including the listing and trading prohibition requirements described above.
The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on August 6, 2020, the Presidents Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, issued the Report on Protecting United States Investors from Significant Risks from Chinese Companies to the then President of the United States. This report recommended the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate. Some of the concepts of
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these recommendations were implemented with the enactment of the HFCA Act. However, some of the recommendations were more stringent than the HFCA Act. For example, if a company was not subject to PCAOB inspection, the report recommended that the transition period before a company would be delisted would end on January 1, 2022.
The SEC has announced that the SEC staff is preparing a consolidated proposal for the rules regarding the implementation of the HFCA Act to address the recommendations in the PWG report. It is unclear when the SEC will complete its rulemaking and when such rules will become effective and what, if any, of the PWG recommendations will be adopted. The implications of this possible regulation in addition to the requirements of the HFCA Act are uncertain. Such uncertainty could cause the market price of our ADSs to be materially and adversely affected, and our securities could be delisted or prohibited from being traded over-the-counter earlier than would be required by the HFCA Act. If our securities are unable to be listed on another securities exchange by then, such a delisting would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase our ADSs when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with a potential delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our ADSs.
The PCAOBs inability to conduct inspections in China prevents it from fully evaluating the audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm. As a result, we and investors in our ordinary shares are deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firms audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors and potential investors in our stock to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements.
In May 2013, the PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, and the PRC Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by the PCAOB in the PRC or by the CSRC or the PRC Ministry of Finance in the United States. The PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with the PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.
We may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business.
We are a holding company, and we may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders and service any debt we may incur. Current PRC regulations permit our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends to us only out of their accumulated after-tax profits upon satisfaction of relevant statutory conditions and procedures, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. In addition, each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to set aside at least 10% of its accumulated profits each year, after making up previous years accumulated losses, if any, to fund certain reserve funds until the total amount set aside reaches 50% of its registered capital. For a detailed discussion of applicable PRC regulations governing distribution of dividends, see RegulationRegulations Relating to Dividend Distribution. Additionally, if our PRC subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us. Any
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limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business.
Any restriction on currency exchange may limit the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to use their Renminbi revenues to pay dividends to us. The PRC government may continue to strengthen its capital controls and our PRC subsidiaries dividends and other distributions may be subject to tightened scrutiny in the future. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business.
In addition, the Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules provide that a withholding tax at a rate of 10% will be applicable to dividends payable by Chinese companies to non-PRC-resident enterprises unless reduced under treaties or arrangements between the PRC central government and governments of other countries or regions where the non-PRC resident enterprises are tax resident. See If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.
Increases in labor costs and enforcement of stricter labor laws and regulations in China may adversely affect our business and our profitability.
Chinas overall economy and the average wage in China have increased in recent years and are expected to continue to grow. The average wage level for our employees has also increased in recent years. We expect that our labor costs, including wages and employee benefits, will continue to increase. Unless we are able to pass on these increased labor costs to those who pay for our services, our profitability and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.
In addition, we have been subject to stricter regulatory requirements in terms of entering into labor contracts with our employees and paying various statutory employee benefits, including pensions insurance, housing provident fund, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance to designated government agencies for the benefit of our employees. Pursuant to the PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementation rules, employers are subject to stricter requirements in terms of signing labor contracts, minimum wages, paying remuneration, determining the term of employees probation and unilaterally terminating labor contracts. In addition, enterprises are forbidden to force laborers to work beyond the time limit and employers shall pay laborers for overtime work in accordance with the laws and regulations. In the event that we decide to terminate some of our employees or otherwise change our employment or labor practices, the PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementation rules may limit our ability to effect those changes in a desirable or cost-effective manner, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We cannot assure you that we have complied, or as the interpretation and implementation of labor-related laws and regulations are still evolving, we cannot assure you that we will be able to comply with all labor-related law and regulations, including those relating to obligations to make social insurance payments, to contribute to the housing provident fund, and to make overtime payment and other similar payment payable by us to our employees. If we are deemed to have violated relevant labor laws and regulations, we could be required to provide additional compensation to our employees and be subject to orders by competent labor authorities for rectification, and failure to comply with the orders may further subject us to administrative fines. In such an event, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.
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Our business may be negatively affected by the potential obligations if we fail to comply with social insurance and housing provident fund related laws and regulations.
We are required by PRC labor laws and regulations to pay various statutory employee benefits, including pensions insurance, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance and housing provident fund, to designated government agencies for the benefit of our employees and associates. In October 2010, the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress promulgated the Social Insurance Law of PRC, effective on July 1, 2011 and amended on December 29, 2018. On April 3, 1999, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Provident Fund, which was amended on March 24, 2002 and March 24, 2019. Companies registered and operating in China are required under the Social Insurance Law of PRC and the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Provident Fund to apply for social insurance registration and housing provident fund deposit registration within 30 days of their establishment and to pay for their employees different social insurance including pension insurance, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance to the extent required by law. We could be subject to orders by competent labor authorities for rectification if we fail to comply with such social insurance and housing provident fund related laws and regulations, and failure to comply with the orders may further subject us to administrative fines. The relevant government agencies may examine whether an employer has made adequate payments of the requisite statutory employee benefits, and employers who fail to make adequate payments may be subject to late payment fees, fines and/or other penalties. We engage third-party human resources agencies to pay social insurance and housing provident fund for some of our employees. Any failure to make such contribution by these third-party agents may directly expose us to penalties imposed by the local authorities and/or legal claims raised by our employees. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not received any notice from the relevant government authorities or any claim or request from these employees in this regard. If the relevant PRC authorities determine that we shall make supplemental social insurance and housing provident fund contributions or that we are subject to fines and legal sanctions in relation to our failure to make social insurance and housing provident fund contributions in full for our employees, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.
Fluctuations in exchange rates could have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.
The conversion of Renminbi into foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, is based on rates set by the Peoples Bank of China. The Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. The value of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by changes in Chinas political and economic conditions and by Chinas foreign exchange policies, among other things. We cannot assure you that Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.
Any significant appreciation or depreciation of Renminbi may materially and adversely affect our revenues, earnings and financial position, and the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. dollars. For example, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we receive into Renminbi to pay our operating expenses, appreciation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, a significant depreciation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar may significantly reduce the U.S. dollar equivalent of our earnings, which in turn could adversely affect the price of our ADSs.
Very limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our
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exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to adequately hedge our exposure or at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert Renminbi into foreign currency. As a result, fluctuations in exchange rates may have a material adverse effect on your investment.
PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.
We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE subject to the approval from or registration with governmental authorities and limitation on amount, we may make additional capital contributions to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China, we may establish new PRC subsidiaries and make capital contributions to these new PRC subsidiaries, or we may acquire offshore entities with business operations in China in an offshore transaction.
Most of the aforementioned ways of making loans or investments in PRC entities are subject to PRC regulations and approvals. For example, any loans to our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE are subject to applicable foreign loan registrations with the local counterpart of SAFE and limitation on amount under PRC law. If we decide to finance our wholly owned PRC subsidiary by means of capital contributions, these capital contributions are subject to filing and registration with certain PRC government authorities, including MOFCOM or its local counterparts and the SAMR through its Enterprise Registration System, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and the local counterpart of SAFE. In addition, an FIE shall use its capital pursuant to the principle of authenticity and self-use within its business scope.
SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming the Mode of Management of Settlement of Foreign Exchange Capital of Foreign Invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, effective June 2015 and amended on December 2019, in replacement of a former regulation. According to SAFE Circular 19, the flow and use of the RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company is regulated such that RMB capital may not be used for the issuance of RMB entrusted loans (unless otherwise permitted in the business license), the repayment of inter-enterprise loans or the repayment of bank loans that have been transferred to a third party. Although SAFE Circular 19 allows RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise to be used for equity investments within China, it also reiterates the principle that RMB converted from the foreign currency-denominated capital of a foreign-invested company may not be directly or indirectly used for purposes beyond its business scope. Thus, it is unclear whether SAFE will permit such capital to be used for equity investments in China in actual practice. SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Standardizing the Foreign Exchange Settlement Management Policy of Capital Account, or SAFE Circular 16, effective on June 9, 2016, which reiterates some of the rules set forth in SAFE Circular 19, but changes the prohibition against using RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company to issue RMB entrusted loans to a prohibition against using such capital to issue loans to non-associated enterprises. Specifically, SAFE Circular 16 provides that the capital of an FIE shall not be used for the following purposes: (i) directly or indirectly used for payment beyond the business scope of such FIE or the payment prohibited by relevant laws and regulations; (ii) directly or indirectly used for investment in securities or investments in financial management other than banks principal-secured products unless otherwise provided by relevant laws and regulations; (iii) the granting of loans to non-affiliated enterprises, except where it is expressly permitted in the business license; and
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(iv) paying the expenses related to the purchase of real estate that is not for self-use (except for the foreign-invested real estate enterprises). Violations of SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16 could result in administrative penalties. SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16 may significantly limit our ability to transfer any foreign currency we hold, including the net proceeds from this offering, to our PRC subsidiaries, which may adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business in China. On October 23, 2019, the SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Promoting the Convenience of Cross-border Trade and Investment, or the SAFE Circular 28, which, among other things, allows all foreign-invested companies to use Renminbi converted from foreign currency-denominated capital for equity investments in China, as long as the equity investment is genuine, does not violate applicable laws, and complies with the negative list on foreign investment. On April 10, 2020, the SAFE promulgated the Circular on Optimizing Administration of Foreign Exchange to Support the Development of Foreign-related Business, or SAFE Circular 8, under which eligible enterprises are allowed to make domestic payments by using their capital funds, foreign loans and the income under capital accounts of overseas listing without providing the evidentiary materials concerning authenticity of each expenditure in advance, provided that their capital use shall be authentic and conforms to the prevailing administrative regulations on the use of income under capital accounts. However, since the SAFE Circular 28 and SAFE Circular 8 are relatively new, it is unclear how SAFE and competent banks will carry them out in practice.
In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, or at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries or our VIE or its subsidiaries or with respect to future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiaries. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use the proceeds from our initial public offering and to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.
Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our revenues effectively and affect the value of your investment.
The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive substantially all of our revenues in RMB. Under our current corporate structure, our company in the Cayman Islands may rely on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, such as profit distributions and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. Therefore, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China are able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior approval from SAFE, subject to the condition that the remittance of such dividends outside of the PRC complies with certain procedures under PRC foreign exchange regulation, such as the overseas investment registrations by our shareholders or the ultimate shareholders of our corporate shareholders who are PRC residents. But approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities or delegated banks is required where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may also at its discretion restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.
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PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiaries ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us or otherwise expose us or our PRC resident beneficial owners to liability and penalties under PRC law.
In July 2014, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents Offshore Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment Through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37. SAFE Circular 37 requires PRC residents (including PRC individuals and PRC corporate entities as well as foreign individuals that are deemed as PRC residents for foreign exchange administration purposes) to register with SAFE or its local branches in connection with their direct or indirect offshore investment activities. SAFE Circular 37 further requires amendment to the SAFE registrations in the event of any changes with respect to the basic information of the offshore special purpose vehicle, such as change of a PRC individual shareholder, name and operation term, or any significant changes with respect to the offshore special purpose vehicle, such as increase or decrease of capital contribution, share transfer or exchange, or mergers or divisions. SAFE Circular 37 is applicable to our shareholders who are PRC residents and may be applicable to any offshore acquisitions that we make in the future. According to the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Policies for the Foreign Exchange Administration of Direct Investment released on February 13, 2015 by the SAFE, local banks will examine and handle foreign exchange registration for overseas direct investment, including the initial foreign exchange registration and amendment registration, under SAFE Circular 37 from June 1, 2015. The PRC residents shall, by themselves or entrusting accounting firms or banks, file with the online information system designated by SAFE with respect to its existing rights under offshore direct investment each year prior to the requisite time.
If our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents do not complete their registration or change of the registration with the local SAFE branches or qualified local banks or complete annual filing of its existing rights under offshore direct investment, or fail to obtain the approval or complete the filing with NDRC or MOFCOM or their local counterparts relating to the overseas investment activities, our PRC subsidiaries may be prohibited from distributing to us its profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions.
We have used our best efforts to notify PRC residents who directly or indirectly hold shares in our Cayman Islands holding company and who are known to us as being PRC residents to timely complete the foreign exchange registrations and the relevant changes and annual filings of its existing rights under offshore direct investment. However, we may not be informed of the identities of all the PRC residents or entities holding direct or indirect interest in our company, nor can we compel our all shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents to comply with SAFE registration requirements or other regulations relating to overseas investment activities issued by NDRC and MOFCOM. We cannot assure you that all shareholders or beneficial owners of ours who are PRC residents have complied with, and will in the future make, obtain or update any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE regulations or other regulations relating to overseas investment activities issued by NDRC and MOFCOM.
The failure or inability of such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiaries, or other regulations relating to overseas investment activities issued by NDRC and MOFCOM, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our PRC subsidiaries ability to make distributions or pay dividends to us or affect our ownership structure. As a result, our business operations and our ability to distribute profits to you could be materially and adversely affected.
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Chinas M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for certain acquisitions of PRC companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.
A number of PRC laws and regulations have established procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time consuming and complex. In addition to the Anti-Monopoly Law of the PRC itself, these include the Rules on Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in 2006, which was amended in 2009, and the Rules of the Ministry of Commerce on Implementation of Security Review System of Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the Security Review Rules, promulgated in 2011. These laws and regulations impose requirements in some instances that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise. In addition, the Anti-Monopoly Law of the PRC requires that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any concentration of undertaking if certain thresholds are triggered. Moreover, the Security Review Rules specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise national defense and security concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise national security concerns are subject to strict review by MOFCOM, and prohibit any attempt to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the relevant regulations to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including approval from MOFCOM, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.
The approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission may be required in connection with this offering, and, if required, we cannot predict whether we will be able to obtain such approval.
The M&A Rules requires overseas special purpose vehicles that are controlled by PRC companies or individuals formed for the purpose of seeking a public listing on an overseas stock exchange through acquisitions of PRC domestic companies using shares of such special purpose vehicles or held by their shareholders as considerations to obtain the approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, prior to the listing and trading of such special purpose vehicles securities on an overseas stock exchange. However, the application of the M&A Rules remains unclear. If CSRC approval is required, it is uncertain whether it would be possible for us to obtain the approval. Any failure to obtain or delay in obtaining CSRC approval for this offering would subject us to sanctions imposed by the CSRC and other PRC regulatory agencies.
Our PRC legal counsel has advised us based on their understanding of the current PRC laws, regulations and rules that the CSRCs approval may not be required for the listing and trading of our ADSs on the [New York Stock Exchange/Nasdaq Global Market] in the context of this offering, given that: (i) the CSRC currently has not issued any definitive rule or interpretation concerning whether offerings like ours in this prospectus are subject to this regulation, (ii) our WFOE was incorporated as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise by means of direct investment rather than by merger or acquisition of equity interest or assets of a PRC domestic company owned by PRC companies or individuals as defined under the M&A Rules, and (iii) no explicit provision in the M&A Rules clearly classifies contractual arrangements as a type of acquisition transaction subject to such Rules.
However, our PRC legal counsel has further advised us that there remains some uncertainty as to how the M&A Rules will be interpreted or implemented in the context of an overseas offering and its opinions summarized above are subject to any new laws, regulations and rules or detailed
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implementations and interpretations in any form relating to the M&A Rules. We cannot assure you that relevant PRC government agencies, including the CSRC, would reach the same conclusion as our PRC legal counsel does. If it is determined that CSRC approval is required for this offering, we may face sanctions by the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies for failure to obtain or delay in obtaining CSRC approval for this offering. These sanctions may include fines and penalties on our operations in China, limitations on our operating privileges in China, delays in or restrictions on the repatriation of the proceeds from this offering into the PRC, restrictions on or prohibition of the payments or remittance of dividends by our subsidiaries in China, or other actions that could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation and prospects, as well as the trading price of our ADSs. The CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies may also take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, to halt this offering before the settlement and delivery of the ADSs that we are offering. Consequently, if you engage in market trading or other activities in anticipation of and prior to the settlement and delivery of the ADSs we are offering, you would be doing so at the risk that the settlement and delivery may not occur. In addition, if the CSRC or other regulatory agencies later promulgate new rules or explanations requiring that we obtain their approvals for this offering, we may be unable to obtain a waiver of such approval requirements.
Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.
Pursuant to SAFE Circular 37, PRC residents who participate in share incentive plans in overseas non-publicly-listed companies due to their position as director, senior management or employees of the PRC subsidiaries of the overseas companies may submit applications to SAFE or its local branches for foreign exchange registration with respect to offshore special purpose companies. Our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC residents and have been granted share-based awards may follow SAFE Circular 37 to apply for the foreign exchange registration before we become a U.S. publicly listed company. Pursuant to the Notice on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly Listed Company, issued by SAFE in February 2012, employees, directors, supervisors and other senior management participating in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company or another qualified institution selected by such PRC subsidiary, and complete certain other procedures. Such participants must also retain an overseas entrusted institution to handle matters in connection with their exercise of share-based awards, the purchase and sale of corresponding shares or interests and fund transfers. In addition, the domestic qualified agent is required to amend the SAFE registration for any material change to the share incentive plan, the domestic qualified agent or the overseas entrusted institution or other material changes. We and our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who reside in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year and who have been granted share-based awards are subject to these regulations upon the completion of this offering. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China and limit these subsidiaries ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors and employees under PRC law.
In addition, the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT has issued certain circulars concerning employee share options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, our employees working in China who exercise share options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. Our PRC subsidiaries have obligations to file documents related to employee
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share options or restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of those employees who exercise their share options. If our employees fail to pay or we fail to withhold their income taxes according to relevant laws and regulations, we may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC government authorities.
If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.
Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with a de facto management body within the PRC is considered a PRC resident enterprise and will be subject to the enterprise income tax on its global income at the rate of 25%. The implementation rules define the term de facto management body as the body that exercises full and substantial control over and overall management of the business, productions, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. In 2009, the SAT issued a circular, known as Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the de facto management body of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Although Circular 82 only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners like us, the criteria set forth in the circular may reflect the SATs general position on how the de facto management body test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of all offshore enterprises. According to Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its de facto management body in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income only if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in the PRC; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprises financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in the PRC; (iii) the enterprises primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions, are located or maintained in the PRC; and (iv) at least 50% of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in the PRC.
We believe that none of our entities outside of China is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term de facto management body. If the PRC tax authorities determine that we are a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, we will be subject to the enterprise income tax on our global income at the rate of 25% and we will be required to comply with PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations. In addition, gains realized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or our ordinary shares may be subject to PRC tax, at a rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC enterprises unless otherwise reduced or exempted by relevant tax treaties or similar arrangements, or 20% in the case of non-PRC individuals, if such gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. It is unclear whether non-PRC shareholders of our company would be able to claim the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs.
In addition to the uncertainty as to the application of the resident enterprise classification, we cannot assure you that the PRC government will not amend or revise the taxation laws, rules and regulations to impose stricter tax requirements or higher tax rates. Any of such changes could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
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We may not be able to obtain certain benefits under relevant tax treaty on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries to us through our Hong Kong subsidiary.
We are a holding company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and as such rely on dividends and other distributions on equity from our PRC subsidiaries to satisfy part of our liquidity requirements. Pursuant to the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, a withholding tax rate of 10% currently applies to dividends paid by a PRC resident enterprise to a foreign enterprise investor, unless any such foreign investors jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for preferential tax treatment. Pursuant to the Arrangement between the Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation on Income, such withholding tax rate may be lowered to 5% if a Hong Kong resident enterprise owns no less than 25% of a PRC enterprise. According to the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues concerning the Beneficial Owner in Tax Treaties, which became effective in April 2018, whether a resident enterprise is a beneficial owner that can apply for a low tax rate under tax treaties depends on an overall assessment of several factors, which may bring uncertainties to the applicability of preferential tax treatment under the tax treaties. Furthermore, the Administrative Measures for Non-Resident Enterprises to Enjoy Treatments under Treaties, which became effective in January 2020, requires non-resident enterprises to determine whether they are qualified to enjoy the preferential tax treatment under the tax treaties and file relevant report and materials with the tax authorities. There are also other conditions for enjoying the reduced withholding tax rate according to other relevant tax rules and regulations. See Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsTaxation. In the future we intend to re-invest all earnings, if any, generated from our PRC subsidiaries for the operation and expansion of our business in China. Should our tax policy change to allow for offshore distribution of our earnings, we would be subject to a significant withholding tax. We cannot assure you that our determination regarding our qualification to enjoy the preferential tax treatment will not be challenged by the relevant tax authority or we will be able to complete the necessary filings with the relevant tax authority and enjoy the preferential withholding tax rate of 5% under the arrangement with respect to dividends to be paid by our PRC subsidiaries to our Hong Kong subsidiary.
We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.
In February 2015, SAT issued the Public Notice Regarding Certain Corporate Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Properties by Non-Resident Enterprises, or SAT Public Notice 7. SAT Public Notice 7 extends its tax jurisdiction to not only indirect transfers but also transactions involving transfer of other taxable assets, through the offshore transfer of a foreign intermediate holding company. In addition, SAT Public Notice 7 provides certain criteria on how to assess reasonable commercial purposes and has introduced safe harbors for internal group restructurings and the purchase and sale of equity through a public securities market. SAT Public Notice 7 also brings challenges to both the foreign transferor and transferee (or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer) of the taxable assets. Where a non-resident enterprise conducts an indirect transfer by transferring the taxable assets indirectly by disposing of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, the non-resident enterprise being the transferor, or the transferee, or the PRC entity which directly owned the taxable assets may report to the relevant tax authority such indirect transfer. Using a substance over form principle, the PRC tax authority may disregard the existence of the overseas holding company if it lacks a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of reducing, avoiding or deferring PRC tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and the transferee or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer is obligated to withhold the applicable taxes, currently at a rate of 10% for the transfer of equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise unless otherwise reduced or exempted by relevant tax treaties or similar arrangements. On October 17, 2017, SAT issued the Bulletin on Issues Concerning
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the Withholding of Non-PRC Resident Enterprise Income Tax at Source, or SAT Bulletin 37, which came into effect on December 1, 2017 and amended on June 15, 2018. The SAT Bulletin 37 further clarifies the practice and procedure of the withholding of nonresident enterprise income tax.
We face uncertainties on the reporting and consequences of future private equity financing transactions, share exchanges or other transactions involving the transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises. The PRC tax authorities may pursue such non-resident enterprises with respect to a filing or the transferees with respect to withholding obligation, and request our PRC subsidiaries to assist in the filing. As a result, we and non-resident enterprises in such transactions may become at risk of being subject to filing obligations or being taxed under SAT Public Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37, and may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with them or to establish that we and our non-resident enterprises should not be taxed under these regulations, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
If the custodians or authorized users of controlling non-tangible assets of our company, including our corporate chops and seals, fail to fulfill their responsibilities, or misappropriate or misuse these assets, our business and operations could be materially and adversely affected.
Under PRC law, legal documents for corporate transactions are executed using the chops or seal of the signing entity or with the signature of a legal representative whose designation is registered and filed with the relevant branch of the Administration for Market Regulation. Although we usually utilize chops to enter into contracts, the designated legal representatives of our WFOE and our VIE have the apparent authority to enter into contracts on behalf of these entities without chops and bind the entities. The designated legal representatives of our PRC entities have signed employment agreements with us or these PRC entities under which they agree to abide by various duties. In order to maintain the physical security of our chops and chops of our PRC entities, we generally store these items in secured locations accessible only by the authorized personnel in the administrative department of each of our subsidiaries. Although we monitor such authorized personnel, there is no assurance such procedures will prevent all instances of abuse or negligence. Accordingly, if any of our authorized personnel misuse or misappropriate our corporate chops or seals, we could encounter difficulties in maintaining control over the relevant entities and experience significant disruption to our operations. If a designated legal representative obtains control of the chops in an effort to obtain control over our PRC entities, we or our PRC entities would need to pass a new shareholder or board resolution to designate a new legal representative and we would need to take legal action to seek the return of the chops, apply for new chops with the relevant authorities, or otherwise seek legal redress for the violation of the representatives fiduciary duties to us, which could involve significant time and resources and divert management attention away from our regular business. In addition, the affected entities may not be able to recover corporate assets that are sold or transferred out of our control in the event of such a misappropriation if a transferee relies on the apparent authority of the representative and acts in good faith.
If additional remedial measures are imposed on the big four PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging such firms failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could fail to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.
Starting in 2011 the Chinese affiliates of the big four accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, were affected by a conflict between U.S. and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain U.S.-listed companies operating and audited in mainland China, the SEC and
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the PCAOB sought to obtain from the Chinese firms access to their audit work papers and related documents. The firms were, however, advised and directed that under Chinese law, they could not respond directly to the U.S. regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the CSRC.
In late 2012, this impasse led the SEC to commence administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the Chinese accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. A first instance trial of the proceedings in July 2013 in the SECs internal administrative court resulted in an adverse judgment against the firms. The administrative law judge proposed penalties on the firms including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC, although that proposed penalty did not take effect pending review by the Commissioners of the SEC. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the Commissioner had taken place, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC. Under the settlement, the SEC accepts that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents will normally be made to the CSRC. The firms will receive matching Section 106 requests, and are required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance require them to facilitate production via the CSRC. If they fail to meet specified criteria, the SEC retains authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures on the firms depending on the nature of the failure. Remedies for any future noncompliance could include, as appropriate, an automatic six-month bar on a single firms performance of certain audit work, commencement of a new proceeding against a firm, or, in extreme cases, the resumption of the current proceeding against all four firms. If additional remedial measures are imposed on the Chinese affiliates of the big four accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging the firms failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could be unable to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.
In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about any such future proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.
If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of our ADSs from the [New York Stock Exchange/Nasdaq Global Market] or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of the ADSs in the United States.
Risks Relating to Our ADSs and This Offering
There has been no public market for our shares or ADSs prior to this offering, and you may not be able to resell our ADSs at or above the price you paid, or at all.
Prior to this initial public offering, there has been no public market for our shares or ADSs. We will apply to list our ADSs on the [New York Stock Exchange/Nasdaq Global Market]. Our shares will not be listed on any exchange or quoted for trading on any over-the-counter trading system. If an active trading market for our ADSs does not develop after this offering, the market price and liquidity of our ADSs will be materially and adversely affected.
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Negotiations with the underwriters will determine the initial public offering price for our ADSs which may bear no relationship to their market price after the initial public offering. We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our ADSs will develop or that the market price of our ADSs will not decline below the initial public offering price.
The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.
The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, including the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other companies with business operations located mainly in China that have listed their securities in the United States. The securities of some of these companies, including online recruitment services companies, have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in their trading prices. The trading performances of other Chinese companies securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors toward Chinese companies listed in the United States in general and consequently may impact the trading performance of the ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance.
In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for the ADSs may be highly volatile for factors specific to our own operations, including the following:
| actual or anticipated variations in our revenues, earnings and cash flow; |
| the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these projections; |
| fluctuations in key operating metrics; |
| announcements of new investments, acquisitions, strategic partnerships or joint ventures by us or our competitors; |
| announcements of new offerings, solutions and expansions by us or our competitors; |
| announcements of studies and reports relating to the quality of the services offered in our online recruitment platform or similar platforms of our competitors; |
| failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of our company, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors; |
| detrimental adverse publicity about us, our services or our industry; |
| announcements of new regulations, rules or policies relevant to our business; |
| additions or departures of key personnel; |
| release of lockup or other transfer restrictions on our outstanding equity securities or sales of additional equity securities; |
| potential litigation or regulatory investigations; and |
| other events or factors, including those resulting from war, epidemics, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events. |
Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which the ADSs will trade. Furthermore, the stock market in general experiences price and volume fluctuations that are often unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of companies like us. These
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broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our ADSs. Volatility or a lack of positive performance in our ADS price may also adversely affect our ability to retain key employees, most of whom have been granted equity incentives.
In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against those companies following periods of instability in the market price of their securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our managements attention and other resources from our business and operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit, which could harm our results of operations. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
[Our proposed dual-class voting structure will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.
Our authorized share capital will be divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares effective immediately prior to the completion of this offering (with certain shares remaining undesignated, with power for our directors to designate and issue such classes of shares as they think fit). Holders of Class A ordinary shares will be entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares will be entitled to votes per share. We will issue Class A ordinary shares represented by our ADSs in this offering. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. After this offering, the holder of Class B ordinary shares will have the ability to control matters requiring shareholders approval, including any amendment of our memorandum and articles of association. Any future issuances of Class B ordinary shares may be dilutive to the voting power of holders of Class A ordinary shares. Any conversions of Class B ordinary shares into Class A ordinary shares may dilute the percentage ownership of the existing holders of Class A ordinary shares within their class of ordinary shares. Such conversions may increase the aggregate voting power of the existing holders of Class A ordinary shares. In the event that we have multiple holders of Class B ordinary shares in the future and certain of them convert their Class B ordinary shares into Class A ordinary shares, the remaining holders who retain their Class B ordinary shares may experience increases in their relative voting power.
Upon the completion of this offering, will beneficially own all of our issued Class B ordinary shares. These Class B ordinary shares will constitute % of our total issued and outstanding share capital immediately after the completion of this offering and % of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital immediately after the completion of this offering due to the disparate voting powers associated with our dual-class share structure, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. As a result of the dual-class share structure and the concentration of ownership, holders of Class B ordinary shares will have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers and consolidations, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. Such holders may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the effect of depriving our other shareholders of the opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of our ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.]
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The dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may adversely affect the trading market for our ADSs.
Certain shareholder advisory firms have announced changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares and companies whose public shareholders hold no more than 5% of total voting power from being added to such indices. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may prevent the inclusion of our ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares in such indices and may cause shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for our ADSs. Any actions or publications by shareholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of our ADSs.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding the ADSs, the market price for our ADSs and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our ADSs will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our ADSs or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs to decline.
We currently do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future after this offering and you must rely on price appreciation of our ADSs for return on your investment.
We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings after this offering to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in our ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.
Our board of directors has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Under Cayman Islands law, a Cayman Islands company may pay a dividend out of either profit or share premium account, provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid out of the share premium account if this would result in the company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business immediately following the date on which the dividend is proposed to be paid. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in our ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that our ADSs will appreciate in value after this offering or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in our ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in our ADSs.
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Because our initial public offering price is substantially higher than our net tangible book value per share, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution.
If you purchase ADSs in this offering, you will pay more for your ADSs than the amount paid by our existing shareholders for their ordinary shares on a per ADS basis. As a result, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution of approximately US$ per ADS, representing the difference between the initial public offering price of US$ per ADS, the midpoint of the estimated public offering price range shown on the front cover of this prospectus, and our net tangible book value per ADS as of , 2021, after giving effect to the net proceeds we receive from this offering. See Dilution for a more complete description of how the value of your investment in the ADSs will be diluted upon the completion of this offering.
Techniques employed by short sellers may drive down the market price of the ADSs.
Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but rather has borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date to return to the lender. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the sale of the borrowed securities and the purchase of the replacement shares, as the short seller expects to pay less in that purchase than it received in the sale. As it is in the short sellers interest for the price of the security to decline, many short sellers publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects in order to create negative market momentum and generate profits for themselves after selling a security short. These short attacks have, in the past, led to selling of shares in the market.
Public companies that have substantially all of their operations in China have been the subject of short selling. Much of the scrutiny and negative publicity has centered on allegations of a lack of effective internal control over financial reporting resulting in financial and accounting irregularities and mistakes, inadequate corporate governance policies or a lack of adherence thereto and, in many cases, allegations of fraud. As a result, many of these companies are now conducting internal and external investigations into the allegations and, in the interim, are subject to shareholder lawsuits and/or SEC enforcement actions.
It is not clear what effect such negative publicity could have on us. If we were to become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we could have to expend a significant amount of resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend ourselves. While we would strongly defend against any such short seller attacks, we may be constrained in the manner in which we can proceed against the relevant short seller by principles of freedom of speech, applicable state law or issues of commercial confidentiality. Such a situation could be costly and time-consuming, and could distract our management from growing our business. Even if such allegations are ultimately proven to be groundless, allegations against us could severely impact our business operations, and any investment in the ADSs could be greatly reduced or even rendered worthless.
The sale or availability for sale of substantial amounts of the ADSs could adversely affect their market price.
Sales of substantial amounts of the ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of the ADSs and could materially impair our ability to raise capital through equity offerings in the future. We cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities held by our significant shareholders or any other shareholder or the availability of these securities for future sale will have on the market price of the ADSs. Upon the completion of this offering, we will have ordinary shares issued and outstanding, among which ordinary
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shares are in the form of ADSs, which are freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act. The remaining ordinary shares outstanding will be available for sale, subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. Certain holders of our ordinary shares may cause us to register under the Securities Act the sale of their shares, subject to the applicable lock-up period. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in ADSs representing these shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of the registration. Sales of these registered shares in the form of ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.
Because the amount, timing, and whether or not we distribute dividends at all are entirely at the discretion of our board of directors, you must rely on price appreciation of our ADSs for return on your investment.
Our board of directors has discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Under Cayman Islands law, a Cayman Islands company may pay a dividend out of either profit or share premium account provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid out of the share premium account if this would result in the company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business immediately following the date on which the dividend is proposed to be paid. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in the ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that the ADSs will appreciate in value after our initial public offering or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in the ADSs, and you may even lose your entire investment in the ADSs.
There can be no assurance that we will not be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, which could subject United States investors in our ADSs or ordinary shares to significant adverse United States income tax consequences.
A non-U.S. corporation, such as our company, will be classified as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for any taxable year if either (i) 75% or more of its gross income for such year consists of certain types of passive income, or (ii) 50% or more of the value of its assets (generally determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income (the asset test). Although the law in this regard is not entirely clear, we treat our VIE as being owned by us for U.S. federal income tax purposes because we control their management decisions and are entitled to substantially all of the economic benefits associated with them. As a result, we consolidate their results of operations in our consolidated U.S. GAAP financial statements. If it were determined, however, that we are not the owner of our VIE for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we may be treated as a PFIC for the current taxable year and any subsequent taxable year. Assuming that we are the owner of our VIE for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and based on the current and anticipated value of our assets and composition of our income and assets (taking into account the expected cash proceeds from, and our anticipated market capitalization following, this offering), we do not presently expect to be a PFIC for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future.
However, while we do not expect to be or become a PFIC, no assurance can be given in this regard because the determination of whether we are or will become a PFIC for any taxable year is a
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fact-intensive inquiry made annually that depends, in part, upon the composition of our income and assets. Fluctuations in the market price of our ADSs may cause us to be or become a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years because the value of our assets for the purpose of the asset test, including the value of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles, may be determined by reference to the market price of our ADSs from time to time (which may be volatile). The composition of our income and assets may also be affected by how, and how quickly, we use our liquid assets and the cash raised in this offering.
If we were to be or become a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder (as defined in TaxationUnited States Federal Income Tax Considerations) holds our ADSs or ordinary shares, certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to such U.S. Holder. See TaxationUnited States Federal Income Tax ConsiderationsPassive Foreign Investment Company Rules.
[Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could have a material adverse effect on the rights of holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs.
Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association contain certain provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions, including a provision that grants authority to our board of directors to establish and issue from time to time one or more series of preferred shares without action by our shareholders and to determine, with respect to any series of preferred shares, the terms and rights of that series, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our ordinary shares in the form of ADSs. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of the opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over the prevailing market price by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transactions.]
[Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association and the deposit agreement provide that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, the state courts in New York County, New York) is the exclusive judicial forum within the U.S. for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising out of or relating in any way to the federal securities laws of the United States, and any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating in any way to the ADSs or the deposit agreement, which could limit the ability of holders of our ordinary shares, the ADSs or other securities to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us, our directors and officers, the depositary, and potentially others.
Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association provide that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, the state courts in New York County, New York) is the exclusive forum within the United States for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising out of or relating in any way to the federal securities laws of the United States, regardless of whether such legal suit, action, or proceeding also involves parties other than our company. Our deposit agreement with the depositary bank also provides that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, the state courts in New York County, New York) will have jurisdiction to hear and determine any suit, action, or proceeding and to settle any dispute between the depositary bank and us that does not involve any other person or party that may arise out of or relate in any way to the deposit agreement, including claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Holders and beneficial owners of our ADSs, by
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holding an ADS or an interest therein, understand and irrevocably agree that any legal suit, action, or proceeding against or involving us or the depositary bank arising out of or related in any way to the deposit agreement, ADSs, or the transactions contemplated thereby or by virtue of ownership thereof, including without limitation claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, may only be instituted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks jurisdiction or such designation of the exclusive forum is, or becomes, invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, in the state courts of New York County, New York). However, the enforceability of similar federal court choice of forum provisions has been challenged in legal proceedings in the United States, and a court could find this type of provision to be inapplicable, unenforceable, or inconsistent with other documents relevant to the filing of such lawsuits. If a court were to find the federal court choice of forum provision contained in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association or our deposit agreement with the depositary bank to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions. If upheld, the forum selection clause in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association, as well as the forum selection provisions in the deposit agreement, may limit a security-holders ability to bring a claim against us, our directors and officers, the depositary bank, and potentially others in his or her preferred judicial forum, and this limitation may discourage such lawsuits. In addition, the Securities Act provides that both federal and state courts have jurisdiction over suits brought to enforce any duty or liability under the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accepting or consent to this forum selection provision does not constitute a waiver by you of compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. You may not waive compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The exclusive forum provision in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association will not operate so as to deprive the courts of the Cayman Islands from having jurisdiction over matters relating to our internal affairs.]
You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands (the Companies Act) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions by our minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors owed to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors owed to us under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have the standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.
Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.
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As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of our board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States. For a discussion of significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders, see Description of Share CapitalOur Post-Offering Memorandum and Articles of AssociationDifferences in Corporate Law.
You may experience difficulties in effecting service of legal process, enforcing foreign judgments or bringing actions in China against us or our management named in the prospectus based on foreign laws.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. However, we conduct substantially all of our operations in China and most of our assets are located in China. In addition, all of our directors and senior executive officers reside within China for at least a significant portion of the time and most are PRC nationals. As a result, it may be difficult for you to effect service of process upon us or our management residing in China. It may also be difficult for you to enforce in U.S. courts of the judgments obtained in U.S. courts based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws against us and our officers and directors. In addition, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands or the PRC would recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts against us or such persons predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state. On January 9, 2021, MOFCOM promulgated the Order of the Ministry of Commerce of the Peoples Republic of China, or Order No. 1, with immediate effect. Under Order No. 1, a citizen, if legal person or other organization of China is prohibited or restricted by foreign legislation and other measures from engaging in normal economic, trade and related activities with a third state (or region) or its citizens, legal persons or other organizations, the citizen, legal person or other organization shall truthfully report such matters to MOFCOM within 30 days. Upon assessment and confirmation that there exists unjustified extra-territorial application of foreign legislation and other measures, MOFCOM will issue a prohibition order to prevent the relevant foreign legislation and other measures from being accepted, executed, or observed, but such a citizen, legal person or other organization may apply to MOFCOM for an exemption from compliance with such prohibition order. However, since Order No. 1 is relatively new, its enforcement involves uncertainty in practice.
The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. China does not have any treaties or other forms of written arrangement with the United States that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, the PRC courts will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our directors and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC laws or national sovereignty, security or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States.
It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.
Shareholder claims or regulatory investigation that are common in the United States generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-
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border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, or Article 177, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests. See also Risks Relating to Our ADSs and This OfferingYou may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law for risks associated with investing in us as a Cayman Islands company.
[You may experience dilution of your holdings due to inability to participate in rights offerings.
We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire securities. However, we cannot make such rights available to you in the United States unless we register both the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute rights to holders of ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of ADSs, or are registered under the provisions of the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not required to, attempt to sell these undistributed rights to third parties, and may allow the rights to lapse. We may be unable to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.]
[You may not receive cash dividends if the depositary decides it is impractical to make them available to you.
The depositary will pay cash dividends on the ADSs only to the extent that we decide to distribute dividends on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities, and we do not have any present plan to pay any cash dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. To the extent that there is a distribution, the depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide that it is inequitable or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property to you.]
We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds from this offering and we may use these proceeds in ways with which you may not agree.
We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds of this offering, and our management will have considerable discretion in deciding how to apply these proceeds. You will not have the opportunity to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately before you make your investment decision. You must rely on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds of this offering. Our management has discretion over the use of proceeds we receive from this offering, and we could spend the proceeds we receive from this offering in ways our
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ADS holders may not agree with or that do not yield a favorable return, or no return at all. Our actual use of these proceeds may differ substantially from our plans, if any, in the future. We cannot assure you that the net proceeds will be used in a manner that would improve our results of operations or increase our ADS price, nor that these net proceeds will be placed only in investments that generate income or appreciate in value.
[You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.
Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may close its books from time to time for a number of reasons, including in connection with corporate events such as a rights offering, during which time the depositary needs to maintain an exact number of ADS holders on its books for a specified period. The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on weekends and public holidays. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of the ADSs generally when our share register or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary thinks it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.]
We will incur increased costs as a result of being a public company, particularly after we cease to qualify as an emerging growth company.
We have become a public company and expect to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the [New York Stock Exchange/Nasdaq Global Market], impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly.
As a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we will incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.
In addition, after we are no longer an emerging growth company, we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC.
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We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to United States domestic public companies.
Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:
| the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K; |
| the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; |
| the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; |
| the selective disclosure rules by issuers of material nonpublic information under Regulation FD; and |
| certain audit committee independence requirements in Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act. |
We will be required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the [New York Stock Exchange/Nasdaq Global Market]. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.
We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.
As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in revenues for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an emerging growth company pursuant to the JOBS Act. Therefore, we may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, in the assessment of the emerging growth companys internal control over financial reporting and permission to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such reporting and other requirements, in particular the auditor attestation requirements, our investors may not have access to certain information they may deem important.
The JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company does not need to comply with any new or revised financial accounting standards until such date that a private company is otherwise required to comply with such new or revised accounting standards, and we have elected to take advantage of such exemptions. This election allows us to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards apply to private companies, and as a result of this election our financial statements may not be comparable to those of companies that comply with public company effective dates, including other emerging growth companies that have not made this election.
We cannot predict if investors will find our ADSs less attractive or our company less comparable to certain other public companies because we may rely on more of these exemptions and elections. If
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some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and our ADS price may be more volatile.
[We will be a controlled company within the meaning of the [NYSE corporate governance listing standards/Nasdaq Stock Market Rules] and, as a result, may rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies.
We will be a controlled company as defined under the [NYSE corporate governance listing standards/Nasdaq Stock Market Rules] because will beneficially own more than 50% of our total voting power immediately after the completion of this offering. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely on, and may rely on, certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors. As a result, you may not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.]
As an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the [NYSE/Nasdaq] listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with such corporate governance listing standards.
After we are listed on the [Nasdaq Global Market/ New York Stock Exchange], we will be subject to the [Nasdaq Stock Markets/New York Stock Exchanges] corporate governance listing standards. However, [Nasdaq Stock Markets/New York Stock Exchanges] rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the [Nasdaq Stock Markets/New York Stock Exchanges] corporate governance listing standards. For example, Cayman Islands does not require us to comply with the following corporate governance listing standards of the [Nasdaq Stock Market/New York Stock Exchange]: (i) having the majority of our board of directors composed of independent directors, (ii) having a minimum of three members in our audit committee, (iii) holding annual shareholders meetings, (iv) having a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors, and (v) having a nominating and corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors. We do not intend to hold annual shareholders meetings and annual elections of directors after the completion of this offering. If we choose to follow additional home country practices in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they would otherwise enjoy under the [Nasdaq Stock Markets/New York Stock Exchanges] corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers.
The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs are voted.
Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our shareholders. As a holder of our ADSs, you will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. As an ADS holder, you will only be able to exercise the voting rights carried by the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you may vote only by giving voting instructions to the depositary. Upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try, as far as is practicable, to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs in accordance with your instructions. If we ask for your instructions, then
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upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to ask for your instructions, the depositary may still vote in accordance with instructions you give, but it is not required to do so. You will not be able to directly exercise your right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares unless you withdraw the shares, and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. Under our post-offering memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering, the minimum notice period required to be given by our company to our registered shareholders to convene a general meeting will be days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice of the meeting to withdraw the shares underlying your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares to allow you to attend the general meeting and to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our post-offering memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. If we ask for your instructions, the depositary will notify you of the upcoming vote and will arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. We have agreed to give the depositary notice of shareholder meetings sufficiently in advance of such meetings. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the shares underlying your ADSs are voted and you may have no legal remedy if the shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders meeting. Except in limited circumstances, the depositary for our ADSs will give us a discretionary proxy to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not vote at shareholders meetings, which could adversely affect your interests.
[We are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, or to terminate the deposit agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders.
We are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of the ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders. We and the depositary may agree to amend the deposit agreement in any way we decide is necessary or advantageous to us. Amendments may reflect, among other things, operational changes in the ADS program, legal developments affecting ADSs or changes in the terms of our business relationship with the depositary. In the event that the terms of an amendment impose or increase fees or charges (other than in connection with foreign exchange control regulations, and taxes and other governmental charges, delivery and other such expenses) or materially prejudice an existing substantial right of the ADS holders, ADS holders will only receive days advance notice of the amendment, and no prior consent of the ADS holders is required under the deposit agreement. Furthermore, we may decide to terminate the ADS facility at any time for any reason. For example, terminations may occur when we decide to list our shares on a non-U.S. securities exchange and determine not to continue to sponsor an ADS facility or when we become the subject of a takeover or a going-private transaction. If the ADS facility will terminate, ADS holders will receive at least days prior notice, but no prior consent is required from them. Under the circumstances that we decide to make an amendment to the deposit agreement that is disadvantageous to ADS holders or terminate the deposit agreement, the
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ADS holders may choose to sell their ADSs or surrender their ADSs and become direct holders of the underlying common shares, but will have no right to any compensation whatsoever.]
[ADS holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.
The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares provides that, subject to the depositarys right to require a claim to be submitted to arbitration, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, in the state courts in New York County, New York) shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine claims arising out of or relating in any way to the deposit agreement (including claims arising under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act) and in that regard, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws.
If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waives the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before investing in the ADSs.
If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us or the depositary, lead to increased costs to bring a claim, limited access to information and other imbalances of resources between such holder and us, or limit such holders ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such holder finds favorable. If a lawsuit is brought against us or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.
Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not enforced, to the extend a court action proceeds, it would proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs shall relieve us or the depositary from our respective obligations to comply with the Securities Act and the Exchange Act nor serve as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs of compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.]
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[The depositary for the ADSs will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not vote at shareholders meetings, except in limited circumstances, which could adversely affect your interests.
Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, if you do not vote, the depositary will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our ordinary shares underlying your ADSs at shareholders meetings unless:
| we have instructed the depositary that we do not wish a discretionary proxy to be given; |
| we have informed the depositary that there is substantial opposition as to a matter to be voted on at the meeting; |
| a matter to be voted on at the meeting may have a material adverse impact on shareholders; or |
| the voting at the meeting is to be made on a show of hands. |
The effect of this discretionary proxy is that if you do not vote at shareholders meetings, you cannot prevent our ordinary shares underlying your ADSs from being voted, except under the circumstances described above. This may make it more difficult for shareholders to influence the management of our company. Holders of our ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.]
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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. The forward looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled Prospectus Summary, Risk Factors, Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Business. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those listed under Risk Factors, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
You can identify some of these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as may, will, expect, anticipate, aim, estimate, intend, plan, believe, is/are likely to, potential, continue or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to:
| our mission, goals and strategies; |
| our future business development, financial condition and results of operations; |
| the expected growth of the online recruitment service industry in China; |
| our expectations regarding the prospects of our business model and demand for and market acceptance of our services; |
| our expectations regarding maintaining and strengthening our relationships with users, business partners and other stakeholders; |
| competition in our industry; |
| our proposed use of proceeds from this offering; |
| relevant government policies and regulations relating to our industry; |
| general economic and business conditions globally and in China; and |
| assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. |
These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may later be found to be incorrect. Our actual results could be materially different from our expectations. Important risks and factors that could cause our actual results to be materially different from our expectations are generally set forth in Prospectus SummarySummary of Risk Factors, Risk Factors, Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, Business, Regulation and other sections in this prospectus. You should read thoroughly this prospectus and the documents that we refer to with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from and worse than what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.
This prospectus contains certain data and information that we obtained from various government and private publications. Statistical data in these publications also includes projections based on a number of assumptions. Our industry may not grow at the rate projected by market data, or at all. Failure of this market to grow at the projected rate may have a material and adverse effect on our business and the market price of the ADSs. In addition, the rapidly evolving nature of this industry results in significant uncertainties for any projections or estimates relating to the growth prospects or future condition of our market. Furthermore, if any one or more of the assumptions underlying the
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market data are later found to be incorrect, actual results may differ from the projections based on these assumptions. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this prospectus. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this prospectus and the documents that we refer to in this prospectus and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect.
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We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from this offering of approximately US$ , or approximately US$ if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us. These estimates are based upon an assumed initial public offering price of US$ per ADS, which is the midpoint of the price range shown on the front page of this prospectus. A US$1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of US$ per ADS would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by US$ , assuming the number of ADSs offered by us, as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses payable by us.
The primary purposes of this offering are to create a public market for our shares for the benefit of all shareholders, retain talented employees by providing them with equity incentives, and obtain additional capital. We plan to use the net proceeds of this offering as follows:
| approximately 40% for investment in technology infrastructure and research and development to upgrade our service offerings and to improve technology capabilities in areas such as AI and big data analytics; |
| approximately 35% for marketing activities to drive user growth and to expand into a wider user base and more geographical markets; |
| approximately 15% for exploration of new product and service offerings, such as providing other human resource services; and |
| the balance for general corporate purposes, which may include strategic investments and acquisitions, although we have not identified any specific investments or acquisition opportunities at this time. |
The foregoing represents our current intentions based upon our present plans and business conditions to use and allocate the net proceeds of this offering. Our management, however, will have significant flexibility and discretion to apply the net proceeds of this offering. If an unforeseen event occurs or business conditions change, we may use the proceeds of this offering differently than as described in this prospectus. See Risk FactorsRisks relating to Our ADSs and This OfferingWe have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds from this offering and we may use these proceeds in ways with which you may not agree.
To the extent that the net proceeds we receive from this offering are not immediately applied for the above purposes, we plan to invest the net proceeds in short-term, interest-bearing, debt instruments or demand deposits.
In using the proceeds of this offering, we are permitted under PRC laws and regulations as an offshore holding company to provide funding to our PRC subsidiary only through loans or capital contributions and to our consolidated VIE only through loans, subject to satisfaction of applicable government registration and approval requirements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain these government registrations or approvals on a timely basis, or at all. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Doing Business in ChinaPRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.
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Our board of directors has discretion on whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our board of directors. In either case, all dividends are subject to certain restrictions under Cayman Islands law, namely that our company may only pay dividends out of profits or share premium account, and provided always that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid out of the share premium account if this would result in our company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business immediately following the date on which the dividend is proposed to be paid. Even if we decide to pay dividends, the form, frequency and amount will depend upon our future operations and earnings, capital requirements and surplus, general financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that the board of directors may deem relevant.
We do not have any present plan to pay any cash dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future after this offering. We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to operate and expand our business.
We are a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. We may rely on dividends from our subsidiary in China for our cash requirements, including any payment of dividends to our shareholders. PRC regulations may restrict the ability of our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends to us. See RegulationRegulations Relating to Dividend Distribution.
If we pay any dividends on our ordinary shares, we will pay those dividends which are payable in respect of the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by the ADSs to the depositary, as the registered holder of such Class A ordinary shares, and the depositary then will pay such amounts to the ADS holders in proportion to the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by the ADSs held by such ADS holders, subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, including the fees and expenses payable thereunder. See Description of American Depositary Shares. Cash dividends on our ordinary shares, if any, will be paid in U.S. dollars.
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The following table sets forth our capitalization as of December 31, 2020:
| on an actual basis; |
| on a pro forma basis to reflect [(i) the re-designation of ordinary shares beneficially owned by into Class B ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering, (ii) the re-designation of all of the remaining ordinary shares beneficially owned by into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering; and (iii) the automatic conversion and the re-designation of the issued and outstanding preferred shares on a one-for-one basis into Class A ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of this offering]; and |
| on a pro forma as adjusted basis to reflect [(i) the re-designation of ordinary shares beneficially owned by into Class B ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering, (ii) the re-designation of all of the remaining ordinary shares beneficially owned by into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering; (iii) the automatic conversion and the re-designation of the issued and outstanding preferred shares on a one-for-one basis into Class A ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of this offering]; and (iv) the issuance and sale of Class A ordinary shares in the form of ADSs by us in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of US$ per ADS, the midpoint of the estimated range of the initial public offering price shown on the front cover of this prospectus, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. |
You should read this table together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus and the information under Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
As of December 31, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Actual | Pro Forma | Pro Forma As Adjusted(1) |
||||||||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
RMB | US$ | RMB | US$ | RMB | US$ | |||||||||||||||||||
Mezzanine Equity: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series A redeemable convertible preferred shares (US$0.0001 par value; 60,000,000 authorized, issued and outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
36,177 | 5,543 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Series B redeemable convertible preferred shares (US$0.0001 par value; 40,000,000 authorized, issued and outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
67,976 | 10,418 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Series C redeemable convertible preferred shares (US$0.0001 par value; 147,068,133 authorized, issued and outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
478,565 | 73,344 |
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As of December 31, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Actual | Pro Forma | Pro Forma As Adjusted(1) |
||||||||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
RMB | US$ | RMB | US$ | RMB | US$ | |||||||||||||||||||
Series D redeemable convertible preferred shares (US$0.0001 par value; 60,856,049 authorized, issued and outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
380,782 | 58,357 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Series E redeemable convertible preferred shares (US$0.0001 par value; 144,073,367 authorized, issued and outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
1,845,033 | 282,764 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Series F redeemable convertible preferred shares (US$0.0001 par value; 99,354,585 authorized, issued and outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
2,882,063 | 441,696 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Subscription receivables from shareholders |
(103,596 | ) | (15,877 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Total Mezzanine Equity |
5,587,000 | 856,245 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Shareholders Deficit: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Class A ordinary shares (US$0.0001 par value; 827,539,829 authorized, 11,533,640 issued and 7,875,787 outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
5 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Class B ordinary shares (US$0.0001 par value; 121,108,037 authorized, issued and outstanding on an actual basis, shares authorized and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma basis, and shares issued and outstanding on a pro forma as adjusted basis) |
76 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Additional paid-in capital(2) |
452,234 | 69,308 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Accumulated other comprehensive loss |
(130,387 | ) | (19,983 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Accumulated deficit |
(2,622,045 | ) | (401,846 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Total Shareholders Deficit(2) |
(2,300,117 | ) | (352,509 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Total Mezzanine Equity and Shareholders Deficit(2) |
3,286,883 | 503,736 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
(1) | The pro forma as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only. Our additional paid-in capital, total shareholders deficit and total mezzanine equity and shareholders deficit following the completion of this offering are subject to adjustment based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. |
(2) | A US$1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of US$ per ADS, which is the midpoint of the estimated range of the initial public offering price shown on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) each of additional paid-in capital, total shareholders deficit and total mezzanine equity and shareholders deficit by US$ million. |
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If you invest in the ADSs, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per ADS and our net tangible book value per ADS after this offering. Dilution results from the fact that the initial public offering price per ordinary share is substantially in excess of the book value per ordinary share attributable to the existing shareholders for our presently outstanding ordinary shares on an as-converted basis.
Our net tangible book value as of , 2021 was approximately US$ million, or US$ per ordinary share and US$ per ADS. Net tangible book value represents the amount of [our total consolidated assets less the amount of our total consolidated liabilities and total mezzanine equity]. Dilution is determined by subtracting net tangible book value per ordinary share, after giving effect to the additional proceeds we will receive from this offering, from the assumed initial public offering price of US$ per Class A ordinary share, which is the midpoint of the estimated initial public offering price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus adjusted to reflect the ADS-to-ordinary share ratio, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Because the Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares have the same dividend and other rights, except for voting and conversion rights, the dilution is presented based on all issued and outstanding ordinary shares, including Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares.
Without taking into account any other changes in pro forma net tangible book value after , 2021, other than to give effect to our sale of the ADSs offered in this offering at the assumed initial public offering price of US$ per ADS, which is the midpoint of the estimated initial public offering price range, after deduction of the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of , 2021 would have been US$ , or US$ per ordinary share and US$ per ADS. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of US$ per ordinary share and US$ per ADS to the existing shareholders and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of US$ per ordinary share and US$ per ADS to investors purchasing ADSs in this offering. The following table illustrates such dilution:
Per Ordinary Share |
Per ADS | |||
Assumed initial public offering price |
US$ | US$ | ||
Net tangible book value as of , 2021 |
US$ | US$ | ||
Pro forma net tangible book value after giving effect to the conversion of our preferred shares |
US$ | US$ | ||
Pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after giving effect to the conversion of our preferred shares and this offering |
US$ | US$ | ||
Amount of dilution in net tangible book value to new investors in this offering |
US$ | US$ |
A US$1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of US$ per ADS would increase (decrease) our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after giving effect to this offering by US$ , the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS after giving effect to this offering by US$ per ordinary share and US$ per ADS, and the dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS to new investors in this offering by US$ per ordinary share and US$ per ADS, assuming no change to the number of ADSs offered by us as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.
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The following table summarizes, on a pro forma as adjusted basis as of December 31, 2020, the differences between existing shareholders and the new investors with respect to the number of ordinary shares (in the form of ADSs or shares) purchased from us, the total consideration paid and the average price per ordinary share and per ADS paid before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The total number of ordinary shares does not include ordinary shares underlying the ADSs issuable upon the exercise of the option to purchase additional ADSs granted to the underwriters.
Ordinary Shares Purchased |
Total Consideration |
Average Price Per Ordinary Share |
Average Price Per ADS |
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Number | Percent | Amount | Percent | |||||||||||||||||||||
Existing shareholders |
US$ | % | US$ | US$ | ||||||||||||||||||||
New investors |
US$ | % | US$ | US$ | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Total |
US$ | 100.0 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
The pro forma as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only. Our net tangible book value following the completion of this offering is subject to adjustment based on the actual initial public offering price of the ADSs and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.
The discussion and tables above assume no exercise of options outstanding as of the date of this prospectus. As of the date of this prospectus, there are 118,702,358 outstanding options with a weighted average exercise price of US$1.33 per share. To the extent that any of these options are exercised, there will be further dilution to new investors.
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ENFORCEABILITY OF CIVIL LIABILITIES
We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability in order to enjoy the following benefits:
| political and economic stability; |
| an effective judicial system; |
| a favorable tax system; |
| the absence of exchange control or currency restrictions; and |
| the availability of professional and support services. |
However, certain disadvantages accompany incorporation in the Cayman Islands. These disadvantages include but are not limited to:
| the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States and these securities laws provide significantly less protection to investors as compared to the United States; and |
| Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the federal courts of the United States. |
Our constituent documents do not contain provisions requiring that disputes, including those arising under the securities laws of the United States, between us, our officers, directors and shareholders, be arbitrated.
Substantially all of our operations are conducted in China, and a majority of our assets are located in China. The majority of our directors and executive officers are nationals or residents of jurisdictions other than the United States and a substantial portion of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for a shareholder to effect service of process within the United States upon these persons, or to enforce against us or them judgments obtained in United States courts, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.
We have appointed , located at , as our agent upon whom process may be served in any action brought against us under the securities laws of the United States.
We have been advised by Harney Westwood & Riegels, our counsel as to Cayman Islands law, that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands would (i) recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers that are predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or the securities laws of any state in the United States, or (ii) entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands against us or our directors or officers that are predicated upon the federal securities laws of the United States or the securities laws of any state in the United States. We have also been advised by Harney Westwood & Riegels that there is currently no statutory enforcement or treaty between the United States and the Cayman Islands providing for enforcement of judgments. However, a judgment obtained in the United States may be recognized and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination on the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, provided such judgment (a) is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction, (b) is final, (c) is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty, and (d) was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or public policy of the Cayman Islands.
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Tian Yuan Law Firm, our counsel as to PRC law, has advised us that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of China would:
| recognize or enforce judgments of United States courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States; or |
| entertain original actions brought in each respective jurisdiction against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. |
Tian Yuan Law Firm has further advised us that the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law and other applicable laws and regulations based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. China does not have any treaties or other form of reciprocity with the United States or the Cayman Islands that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, courts in the PRC will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our directors and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC law or national sovereignty, security or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States or in the Cayman Islands. Under the PRC Civil Procedures Law, foreign shareholders may originate actions based on PRC law against a company in China for disputes if they can establish sufficient nexus to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction, and meet other procedural requirements, including, among others, the plaintiff must have a direct interest in the case, and there must be a concrete claim, a factual basis and a cause for the suit. It will be, however, difficult for U.S. shareholders to originate actions against us in the PRC in accordance with PRC laws because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and it will be difficult for U.S. shareholders, by virtue only of holding the ADSs or ordinary shares, to establish a connection to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction as required under the PRC Civil Procedures Law.
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CORPORATE HISTORY AND STRUCTURE
Corporate History
We commenced operations by setting up Beijing Huapin Borui Network Technology Co., Ltd., or our VIE, in December 2013. Our holding company, KANZHUN LIMITED, was incorporated in January 2014 to facilitate offshore financing.
In February 2014, KANZHUN LIMITED established a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong, Techfish Limited. In May 2014, Techfish Limited established a wholly owned subsidiary in China, Beijing Glorywolf Co., Ltd., or our WFOE. In May 2014, we gained control over our VIE through our WFOE by entering into a series of contractual arrangements with our VIE and its sole shareholder then. The contractual arrangements with our VIE were subsequently replaced and superseded by updated agreements as a result of change in our VIEs shareholders in December 2014, June 2016, February 2017, and February 2020.
The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure, including our significant subsidiaries and our VIE, as of the date of this prospectus:
Note:
(1) | Shareholders of our VIE and their respective shareholdings in our VIE and relationships with our company are (i) Mr. Peng Zhao (99.5%), our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and (ii) Mr. Xu Yue (0.5%), our employee. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our Corporate StructureThe shareholders of our VIE may have actual or potential conflicts of interest with us. |
Contractual Arrangements with Our VIE and Its Shareholders
Current PRC laws and regulations impose certain restrictions or prohibitions on foreign ownership of companies that engage in value-added telecommunication services and certain other businesses.
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We are an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Our WFOE is our PRC subsidiary and is a foreign-invested enterprise under PRC Laws. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we conduct certain of our business in the PRC through our VIE based on a series of contractual arrangements by and among our WFOE, our VIE and its shareholders.
Our contractual arrangements with our VIE and its shareholders allow us to (i) exercise effective control over our VIE, (ii) receive substantially all of the economic benefits of our VIE, and (iii) have an exclusive call option to purchase all or part of the equity interests in our VIE when and to the extent permitted by PRC law.
As a result of our direct ownership in our WFOE and the contractual arrangements with our VIE, we are regarded as the primary beneficiary of our VIE, and we treat our VIE as our consolidated affiliated entity under U.S. GAAP. We have consolidated the financial results of our VIE in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
The following is a summary of the currently effective contractual arrangements by and among our WFOE, our VIE and its shareholders.
Agreements that provide us with effective control over our VIE
Powers of Attorney. Pursuant to the powers of attorney executed by our VIEs shareholders on February 21, 2020, each of them irrevocably authorized our WFOE or its designee(s) to act on their respective behalf as proxy attorney, to the extent permitted by law, to exercise all rights of shareholders concerning all the equity interest held by each of them in our VIE, including but not limited to attending shareholders meetings, signing the resolutions and minutes of such meetings, designating and appointing legal representatives, directors and senior management of our VIE, and exercising all the other rights as shareholders that it is entitled under relevant PRC laws and regulations and the articles of association of our VIE, including but not limited to voting rights the right to sell, transfer, pledge or dispose of all the equity held in part or in whole. The powers of attorney remain irrevocably effective as long as such VIE shareholders remain as our VIEs shareholders.
Equity Interest Pledge Agreement. Under the equity interest pledge agreement among our WFOE, our VIE and its shareholders dated February 21, 2020, our VIEs shareholders pledged all of their equity interests of our VIE to our WFOE as security for the payment of service fees pursuant to the exclusive technology development, consulting and service agreement by the VIE. If any of the specified events of default occurs, our WFOE may exercise the right to enforce the pledge immediately. Our WFOE may transfer all or any of its rights and obligations under the equity interest pledge agreement to its designee(s) at any time. The agreement will remain in effect until the full payment of the service fees and the fulfillment of all the obligations under the exclusive technology development, consulting and service agreement.
We have completed the registration of the equity interest pledge under the equity interest pledge agreement in relation to our VIE with the relevant office of the State Administration for Market Regulation in accordance with applicable PRC laws and regulations.
Agreements that allow us to receive economic benefits from our VIE
Exclusive Technology Development, Consulting and Service agreement. Pursuant to the exclusive technology development, consulting and service agreement between our WFOE and our VIE dated February 10, 2017, our WFOE has the exclusive right to provide our VIE services, including but not limited to, research, development, application and implementation of technology, daily maintenance, monitor, debugging, and troubleshooting of computer network system, consulting
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services for the procurement of software and hardware systems, and training and technical support services. In exchange, our WFOE is entitled to receive a service fee from our VIE on a quarterly basis at an amount as approved by our WFOE and the board of our company (including the director(s) appointed by preferred shareholders). The agreement has a term of 10 years unless otherwise terminated by our WFOE and our VIE and may be extended at the end of each term with the prior written consent of our WFOE for a further 10 years or otherwise as agreed by our WFOE and our VIE.
Agreements that provide us with the option to purchase the equity interests in our VIE
Exclusive Call Option Agreement. Under the exclusive call option agreement among our WFOE, our VIE and its shareholders dated February 21, 2020, each of the shareholders of our VIE has irrevocably granted our WFOE an exclusive call option to purchase, or designate a third-party to purchase, all or any part of their equity interests in our VIE at a purchase price of RMB100 or equal to the lowest price permissible by the then-applicable PRC laws and regulations at our WFOEs sole and absolute discretion to the extent permitted by PRC law. The shareholders of our VIE shall promptly give all considerations they received from the exercise of the options to our WFOE or its designee(s). Our VIE and/or its shareholders covenant that, without our WFOEs or our companys prior written consent, they will not, among other things, (i) sell, transfer, pledge or otherwise dispose of their equity interests in our VIE, or create any encumbrance on their equity interests in our VIE, except for those encumbrances created by our VIEs shareholders on our VIE under the equity interest pledge agreement; (ii) amend our VIEs articles of association, or change our VIEs registered capital or shareholding structure; (iii) cause our VIE to enter into any material contract, being contracts with value exceeding RMB50,000, except in the ordinary course of business; (iv) allow our VIE to incur, inherit, guarantee or permit any debts, except for those payables incurred in the ordinary course of business but not incurred by way of borrowing; (v) merge or consolidate our VIE with any other entity or acquire or invest in any other entity; (vi) distribute any dividend, however, upon request by our WFOE, our VIE shall immediately distribute all distributable profits to its shareholders; or (vii) sell, transfer, mortgage or otherwise dispose of any of our VIEs assets or allow any encumbrance of any assets. The exclusive call option agreement has a term of 10 years and may be extended unilaterally by our WFOE for a further 10 years.
Spousal Consent Letter. Pursuant to the spousal consent letter executed by the spouses of both shareholders of our VIE on February 21, 2020, the signing spouse unconditionally and irrevocably agreed that the equity interest in our VIE held by and registered in the name of such shareholder be disposed of in accordance with the exclusive call option agreement, the equity interest pledge agreement, and the power of attorney described above, and that such shareholder may perform, amend or terminate such agreements without the signing spouses consent. Additionally, the signing spouse agreed not to assert any rights over the equity interest in our VIE held by such shareholder. In addition, in the event that the signing spouse obtains any equity interest in our VIE held by such shareholder for any reason, she agrees to be bound by and upon request by our WFOE sign any legal documents substantially similar to the contractual arrangements described above, as may be amended from time to time.
In the opinion of Tian Yuan Law Firm, our PRC legal counsel:
| the ownership structures of our VIE and our WFOE in China, both currently and immediately after giving effect to this offering, are not in violation of applicable PRC laws and regulations currently in effect; and |
| the contractual arrangements between our WFOE, our VIE and its shareholders governed by PRC law are valid, binding and enforceable, and will not result in any violation of applicable PRC laws and regulations currently in effect. |
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However, our PRC legal counsel has also advised us that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules. Accordingly, the PRC regulatory authorities may take a view that is contrary to the opinion of our PRC legal counsel. It is uncertain whether any new PRC laws or regulations relating to VIE structures will be adopted or if adopted, what they would provide. If we or our VIE are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, or fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant PRC regulatory authorities would have broad discretion to take action in dealing with such violations or failures. See Risk FactorsRisks relating to Our Corporate StructureIf the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating some of our operations in China do not comply with PRC laws and regulations relating to the relevant industries, or if these laws and regulations or the interpretation of existing laws and regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations, Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our Corporate StructureOur current corporate structure and business operations may be substantially affected by the newly enacted Foreign Investment Law and Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Doing Business in ChinaUncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us.
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SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA
The following selected consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2019 and 2020 and selected consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statement included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP. Our historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future periods. You should read this Selected Consolidated Financial Data section together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included elsewhere in this prospectus.
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands, except for share amount and per share data) |
||||||||||||
Selected Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Loss: |
||||||||||||
Revenues: |
||||||||||||
Online recruitment services to enterprise customers |
986,859 | 1,927,178 | 295,353 | |||||||||
Others |
11,861 | 17,181 | 2,633 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total revenues |
998,720 | 1,944,359 | 297,986 | |||||||||
Operating cost and expenses: |
||||||||||||
Cost of revenues(1) |
(137,812 | ) | (240,211 | ) | (36,814 | ) | ||||||
Sales and marketing expenses(1) |
(916,832 | ) | (1,347,532 | ) | (206,518 | ) | ||||||
Research and development expenses(1) |
(325,569 | ) | (513,362 | ) | (78,676 | ) | ||||||
General and administrative expenses(1) |
(132,999 | ) | (797,008 | ) | (122,147 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total operating cost and expenses |
(1,513,212 | ) | (2,898,113 | ) | (444,155 | ) | ||||||
Other operating income, net |
2,573 | 8,849 | 1,356 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Loss from operations |
(511,919 | ) | (944,905 | ) | (144,813 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Financial income, net |
145 | 3,098 | 475 | |||||||||
Foreign exchange gain/(loss) |
1 | (5,074 | ) | (778 | ) | |||||||
Investment income |
9,718 | 9,095 | 1,394 | |||||||||
Other expenses |
| (4,109 | ) | (630 | ) | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Loss before income tax expense |
(502,055 | ) | (941,895 | ) | (144,352 | ) | ||||||
Income tax expense |
| | | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net loss |
(502,055 | ) | (941,895 | ) | (144,352 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Accretion on convertible redeemable preferred shares to redemption value |
(232,319 | ) | (283,981 | ) | (43,522 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders |
(734,374 | ) | (1,225,876 | ) | (187,874 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders |
||||||||||||
Basic and diluted |
(6.86 | ) | (11.03 | ) | (1.69 | ) | ||||||
Pro forma net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted(2) (unaudited) |
|
(1.46 |
) |
|||||||||
Pro forma weighted-average ordinary shares outstanding, basic and diluted(2) (unaudited) |
662,525,120 |
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Note:
(1) | Share-based compensation expenses were allocated as follows: |
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Share-based compensation expenses: |
||||||||||||
Cost of revenues |
944 | 1,920 | 294 | |||||||||
Sales and marketing expenses |
8,443 | 21,473 | 3,291 | |||||||||
Research and development expenses |
13,595 | 30,883 | 4,733 | |||||||||
General and administrative expenses |
11,268 | 602,960 | 92,408 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
34,250 | 657,236 | 100,726 | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
(2) | Unaudited pro forma basic and diluted net loss per share was computed to give effect to (1) the automatic conversion of all issued and outstanding convertible preferred shares into 551,352,134 ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of this offering, using the if converted method as if the conversion and reclassification had occurred as of the beginning of the year; and (2) recording unrecognized compensation expense related to certain stock options with direct connection with the completion of this offering as if the performance condition for these stock option had been achieved. The following table presents the reconciliations (i) from net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders to pro forma net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders, and (ii) from weighted average ordinary shares outstanding to pro forma weighted average ordinary shares outstanding. |
(in RMB in thousands, except for share and per share data)
For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 |
||||
Numerator |
||||
Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders |
(1,225,876 | ) | ||
Pro forma adjustment of conversion of preferred shares |
283,981 | |||
Pro forma adjustment of share-based compensation expenses |
(22,127 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Numerator for pro forma basic and diluted loss per share |
(964,022 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Denominator |
||||
Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in computing net loss per share |
111,172,986 | |||
Pro forma effect of conversion of preferred shares |
551,352,134 | |||
|
|
|||
Denominator for pro forma basic and diluted loss per share |
662,525,120 | |||
|
|
|||
Pro forma net loss per share, basic and diluted |
(1.46 | ) |
The following table presents our selected consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2019 and 2020:
As of December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Selected Consolidated Balance Sheet Data: |
||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
407,355 | 3,998,203 | 612,751 | |||||||||
Short-term investments |
1,142,015 | 536,401 | 82,207 | |||||||||
Total current assets |
1,707,793 | 4,747,312 | 727,557 | |||||||||
Total assets |
1,878,999 | 5,083,279 | 779,046 | |||||||||
Deferred revenue |
614,820 | 1,200,349 | 183,962 | |||||||||
Other payable and accrued liabilities |
293,202 | 418,259 | 64,100 | |||||||||
Total current liabilities |
1,007,855 | 1,720,023 | 263,605 | |||||||||
Total liabilities |
1,045,514 | 1,796,396 | 275,310 | |||||||||
Total mezzanine equity |
2,494,421 | 5,587,000 | 856,245 | |||||||||
Total shareholders deficit |
(1,660,936 | ) | (2,300,117 | ) | (352,509 | ) |
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The following table presents our selected consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020:
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Selected Consolidated Cash Flow Data: |
||||||||||||
Net cash (used in)/generated from operating activities |
(105,663 | ) | 395,911 | 60,676 | ||||||||
Net cash (used in)/generated from investing activities |
(1,223,803 | ) | 467,305 | 71,617 | ||||||||
Net cash generated from financing activities |
993,475 | 2,882,112 | 441,703 | |||||||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents |
43,113 | (154,480 | ) | (23,675 | ) | |||||||
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents |
(292,878 | ) | 3,590,848 | 550,321 | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year |
700,233 | 407,355 | 62,430 | |||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year |
407,355 | 3,998,203 | 612,751 |
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MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our actual results may differ materially from those we currently anticipate as a result of many factors, including those we describe under Risk Factors and elsewhere in this prospectus. See Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.
Overview
We are the largest online recruitment platform in China, as measured by average MAU in 2020, according to the CIC Report, We connect job seekers and enterprise users in an efficient and seamless manner mainly through our highly interactive BOSS Zhipin mobile app, which together with our other mobile apps and mini programs create a vibrant network. We are relentlessly focused on enhancing user experience by delivering efficient, intuitive and convenient experience to them throughout the recruitment cycle.
We have a large and fast growing pool of job seekers consisting of white and gold-collar users, blue-collar users and college students. We also serve an extensive network of employers covering small, mid-sized and large businesses. Leveraging our large user base, we provide enterprise users with a wide range of services which give employers the flexibility to either purchase our services in small scale and on demand or subscribe annually to enjoy all of our services. Our service offerings allow enterprise users to take advantage of our online recruiting platform and access massive quality talents in a cost effective way.
We have achieved significant growth. Our average MAU grew by 73.2% from 11.5 million in 2019 to 19.8 million in 2020. Our revenues increased by 94.7% from RMB998.7 million in 2019 to RMB1,944.4 million (US$298.0 million) in 2020. Our calculated cash billings increased by 89.7% from RMB1,334.0 million in 2019 to RMB2,529.9 million (US$387.7 million) in 2020. We generated net losses of RMB502.1 million and RMB941.9 million (US$144.4 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our adjusted net losses were RMB467.8 million and RMB284.7 million (US$43.6 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our operating cash flow turned positive in 2020 and reached RMB395.9 million (US$60.7 million) in 2020. For discussions of our calculated cash billings and adjusted net loss and reconciliation of calculated cash billings to revenues and reconciliation of adjusted net loss to net loss, see Non-GAAP Financial Measures for details.
Key Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
Our business and results of operations are affected by a number of general factors that impact Chinas online recruitment service market, including, among others:
| Chinas overall economic growth and development, along with its structural transformation into a service-based and technology-driven economy; |
| greater challenges in hiring leading to the increasing adoption of recruitment services; |
| digitalization of the recruitment industry; |
| the emergence of the direct recruitment model; |
| growth of the blue-collar sector; |
| the high growth potential in online penetration among employers; |
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| competitive landscape of Chinas online recruitment service industry and our market position therein; and |
| government policies and regulations affecting Chinas online recruitment service industry. |
Unfavorable changes in any of these general conditions could negatively impact demand for our services and materially and adversely affect our results of operations. While our business is influenced by these general factors, our results of operations are more directly affected by the following company-specific factors.
Our ability to expand our large and active user base
A large and active user base is the core reason why job seekers and enterprise users are attracted to and continue to use our online recruitment platform, as enterprise users primarily look for a large talent pool to recruit from and job seekers value access to a multitude of actively hiring employers when using recruitment services. We must be able to grow our MAU, which we view as a key indicator of the size of our active user base, in order to support our business development. Our average MAU grew by 73.2% from 11.5 million in 2019 to 19.8 million in 2020. Whether we can continue to grow our MAU mainly depends on our ability to provide superior user experience. To this end, we will continue to focus on providing a personalized user experience through enhancing our AI and big data technology capabilities that power the matching between job seekers and enterprise users, offering more efficient and flexible communication methods for our users, and improving the reliability of our online recruitment platform.
Our acquisition of paid enterprise customers
Growth in the number of paid enterprise customers, who include enterprise users and company accounts that have paid for our online recruitment services, is a key driver of our revenue growth, as substantially all of our revenue comes from providing online recruitment services to paid enterprise customers. The continued growth of our business therefore depends on our acquisition of paid enterprise customers. The number of our paid enterprise customers increased by 80.1% from 1.24 million in 2019 to 2.23 million in 2020. In order to improve our acquisition of paid enterprise customers, we will continue to focus our resources on maintaining relationships with existing enterprise users, improving service quality, converting free enterprise users and their companies to paid enterprise customers, exploring new services, features and functionalities responsive to user needs, promoting awareness of our brands, and marketing our services to a wider user group and in more geographical markets.
Our ability to expand our services to existing paid enterprise customers
We believe that there is a significant opportunity for cross selling more of our online recruitment services to our existing paid enterprise customers. Among our paid enterprise customers, those who contributed RMB5,000 or more of revenue to us in a given year accounted for the majority of our revenue source in 2019 and 2020. In 2019 and 2020, revenues from paid enterprise customers with annual contribution of RMB5,000 or more, but less than RMB50,000, made up 36.4% and 35.8% of our total revenues, respectively. We call such paid enterprise customers mid-sized customers. In addition, paid enterprise customers who contributed RMB50,000 or more of revenue to us in a given year, or key accounts, contributed 15.6% and 17.0% of our total revenues in 2019 and 2020, respectively. We value key accounts because they typically are large enterprises with steady demand for our online recruitment services and a stable recruiting budget. The number of key accounts increased by 92.9% from 970 in 2019 to 1,871 in 2020.
The consistent revenue contribution of mid-size customers and key accounts speaks to the importance of expanding our services to existing paid enterprise customers, which will increase their
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spending and move more of our paid enterprise customers into the mid-sized and key account groups. To expand our services to existing paid enterprise customers, we plan to introduce new service offerings, better educate existing paid enterprise customers about the value of additional services, and recommend more customized services to each paid enterprise customers based on analysis of its historical hiring behaviors.
Our ability to promote our brands and market our services more effectively
Our investment in branding, marketing and promotional activities contributes to our user acquisition, and whether such investment is cost-effective has a significant impact on our results of operations. To achieve maximum return for our branding and marketing investments, we set and adjust our branding and marketing strategies based on data analytics of factors such as occupational structure, average income of target demographics, and characteristics of different marketing channels. Our sales and marketing expenses represented 91.8% and 69.3% of our revenues in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The declining proportion of our sales and marketing expense to revenues signifies higher efficiency of our branding, marketing and promotional activities during the period, but we will need to continue to monitor and manage our sales and marketing expenses if we are to achieve profitability in the future.
Our ability to enhance our operating efficiency
Our results of operations are further affected by our operating efficiency in aspects other than sales and marketing, as measured by our total operating costs and expenses excluding sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of our revenues. Certain items of our operating costs and expenses, including our cost of revenues and research and development expenses, have trended downwards as a percentage of our revenues from 2019 to 2020. As our business grows further, we expect to improve the efficiency and utilization of our personnel, and leverage our scale to achieve greater operating leverage.
Key Components of Results of Operations
Revenues
We derive substantially all of our revenues from paid enterprise customers on our online recruitment platform. We provide online recruitment services to enterprise users and companies that help them better access and interact with job seekers.
Operating costs and expenses
Our operating costs and expenses consist of cost of revenues, sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, and general and administrative expenses.
Cost of revenues. Our cost of revenues primarily consist of third-party payment processing costs, payroll and other employee-related costs, and server and bandwidth costs.
Sales and marketing expenses. Our sales and marketing expenses primarily consist of (i) advertising expenses, including expenses relating to our online traffic acquisition and branding activities, (ii) payroll and other employee-related expenses for our sales and marketing staff, and (iii) other miscellaneous expenses for our sales functions. Our advertising expenses are mainly incurred to (i) promote our brands through marketing campaigns, TV commercials and outdoor advertisements, (ii) manage public relations for pro bono events, and (iii) purchase online traffic acquisition services, such as those that enhance our exposure on social media and priority in search results in app stores and search engines. The following table sets forth the components of our sales and marketing expenses by amounts and percentages of our revenues for the periods presented.
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For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
RMB | % | RMB | US$ | % | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands, except for percentages) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sales and marketing expenses: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Advertising expenses |
538,940 | 54.0 | 812,415 | 124,508 | 41.8 | |||||||||||||||
Payroll and other employee-related expenses |
335,912 | 33.6 | 470,644 | 72,129 | 24.2 | |||||||||||||||
Others |
41,980 | 4.2 | 64,473 | 9,881 | 3.3 | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Total |
916,832 | 91.8 | 1,347,532 | 206,518 | 69.3 | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and development expenses. Our research and development expenses primarily consist of payroll and other employee-related expenses for our research and development staff.
General and administrative expenses. Our general and administrative expenses primarily consist of payroll and other employee-related expenses for our managerial and administrative staff.
Taxation
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands currently levies no taxes on individuals or corporations based upon profits, income, gains, or appreciation, and there is no taxation in the nature of inheritance tax or estate duty. There are no other taxes likely to be material to us levied by the government of the Cayman Islands except for stamp duties, which may be applicable on instruments executed in, or brought within the jurisdiction of, the Cayman Islands. In addition, the Cayman Islands does not impose withholding tax on dividend payments.
Hong Kong
Our subsidiary in Hong Kong is subject to 16.5% Hong Kong profit tax for its taxable income earned. Additionally, payments of dividends by our subsidiary in Hong Kong to our company are not subject to any Hong Kong withholding tax. No provision for Hong Kong profits tax was made as we had no estimated assessable profit that was subject to Hong Kong profits tax during 2019 and 2020.
PRC
Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law effective from January 1, 2008, our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE are subject to the statutory rate of 25%, subject to preferential tax treatments available to qualified enterprises as stipulated under PRC tax laws and regulations.
Enterprises that qualify as high and new technology enterprises are entitled to a preferential rate of 15% for three years. Enterprises that qualify as small low-profit enterprises are entitled to a preferential rate of 20%.
Beijing Huapin Borui Network Technology Co., Ltd., or our VIE, was certified as a high and new technology enterprise under the relevant PRC laws and regulations, and accordingly was eligible for a preferential tax rate of 15% in each of 2019 and 2020. Our WFOE was subject to an enterprise income tax rate of 20% in 2019 and 2020.
If our company in the Cayman Islands or any of our subsidiaries outside of China were deemed a resident enterprise under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, it would be subject to enterprise income tax on its worldwide income at a rate of 25%. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Doing
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Business in ChinaIf we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.
We are subject to VAT at a rate of approximately 3% for small-scale-VAT-payer entities or 6% for general-VAT-payer entities on the services and solutions we provide to our customers, less any deductible VAT we have already paid or borne in accordance with PRC law. We are also subject to surcharges on VAT payments in accordance with PRC law.
Pursuant to the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, a 5% or 10% withholding tax is levied on dividends declared to our intermediary holding company in Hong Kong from China effective from January 1, 2008. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Doing Business in ChinaWe may not be able to obtain certain benefits under relevant tax treaty on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries to us through our Hong Kong subsidiary.
Impact of COVID-19
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted China and the rest of the world, and it has resulted in quarantines, travel restrictions, and the temporary closure of offices and facilities in China and many other countries. Our revenue growth was negatively impacted in the first quarter of 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. We started to recover in late first quarter of 2020. The potential downturn brought by and the duration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may be difficult to assess or predict, and any associated negative impact on us will depend on many factors beyond our control, such as the availability and effectiveness of any vaccines. While we might have benefited from the increased online traffic resulting from COVID-19 to our online recruitment platform, there is no guarantee that we can rely on such benefit in the future. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our long-term results remains uncertain, and we are closely monitoring its impact on us. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our Business and IndustryThe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth a summary of our consolidated results of operations for the periods presented, both in absolute amounts and as percentages of our total revenue.
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
RMB | % | RMB | US$ | % | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands, except for percentages) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Revenues: |
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Online recruitment services to enterprise customers |
986,859 | 98.8 | 1,927,178 | 295,353 | 99.1 | |||||||||||||||
Others |
11,861 | 1.2 | 17,181 | 2,633 | 0.9 | |||||||||||||||
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Total revenues |
998,720 | 100.0 | 1,944,359 | 297,986 | 100.0 | |||||||||||||||
Operating cost and expenses: |
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Cost of revenues(1) |
(137,812 | ) | (13.8 | ) | (240,211 | ) | (36,814 | ) | (12.4 | ) | ||||||||||
Sales and marketing expenses(1) |
(916,832 | ) | (91.8 | ) | (1,347,532 | ) | (206,518 | ) | (69.3 | ) | ||||||||||
Research and development expenses(1) |
(325,569 | ) | (32.6 | ) | (513,362 | ) | (78,676 | ) | (26.4 | ) | ||||||||||
General and administrative expenses(1) |
(132,999 | ) | (13.3 | ) | (797,008 | ) | (122,147 | ) | (41.0 | ) | ||||||||||
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Total operating cost and expenses |
(1,513,212 | ) | (151.5 | ) | (2,898,113 | ) | (444,155 | ) | (149.1 | ) | ||||||||||
Other operating income, net |
2,573 | 0.3 | 8,849 | 1,356 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
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Loss from operations |
(511,919 | ) | (51.3 | ) | (944,905 | ) | (144,813 | ) | (48.6 | ) | ||||||||||
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Financial income, net |
145 | 0.0 | 3,098 | 475 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||
Foreign exchange gain/(loss) |
1 | 0.0 | (5,074 | ) | (778 | ) | (0.3 | ) | ||||||||||||
Investment income |
9,718 | 1.0 | 9,095 | 1,394 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
Other expenses |
| | (4,109 | ) | (630 | ) | (0.2 | ) | ||||||||||||
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Loss before income tax expense |
(502,055 | ) | (50.3 | ) | (941,895 | ) | (144,352 | ) | (48.4 | ) | ||||||||||
Income tax expense |
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Net loss |
(502,055 | ) | (50.3 | ) | (941,895 | ) | (144,352 | ) | (48.4 | ) | ||||||||||
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Non-GAAP financial measures: |
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Calculated cash billings(2) |
1,333,974 | 133.6 | 2,529,888 | 387,722 | 130.1 | |||||||||||||||
Adjusted net loss(2) |
(467,805 | ) | (46.8 | ) | (284,659 | ) | (43,626 | ) | (14.6 | ) |
Notes: |
(1) | Share-based compensation expenses were allocated as follows: |
For the Year Ended December 31, |
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2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Share-based compensation expenses: |
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Cost of revenues |
944 | 1,920 | 294 | |||||||||
Sales and marketing expenses |
8,443 | 21,473 | 3,291 | |||||||||
Research and development expenses |
13,595 | 30,883 | 4,733 | |||||||||
General and administrative expenses |
11,268 | 602,960 | 92,408 | |||||||||
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34,250 | 657,236 | 100,726 | ||||||||||
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(2) | For discussions of calculated cash billings and its reconciliation to revenues and discussions of adjusted net loss and its reconciliation to net loss , see Non-GAAP Financial Measures. |
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Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Calculated cash billings
Calculated cash billings is a non-GAAP financial measure. Calculated cash billings consists of our revenue plus the change in our deferred revenue in a given period. We derived calculated cash billings by adding the change in deferred revenue to our revenues. Our management uses calculated cash billings to measure and monitor our sales growth because we generally bill our paid enterprise customers at the time of sale, but may recognize a portion of the related revenue ratably over time. We consider calculated cash billings to provide valuable insights into the cash that will be generated from our sales and a valuable measure for monitoring our service demand and financial performance.
This non-GAAP financial measure should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, its most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measure to its most directly comparable GAAP measure has been provided in the financial statement tables included below. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measure to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. As calculated cash billings has material limitations as an analytical metric and may not be calculated in the same manner by all companies, it may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies. In light of the foregoing limitations, you should not consider calculated cash billings as a substitute for, or superior to, revenues prepared in accordance with GAAP. We encourage investors and others to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.
We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using calculated cash billings only as a supplemental measure. The table below sets forth a reconciliation of our calculated cash billings to revenues for the periods indicated:
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Revenues |
998,720 | 1,944,359 | 297,986 | |||||||||
Add: |
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Change in deferred revenue |
335,254 | 585,529 | 89,736 | |||||||||
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Calculated cash billings |
1,333,974 | 2,529,888 | 387,722 | |||||||||
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Adjusted Net Loss
We use adjusted net loss, a non-GAAP financial measure, in evaluating our operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. Adjusted net loss represents net loss excluding share-based compensation expenses, and such adjustment has no impact on income tax.
We present this non-GAAP financial measure because it is used by our management to evaluate our operating performance and formulate business plans. Adjusted net loss enables our management to assess our operating results without considering the impact of share-based compensation expenses, which are non-cash charges. We believe that adjusted net loss helps identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of certain expenses that are included in net loss. We also believe that the use of the non-GAAP measure facilitates investors assessment of our operating performance. We believe that adjusted net loss provides useful information about our operating results, enhances the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects and allows for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by our management in its financial and operational decision making.
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Adjusted net loss should not be considered in isolation or construed as an alternative to net loss or any other measure of performance or as an indicator of our operating performance. Investors are encouraged to review our historical adjusted net loss to the most directly comparable GAAP measure, net loss. Adjusted net loss presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures to our data. We encourage investors and others to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.
The table below sets forth a reconciliation of our net loss to adjusted net loss for the periods indicated:
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Net loss |
502,055 | 941,895 | 144,352 | |||||||||
Minus: |
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Share-based compensation expenses |
34,250 | 657,236 | 100,726 | |||||||||
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Adjusted net loss |
467,805 | 284,659 | 43,626 | |||||||||
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Year Ended December 31, 2020 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2019
Revenues
Our revenues primarily comes from online recruitment services provided to paid enterprise customers, and they increased by 94.7% from RMB998.7 million in 2019 to RMB1,944.4 million (US$298.0 million) in 2020. This increase was primarily due to the growth of our paid enterprise customers, which increased by 80.1% from 1.24 million in 2019 to 2.23 million in 2020. Particularly, revenues from mid-sized customers increased by 91.7% from RMB363.3 million in 2019 to RMB696.3 million (US$106.7 million) in 2020, while revenues from key accounts increased by 112.3% from RMB155.8 million to RMB330.8 million (US$50.7 million) in the same periods. The number of our key accounts increased by 92.9% from 970 in 2019 to 1,871 in 2020.
The growth of our paid enterprise customers across the spectrum was driven by the increase in our average MAU during the same period, which grew by 73.2% from 11.5 million in 2019 to 19.8 million in 2020.
Cost of revenues
Our cost of revenues increased by 74.3% from RMB137.8 million in 2019 to RMB240.2 million (US$36.8 million) in 2020. This increase was mainly attributable to increases in third-party payment processing costs, payroll and other employee-related costs, and server and bandwidth costs, which were due to our expanding user base and increased transaction volume.
Sales and marketing expenses
Our sales and marketing expenses increased by 47.0% from RMB916.8 million in 2019 to RMB1,347.5 million (US$206.5 million) in 2020, primarily due to an increase of RMB273.5 million (US$41.9 million), or 50.7%, in advertising expenses and an increase of RMB134.7 million (US$20.6 million), or 40.1%, in payroll and other employee-related expenses for our sales and marketing staff, which were mainly due to our enhanced marketing efforts to acquire more active users.
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Research and development expenses
Our research and development expenses increased by 57.7% from RMB325.6 million in 2019 to RMB513.4 million (US$78.7 million) in 2020, which was mainly attributable to an increase in payroll and other employee-related expenses for our research and development staff.
General and administrative expenses
Our general and administrative expenses increased by 499.3% from RMB133.0 million in 2019 to RMB797.0 million (US$122.1 million) in 2020, which was mainly attributable to an increase of RMB533.1 million (US$81.7 million) in share-based compensation expense due to an issuance of Class B ordinary shares to our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peng Zhao.
Loss from operations
As a result of the foregoing, we incurred RMB944.9 million (US$144.8 million) of loss from operations in 2020, as compared to a loss from operations of RMB511.9 million in 2019.
Income tax expense
We did not pay any income tax or receive any income tax benefit in 2019 and 2020, mainly because we had no taxable income in those periods.
Net loss
As a result of the foregoing, our net loss was RMB941.9 million (US$144.4 million) in 2020, as compared to a net loss of RMB502.1 million in 2019.
Seasonality
Our results of operations are subject to seasonal fluctuations in market conditions primarily due to enterprise users purchasing patterns. For example, our revenue growth is higher during the fourth quarters of each year as many enterprises have unused yearly recruitment budget that they prefer to spend before the end of the year. We typically experience lower growth in our first quarters as recruitment activities generally slow down around the Chinese New Year. Overall, the historical seasonality of our business has been relatively mild, but the seasonal trends that we have experienced in the past may not be indicative of our future operating results. See also Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our Business and IndustryOur results of operations are subject to fluctuations due to seasonality.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
To date, we have financed our operations primarily through cash flows from operations and cash generated by historical equity financing activities. As of December 31, 2019 and 2020, our cash and cash equivalents were RMB407.4 million and RMB3,998.2 million (US$612.8 million), respectively. Our cash and cash equivalents primarily consist of cash on hand, cash in bank, time deposits and highly liquid investments with a maturity of generally three months or less. As of December 31, 2019 and 2020, our short-term investments were RMB1,142.0 million, and RMB536.4 million, respectively. Short-term investments consist of wealth management products purchased from commercial banks and investment banks, with a fixed or variable interest rate and a maturity of under one year.
We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents and expected proceeds from this offering will be sufficient to meet our current and anticipated working capital requirements and capital
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expenditures for the twelve-month period after the completion of this offering. We may, however, need additional cash resources in the future if we experience changes in business conditions or other developments. We may also need additional cash resources in the future if we identify and wish to pursue opportunities for investment, acquisition, capital expenditure or similar actions.
As of December 31, 2020, 8.9% and 91.1% of our cash and cash equivalents were held in and outside of mainland China, respectively, with 4.6% of our cash and cash equivalents being held by our VIE. As of the same date, 7.2% of our cash and cash equivalents were denominated in Renminbi and 92.8% were denominated in U.S. dollars.
Although we consolidate the results of our VIE, we only have access to the assets or earnings of our VIE through our contractual arrangements with our VIE and its shareholders. See Corporate History and StructureContractual Arrangements with Our VIE and Its Shareholders. For restrictions and limitations on liquidity and capital resources as a result of our corporate structure, see Holding Company Structure.
All of our revenues have been, and we expect at least a substantial majority of them will likely continue to be, in the form of Renminbi. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior SAFE approval as long as certain routine procedural requirements are fulfilled. Therefore, our PRC subsidiaries are allowed to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior SAFE approval by following certain routine procedural requirements. However, current PRC regulations permit our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends to us only out of its accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. Each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits after making up previous years accumulated losses each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds until the total amount set aside reaches 50% of its registered capital. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends. Historically, our PRC subsidiaries have not paid dividends to us, and they will not be able to pay dividends until they generate accumulated profits. Furthermore, capital account transactions, which include foreign direct investment and loans, must be approved by and/or registered with SAFE, its local branches and certain local banks.
As a Cayman Islands exempted company and offshore holding company, we are permitted under PRC laws and regulations to provide funding to our PRC subsidiaries only through loans or capital contributions, subject to the filing, approval or registration of government authorities and limits on the amount of loans. This may delay us from using the proceeds from this offering to make loans or capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Doing Business in ChinaPRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.
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The following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows for the periods presented:
For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||||||
RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||
Summary Consolidated Cash Flow Data: |
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Net cash (used in)/generated from operating activities |
(105,663 | ) | 395,911 | 60,676 | ||||||||
Net cash (used in)/generated from investing activities |
(1,223,803 | ) | 467,305 | 71,617 | ||||||||
Net cash generated from financing activities |
993,475 | 2,882,112 | 441,703 | |||||||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents |
43,113 | (154,480 | ) | (23,675 | ) | |||||||
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Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents |
(292,878 | ) | 3,590,848 | 550,321 | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year |
700,233 | 407,355 | 62,430 | |||||||||
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Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year |
407,355 | 3,998,203 | 612,751 | |||||||||
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Operating activities
Net cash generated from operating activities in 2020 was RMB395.9 million (US$60.7 million). The difference between this net cash generated from operating activities and the net loss of RMB941.9 million (US$144.4 million) in the same period was due to adjustments for non-cash items that primarily include share-based compensation of RMB657.2 million (US$100.7 million), amortization of right-of-use assets of RMB66.9 million (US$10.3 million) and depreciation and amortization expense of RMB41.1 million (US$6.3 million), as well as cash released from a decrease in working capital mainly resulting from an increase of RMB585.5 million (US$89.7 million) in deferred revenue and an increase of RMB130.5 million (US$20.0 million) in other payables and accrued liabilities, both of which reflected the increasing scale of our business and our growing user base, partially offset by a RMB71.8 million (US$11.0 million) decrease in operating lease liabilities, a RMB46.1 million (US$7.1 million) increase in prepayments and other current assets, and a RMB22.7 million (US$3.5 million) decrease in accounts payable.
Net cash used in operating activities in 2019 was RMB105.7 million. The difference between this net cash used in operating activities and the net loss of RMB502.1 million in the same period was primarily due to adjustments for non-cash items that primarily include amortization of right-of-use assets of RMB39.5 million, share-based compensation of RMB34.3 million and depreciation and amortization expense of RMB18.1 million, as well as cash released from a decrease in working capital mainly resulting from an increase of RMB335.3 million in deferred revenue and an increase of RMB79.3 million in other payable and accrued liabilities, both of which reflected the increasing scale of our business and our growing user base, partially offset by a RMB42.7 million decrease in operating lease liabilities and a RMB28.2 million increase in amounts due from related parties.
Investing activities
Net cash generated from investing activities in 2020 was RMB467.3 million (US$71.6 million), primarily due to proceeds from sale and maturity of short-term investments of RMB2,439.9 million (US$373.9 million), partially offset by cash purchase payments for short-term investments of RMB1,834.4 million (US$281.1 million) and cash purchase payments for property, equipment and software of RMB138.2 million (US$21.2 million).
Net cash used in investing activities in 2019 was RMB1,223.8 million, consisting primarily of cash purchase payments for short-term investments of RMB1,171.9 million.
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Financing activities
Net cash generated from financing activities in 2020 was RMB2,882.1 million (US$441.7 million), consisting of proceeds of RMB2,803.1 million (US$429.6 million) from issuance of convertible redeemable preferred shares, net of issuance cost, and proceeds of RMB79.0 million (US$12.1 million) from issuance of our Class A ordinary shares.
Net cash generated from financing activities in 2019 was RMB993.5 million, consisting of proceeds of RMB993.5 million from issuance of convertible redeemable preferred shares, net of issuance cost.
Capital Expenditures
We incurred capital expenditures of RMB64.0 million and RMB138.2 million (US$21.2 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Capital expenditures primarily represent cash we paid for the purchase of servers and other electronic equipments. We intend to fund our future capital expenditures with our existing cash balance and proceeds from this offering. We will continue to incur capital expenditures to meet the expected growth of our business.
Contractual Obligations
The following table sets forth our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2020:
Payment Due by Period | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total | Less than 1 year |
13 years | 35 years | More than 5 years |
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(in RMB thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Operating lease commitments |
150,266 | 62,358 | 49,970 | 28,027 | 9,911 | |||||||||||||||
Advertising commitments |
107,694 | 60,641 | 47,053 | | |
Except for those disclosed above, we did not have any significant capital or other commitments, long-term obligations, or guarantees as of December 31, 2020.
Off-Balance Sheet Commitments and Arrangements
We have not entered into any financial guarantees or other commitments to guarantee the payment obligations of any unconsolidated third parties. In addition, we have not entered into any derivative contracts that are indexed to our shares and classified as shareholders equity or that are not reflected in our consolidated financial statements. Furthermore, we do not have any retained or contingent interest in assets transferred to an unconsolidated entity that serves as credit, liquidity or market risk support to such entity. Moreover, we do not have any variable interest in any unconsolidated entity that provides financing, liquidity, market risk or credit support to us or engages in leasing, hedging or product development services with us.
Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates
An accounting policy is considered critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time such estimate is made, and if different accounting estimates that reasonably could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimates that are reasonably likely to occur periodically, could materially impact the consolidated financial statements.
We prepare our financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP, which requires us to make judgments, estimates and assumptions. We continually evaluate these estimates and assumptions
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based on the most recently available information, our own historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Since the use of estimates is an integral component of the financial reporting process, actual results could differ from our expectations as a result of changes in our estimates. Some of our accounting policies require a higher degree of judgment than others in their application and require us to make significant accounting estimates.
The following descriptions of critical accounting policies, judgments and estimates should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes and other disclosures included in this prospectus. When reviewing our financial statements, you should consider (i) our selection of critical accounting policies, (ii) the judgments and other uncertainties affecting the application of such policies and (iii) the sensitivity of reported results to changes in conditions and assumptions.
Revenue Recognition
We accounted for revenue under ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, and all periods have been presented under ASC 606. Consistent with the criteria of Topic 606, we recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which we expect to receive in exchange for those services.
To achieve that core principle, we apply the five steps defined under Topic 606: (i) identify the contract(s) with a customer, (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract, (iii) determine the transaction price, (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract, and (v) recognize revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligation. We assess our revenue arrangements against specific criteria in order to determine if we are acting as principal or agent. Revenue arrangements with multiple performance obligations are divided into separate distinct services. Revenue is recognized upon the transfer of control of promised services to a customer. Revenue is recorded net of value-added tax.
We generate revenue by providing services to enterprise customers and job seekers to assist in the recruitment process over mobile apps and websites, which means matching enterprise customers with suitable job seekers through AI matching technology, and stimulating real time interaction between them via in-app communication tools.
Online recruitment services offered to enterprise customers
We provide online recruitment support services carrying different kinds of features on our platforms, mainly including paid job postings, bulk invite-sending tools, message sending tools and other services. Enterprise customers could also purchase subscription packages which contain an array of features, including popular in-demand job postings and interaction privilege with job seekers during the subscription period.
Based on the historical pattern by which we satisfy its performance obligation and how enterprise customers benefit from our performance obligations, we recognize our revenue from the services provided under two models: time-based model and item-based model.
Time-based model
Under the time-based model, our obligation is to deliver corresponding services to enterprise customers during a particular subscription period, a certain paid job posting display period, or a certain privilege period for virtual tools such as message sending, etc., ranging from one month up to one
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year. For the services covered within a particular subscription package, they have the same contract period length during the subscription period. We record the upfront cash payment from the enterprise customers as deferred revenue and then recognize the revenue on a straight-line basis over the subscription period in which the enterprise customers are entitled to the corresponding privileges, as we are standing ready to provide services and a time-based measure of progress best reflects the satisfaction of the performance obligations.
Item-based model
Under the item-based model, our obligation is to deliver corresponding services in the form of other various virtual tools. Revenues for services provided in form of such virtual tools are recognized at the point in time when the services are provided to the enterprise customers. We record the upfront cash payment from the enterprise customers as part of deferred revenue, and then recognize the revenue at the point in time upon we deliver the corresponding services or at the point when the virtual tools expire.
Other services
Other services mainly represent paid value-added services offered to job seekers, including priority placement of their professional profiles, increased resume exposure to enterprise customers, candidate competitive analysis, message filtering services and five-dimensional personality test, etc.
Arrangements with multiple performance obligations
Our contracts with enterprise customers may include bulk sales of services in the form of virtual tools and services contained in subscription packages, therefore multiple performance obligations exist. For those services in the form of virtual tools and contained in subscription packages included in bulk sales, the selling prices are consistently made references of the standalone selling prices when sold separately. We allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation based on the relative standalone selling prices, considering bulk sale price discounts offered to certain enterprise customers where applicable.
Deferred revenue
We record deferred revenue when we receive enterprise customers payments in advance of transferring control of service to the enterprise customers. Substantially all deferred revenue at the beginning of 2019 and 2020 was recognized as revenue during the annual fiscal period.
Remaining performance obligations
Remaining performance obligations represent the amount of contracted future revenue not yet recognized as the amounts relate to undelivered performance obligations. Substantially all of Groups contracts are less than one year in duration. As such, we have elected to apply the practical expedient which allows an entity to exclude disclosures about its remaining performance obligations if the performance obligation is part of a contract that has an original expected duration of one year or less.
Share-based Compensation
We grant share options to our management, other key employees and eligible nonemployees (collectively, Share-based Awards). We account for these share-based awards in accordance with ASC 718 CompensationStock Compensation.
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The Share-based Awards with service conditions only are measured at the grant date fair value of the awards and recognized as expenses using the straight-line method, net of estimated forfeitures, if any, over the requisite service period. The Share-based Awards that are subject to both service conditions and the occurrence of an initial public offering (IPO) or change of control as a performance condition, are measured at the grant date fair value. Cumulative share-based compensation expenses for the awards that have satisfied the service condition will be recorded upon the completion of the IPO, using the graded-vesting method.
For nonemployees share-based awards, we adopted ASU 2018-07 Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting for the periods presented. In accordance with ASU 2018-07, it clarifies that equity-classified nonemployee share-based awards are measured at the grant date. Nonemployee Share-based Awards are measured at the grant date fair value of the awards and recognized as expenses using a straight-line method over the requisite service period, which is the vesting period.
Fair value of options
In order to attract and retain the right talent, we offer share-based compensation incentives to our employees, directors and consultants. We used a Binomial Option Pricing model to determine the total fair value of the awarded options, which is to be expensed over the vesting period. Significant estimate on assumptions, such as the grant date share price, expected volatility, expected early exercise multiple, option life, risk-free interest rate and dividend yield, are required to derive such expense amounts. As we continue to grow and move into key stages of product development, we expect to continue offering share-based incentives to our employees, directors and consultants and the amount of expenses may increase in future.
The assumptions used in share-based compensation expense recognition represent managements best estimates, but these estimates involve inherent uncertainties and application of management judgment. If factors change or different assumptions are used, the share-based compensation expenses could be materially different for any period. Moreover, the estimates of fair value of the awards are not intended to predict actual future events or the value that ultimately will be realized by grantees who receive share-based awards.
Key assumptions are set forth as follows:
Year Ended December 31 | ||||||||
2019 | 2020 | |||||||
Exercise price (US$) |
0.0001 - 1.8 | 0.05 - 5.33 | ||||||
Fair value of the ordinary shares on the date of option grant (US$) |
1.01 - 1.52 | 1.84 - 3.27 | ||||||
Risk-free interest rate |
1.80% - 2.76 | % | 0.82% - 1.70 | % | ||||
Option life (in years) |
10 | 10 | ||||||
Expected dividend yield |
0 | % | 0 | % | ||||
Expected volatility |
56.1% - 57.8 | % | 56.5% - 59.0 | % | ||||
Expected early exercise multiple |
2.2x ~ 2.8x | 2.2x ~ 2.8x |
| Fair value of the ordinary shares on the date of option grant (US$)Because our ordinary shares are not yet publicly traded, we are required to estimate the fair value of our ordinary shares, as discussed in Ordinary Share Valuation below. |
| Risk-free interest rateThe risk-free rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield for our risk-free interest rate that corresponds with the expected term. |
| Option life (in years)We adopted option life in accordance with the contractual terms of the options. |
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| Expected dividend yieldWe have no history of paying cash dividends on our ordinary shares and do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future. |
| Expected volatilityWe adopted the average volatility of the comparable companies as the proxy of the expected volatility of the underlying share. The volatility of each comparable company was based on the historical daily stock prices for a period with length commensurate to the remaining maturity life of the stock options. |
| The expected early exercise multiple was estimated as the average ratio of the stock price to the exercise price when employees would decide to voluntarily exercise their vested options. As we did not have sufficient information of past employee exercise history, it was estimated by referencing to a widely accepted academic research publication. |
Mezzanine Equity
Mezzanine equity represents the Series A, Series B, Series C, Series D, Series E and Series F convertible preferred shares (collectively, the Preferred Shares) issued by us. Preferred Shares are contingently redeemable upon the occurrence of an event that is outside of our control. Therefore, we classify the Preferred Shares as mezzanine equity.
Fair value of ordinary shares
Prior to our initial public offering, we were a private company with no quoted market prices for our ordinary shares. We therefore needed to make estimates of the fair value of our ordinary shares at various dates for the purpose of determining the fair value of our ordinary shares at the date of the grant of share-based compensation awards to our employees as one of the inputs into determining the grant date fair value of the award.
We estimated the fair value of our companys ordinary share as of various dates during the period from January 2014 to December 2020 with the assistance from an independent third-party valuation firm. The fair value assessment of the ordinary shares is conducted in accordance with the guidance provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Practice Guide, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation.
To estimate the fair value of the ordinary shares at each valuation date, we firstly derived the total equity value of our company using market approach or income approach. The market approach, specifically the backsolve method, is adopted when preferred share transactions with unrelated parties occurred close to the valuation dates, otherwise, income approach, specifically the discounted cash flow method, is adopted. The income approach is based on our projected cash flows using managements best estimates as of each valuation date and involves applying appropriate discount rates to estimated cash flows that are based on earnings forecasts.
We then derived the value of each class of shares (including the ordinary shares) by allocating equity value to each class of shares under a hybrid framework which includes a probability weighted option pricing model (OPM) and an analysis assuming an IPO as a possible future event, we considered the following different scenarios under this hybrid framework: (1) liquidation scenario, (2) redemption scenario and (3) IPO conversion scenario. Under the liquidation and redemption scenarios, since holders of preferred shares would have priority over ordinary shares or receive a redemption amount or convert to ordinary shares, respectively, the Option Pricing Method was used to allocate equity value.
Option Pricing Method treats the preferred and ordinary shares as call options with distinct claims on our companys total equity value on liquidation preference or redemption amount of the preferred
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shares. The options exercise price is based on a comparison with the total equity value, which is determined based on the liquidation preference or redemption amount under the applicable scenario. The characteristics of each class of shares, including the conversion ratio, the redemption provision and any liquidation preference of the preferred shares, determine the class of shares claim on the equity value. Black-Scholes model was used to price the call option. After deriving the values of the preferred and ordinary shares under each of the scenarios, by the method described above, probabilities of each scenario were applied to arrive at the probability weighted value of each class of shares.
After deriving the values of the preferred and ordinary shares under each of the scenarios, by the method described above, probabilities of each scenario were applied to arrive at the probability weighted value of each class of shares. After the allocation above, discount for lack of marketability for ordinary shares was applied to arrive at the fair value per share of ordinary shares on a non-marketable basis.
The following table sets forth the fair value of our ordinary shares estimated at the grant dates of options with the assistance from an independent valuation firm.
Date of Valuation |
Fair Value Per Share (US$) |
DLOM for ordinary shares |
WACC | Valuation Method | ||||||||||
2019/3/8 |
1.01 | 25 | % | NA | backsolve method | |||||||||
2019/7/4 |
1.07 | 24 | % | NA | backsolve method | |||||||||
2019/9/30 |
1.33 | 23 | % | 22 | % | discounted cash flow method | ||||||||
2019/12/31 |
1.52 | 23 | % | 22 | % | discounted cash flow method | ||||||||
2020/2/10 |
1.84 | 19 | % | NA | backsolve method | |||||||||
2020/6/30 |
2.23 | 19 | % | 21 | % | discounted cash flow method | ||||||||
2020/9/30 |
2.74 | 19 | % | 21 | % | discounted cash flow method | ||||||||
2020/11/27 |
3.27 | 18 | % | NA | backsolve method |
The option-pricing method was used to allocate equity value of our company to preferred and ordinary shares, taking into account the guidance prescribed by the AICPA Audit and Accounting Practice Aid. This method requires making estimates of the anticipated timing of a potential liquidity event, such as a sale of our company or an initial public offering, and estimates of the volatility of our equity securities. The anticipated timing is based on the plans of our board and management. The other major assumptions used in calculating the fair value of ordinary shares include:
| Weighted average cost of capital, or WACC: The WACCs were determined in consideration of factors including risk-free rate, comparative industry risk, equity risk premium, company size and non-systematic risk factors. |
| Comparable companies: In deriving the WACCs, which are used as the discount rates under the income approach, certain publicly traded companies in the internet industry were selected for reference as our guideline companies. |
| Discount for lack of marketability, or DLOM: DLOM was quantified by the protective put options mode. Under this option-pricing method, which assumed that the put option is struck at the price of the stock before the privately held shares can be sold, the cost of the put option was considered as a basis to determine the DLOM. This option pricing method is one of the methods commonly used in estimating DLOM as it can take into consideration factors such as timing of a liquidity event, for instance an initial public offering, and estimated volatility of our shares. The farther the valuation date is from an expected liquidity event, the higher the put option value is and thus the higher the implied DLOM is. The lower DLOM is used for the valuation, the higher the determined fair value of the ordinary shares becomes. |
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The determination of the equity value requires complex and subjective judgments to be made regarding prospects of the industry and the products at the valuation date, our projected financial and operating results, our unique business risks and the liquidity of our shares.
The fair value of our ordinary shares increased from US$1.01 in March 2019 to US$1.52 in December 2019, which was primarily due to (i) in March and July 2019, we issued Series E-1 and Series E-2 preferred shares to certain investors, which provided us with additional capital for business expansion and contributed to the increase in fair value of our ordinary shares during this period and (ii) the growth of our business and improvement in our financial performance.
The fair value of our ordinary shares further increased from US$1.52 in December 2019 to US$3.27 in November 2020, which was primarily due to (i) in February and November 2020, we issued Series F and Series F+ preferred shares to certain investors, which provided us with additional capital for business expansion and contributed to the increase in fair value of our ordinary shares during this period and (ii) the growth of our business and the improvement in our financial performance and an updated business outlook based on a review of our actual financial performance due to the continuous development of our businesses.
Holding Company Structure
KANZHUN LIMITED is a holding company with no material operations of its own. We conduct our operations primarily through our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE in China. As a result, KANZHUN LIMITEDs ability to pay dividends depends upon dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries. If our existing PRC subsidiaries or any newly formed ones incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China are permitted to pay dividends to us only out of its retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Under PRC law, each of our PRC subsidiaries and our VIE is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, after making up previous years accumulated losses, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds until such reserve funds reach 50% of their registered capital. In addition, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China and our VIE may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to a surplus fund at their discretion. The statutory reserve funds and the discretionary funds are not distributable as cash dividends. Remittance of dividends by a wholly foreign-owned company out of China is subject to examination by the banks designated by SAFE. Our PRC subsidiaries have not paid dividends and will not be able to pay dividends until they generate accumulated profits and meet the requirements for statutory reserve funds.
Inflation
To date, inflation in China has not materially affected our results of operations. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the year-over-year percent changes in the consumer price index for December 2019 and 2020 were increases of 4.5% and 0.2%, respectively. Although we have not been materially affected by inflation in the past, we may be affected if China experiences higher rates of inflation in the future.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Foreign exchange risk
All of our revenues and substantially all of our expenses are denominated in RMB. The majority of our bank balances and cash are denominated in U.S. dollars. We do not believe that we currently have any significant direct foreign exchange risk and therefore have not used any derivative financial
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instruments to hedge exposure to such risk. However, we monitor our currency risk exposure by periodically reviewing foreign currency exchange rates and will consider hedging significant foreign currency exposure should the need arise. Although our exposure to foreign exchange risks should be limited in general, the value of your investment in the ADSs will be affected by the exchange rate between U.S. dollar and RMB because the value of our business is effectively denominated in RMB, while the ADSs will be traded in U.S. dollars.
The value of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by changes in Chinas political and economic conditions and by Chinas foreign exchange policies, among other things. In July 2005, the PRC government changed its decades-old policy of pegging the value of the Renminbi to the U.S. dollar, and the Renminbi appreciated more than 20% against the U.S. dollar over the following three years. Between July 2008 and June 2010, this appreciation subsided and the exchange rate between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar remained within a narrow band. Since June 2010, the Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.
To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into RMB for our operations, appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert RMB into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares or ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the RMB would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amounts available to us.
Interest rate risk
Our exposure to interest rate risk primarily relates to the interest income generated by excess cash, which is mostly held in interest-bearing bank deposits and wealth management products. Interest-earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk. We have not been exposed to material risks due to changes in market interest rates, and we have not used any derivative financial instruments to manage our interest risk exposure.
After completion of this offering, we may invest the net proceeds that we receive from this offering in interest-earning instruments. Investments in both fixed-rate and floating rate interest-earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk. Fixed-rate securities may have their fair market value adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates, while floating-rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates fall.
Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Prior to this offering, we have been a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal control over financial reporting. In connection with the audits of our consolidated financial statements included in this prospectus, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified two material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
The material weaknesses that have been identified relate to (i) our lack of sufficient competent financial reporting and accounting personnel with appropriate understanding of U.S. GAAP to address complex U.S. GAAP technical accounting issues and to prepare and review the consolidated financial
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statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC, and (ii) our lack of period-end financial closing policies and procedures for preparation of consolidated financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC.
We have implemented and plan to implement a number of measures to address the material weaknesses that has been identified in connection with the audits of our consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020. We have hired additional qualified financial and accounting staff with working experience of U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements. Furthermore, we will continue to further strengthen our reporting process and our compliance process, including establishing a comprehensive accounting policies and procedures manual in line with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements, to allow early detection, prevention and resolution of potential compliance issues with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements. We intend to conduct more U.S. GAAP accounting and SEC reporting training programs and send our financial staff to attend external U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting training courses. We also intend to hire additional resources to strengthen the financial reporting function and set up a financial and system control framework in line with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements. However, we cannot assure you that all these measures will be sufficient to remediate our material weaknesses in time, or at all. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our Business and IndustryIf we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely impacted.
As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in revenues for fiscal year of 2020, we qualify as an emerging growth company pursuant to the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the assessment of the emerging growth companys internal control over financial reporting.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
A list of recently issued accounting pronouncements that are relevant to us is included in note 2 of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.
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The information presented in this section has been derived from an industry report dated March 2021 and a user survey, each commissioned by us and prepared by CIC, an independent research firm, to provide information regarding our industry and our market position in China. We refer to this report as the CIC Report and the survey as the CIC Survey.
MASSIVE AND FAST-GROWING HUMAN RESOURCE SERVICES MARKET IN CHINA
Chinas human resource service market size in terms of revenue reached approximately RMB565.1 billion in 2020, and is expected to continue to grow to reach approximately RMB1,299.0 billion by 2025, representing a CAGR of 18.1% between 2020 and 2025. Chinas human resource service market is still at the early stage of development compared with the developed markets, presenting significant growth potential. The human resource service market size as percentage of nominal GDP in China was 0.6% in 2020, lower than that of 1.9% in the UK, 1.6% in Japan, and 0.9% in the US, according to the CIC Report, National Bureau of Statistics, and International Monetary Fund. The human resource service market size as percentage of nominal GDP in both China and these developed markets are expected to see an increase in the next five years.
Human resource service market in China can be categorized into four segments: recruitment services, human resource outsourcing and management services, payroll and personnel services, and others. Recruitment services refer to online or offline talent acquisition solutions which help connect recruiters and job seekers, and facilitate the hiring process. Human resource outsourcing and management services include flexible employment, business process outsourcing, and labor dispatch service. Payroll and personnel services include personnel management, and payroll and benefits outsourcing services. Others include talent training and development, human resource information system, human resource consulting, etc.
Fast-growing human resource service market in China
Note:
(1) | Human resource service market excludes the freelance job platform market. |
(2) | In the flexible employment business, service providers sign labor contracts with talents, and thus labor costs and service premium received from customers are included in revenue. Revenues do not include salary and social insurance collections |
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in the personnel management, payroll or benefits outsourcing, and labor dispatch business. Only service premiums are counted in the revenues of these businesses. |
The following factors are and will continue to be the major drivers of the fast growing human resource service market in China.
| Talent and human resource service demand increases massively driven by thriving China private sector companies and rapid expansion of new economy businesses. The number of private sector companies in China increased from 8.5 million in 2010 to 35.2 million in 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. |
| Enterprises in China are facing increasingly fierce competition, and need to focus on core business. They eagerly seek efficient and cost-effective solutions from professional human resource service providers as the labor cost continues to grow. |
| Favorable government policies and increasing public expenditure on human resources promote the sustainable development of the market. |
EVOLVING RECRUITMENT SERVICES MARKET IN CHINA
Greater | challenges in hiring leads to the increasing adoption of recruitment services |
Recruitment service market is a major segment of Chinas human resource service market, and sits upstream of the human resource service value chain. It is also the fastest-growing segment in Chinas human resource service market between 2020 and 2025. The size of the recruitment service market in China totaled approximately RMB170.8 billion in 2020 in terms of revenue, and is expected to continue to grow to reach approximately RMB446.0 billion in 2025, representing a CAGR of approximately 21.2% for the period of 2020 to 2025. The growth of the recruitment service market in China is primarily driven by the following factors:
| The growth of Chinas economy has outpaced the growth in labor supply, as a result, recruitment has become more difficult and expensive. The trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. |
Talent demand outstripping supply in China
Source: | MOHRSS (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of PRC), CIC Report |
| Chinas urbanization rate grew from approximately 50% in 2010 to over 60% in 2020, and is expected to increase to approximately 70% by 2030, according to the CIC Report and National Bureau of Statistics. The ongoing urbanization changes the mix of labor forces structurally, and generates great demands for urban labor forces, especially blue-collar workers in the tertiary sector and white-collar workers. |
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| The younger generations (16-to-35-year-olds) job-hopping frequency is more than twice of that of the older generation, according to the CIC Survey, and will continue to grow in the future. The average job-switching frequency for non-farm employees in China is expected to increase from 1.8 times per year in 2020 to 2.1 times per year in 2025. |
Digitalization of recruitment industry meets the demands for more efficient, cost-effective and user-friendly solutions
Chinas recruitment service market can be divided into online and offline recruitment markets. Online recruitment refers to the recruitment process in which job seekers and recruiters obtain recruitment information via third-party job websites, mobile applications or mini programs. For offline recruitment, candidates learn about job opportunities primarily through offline events or offline contacts made by recruiting agencies such as headhunting firms and recruitment process outsourcing agencies.
Similar to other industries that are reshaped by the development of mobile internet, the recruitment service market has been gradually moving online. Online recruitment provides a more efficient, cost-effective and user-friendly job hunting and recruiting process compared with offline recruitment. According to the CIC Report, cost per hire for online recruitment was approximately one fifth of that for offline recruitment in China as of 2020. The number of mobile internet users in China increased from 302.7 million in 2010 to 985.8 million in 2020, with a CAGR of 12.5% for the same period, according to the CNNIC. The wide adoption of mobile internet has further accelerated the digitalization across the recruitment value chain. With job seekers and employers increasingly embarking their job hunting and recruitment journeys online, Chinas online recruitment markets size in terms of revenue is expected to increase from RMB55.1 billion in 2020 to RMB223.4 billion in 2025, representing a CAGR of 32.3%. During the same period, the contribution of online recruitment to the total market size is estimated to increase from approximately 32% in 2020 to approximately 50% in 2025.
Chinas online recruitment market outpaces the overall recruitment service market
Note: | The online recruitment market size excludes revenue generated from job seekers. |
Compared with the developed markets like the US, the online recruitment market in China is at an early stage of development. According to the CIC Report, the online recruitment penetration rate for job seekers was approximately 17.9% in China, approximately half of that of the US market in 2020, indicating a significant growth potential. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has also affected the
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job-hunting behaviors and further accelerated the penetration for online recruitment. The online recruitment penetration rate for job seekers in China is expected to increase to reach approximately 34.9% by 2025.
THE FLOURISHING ONLINE RECRUITMENT MARKET IN CHINA
Emergence | of direct recruitment model |
Service providers in Chinas online recruitment market primarily include online recruitment platforms, online classifieds, and online portals offered by recruiting agencies. Online recruitment platforms are defined as online marketplaces that focus on talents and jobs matching.
The traditional resume-centric, search-based model cannot fully fulfill users needs for a convenient and efficient recruitment process, which leads to a comparatively low online recruitment penetration in China. Under the resume-centric model, job seekers upload resumes to online recruitment platforms, and recruiters then download resumes at their discretion before they contact job seekers to arrange for interviews. The recruitment process with massive resume downloading and one-way communication is redundant and inefficient. On a search-based platform, job seekers and recruiters have to manually conduct job or candidate searches by entering keywords and screening for relevant information, which was time-consuming and inefficient. It also requires job seekers and recruiters to have a deep and precise understanding of the type of job or candidate they are looking for. In addition, the traditional model is characterized by an uneven traffic distribution where the online traffic is heavily tilted towards large enterprises and top job seekers. SMEs and many individual job seekers therefore receive insufficient exposures, while top job seekers and large enterprises may be distracted by too many reach-outs.
The expansion of mobile internet user base enables the transition of online recruitment service from desktop to mobile in China, which is a more hospitable environment for direct chatting functionality. BOSS Zhipin is the first to introduce the direct recruitment model at scale among online recruitment platforms in China.
In contrast to the traditional resume-centric, search-based model, the direct recruitment model features (i) direct chat between job seekers and recruiters, and resume delivery upon mutual consent, and (ii) AI-enabled recommendation system. The direct recruitment model propels meaningful interaction between job seekers and recruiters, and as a result, delivers better user experience and high job hunting and recruitment efficiency.
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Comparison of direct recruitment model and traditional resume-centric, search-based model
Blue-collar sector is the largest growth contributor and white-collar sector continues to expand
By 2020, the population of white-collar workers, blue-collar workers and gold-collar workers in China reached approximately 178.6 million, 395.1 million and 12.4 million respectively. White-collar workers and gold-collar workers refer to people who perform professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work, among which gold-collar workers earn an annual salary above RMB250,000. Blue-collar workers usually refer to people who perform manual or service-related work in the secondary sectors such as manufacturing and construction industry and the tertiary sector such as accommodation and catering industry, and local life service industry.
Blue-collar workers feature a larger population base, higher job-switching frequency, and higher growth potential for the penetration of recruitment services. In the past, blue-collar workers in China conduct job hunting mainly through referrals by acquaintances or walk-ins, which resulted in asymmetry and limitation in recruitment information. Blue-collar workers value the authenticity of and easy access to job information, abundant opportunities, and immediate feedback provided by employers when they look for a new job, while recruiters of blue-collar jobs are usually cost sensitive.
Traditional model cannot effectively address these fundamental issues in blue-collar recruitment which are now being resolved by the direct recruitment model. The online recruitment penetration rate for blue-collar workers in China is estimated to grow from 13.0% in 2020 to 29.9% in 2025.
Meanwhile, the market size of Chinas online recruitment for blue-collar workers in terms of revenue is expected to reach RMB128.4 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 41.4% between 2020 and 2025, outgrowing the overall online recruitment market. White-collar workers, traditionally the largest user group for online recruitment, are still experiencing a rising service penetration rate, which is expected to grow from 50.8% in 2020 to 64.9% in 2025. The market size of Chinas online recruitment for white-collar workers in terms of revenue is expected to increase to RMB85.7 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 24.3% from 2020.
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Blue-collar workers grow much faster than other groups within online recruitment market
Increasing penetration for all groups, while blue-collar workers have highest growth potential
Chinas online recruitment penetration rate by type of employees
Note: The online recruitment penetration rate for job-seekers refers to the percentage of job changes in which the job-seekers provide complete personal information and obtain job information online (i.e., via third-party job websites, mobile applications or mini programs).
High growth potential in online penetration among employers
The number of enterprises in China, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation, increased from approximately 21.9 million in 2015 to approximately 42.9 million in 2020, representing a CAGR of 14.5% between 2015 and 2020. According to the CIC Report, cost per hire for online recruitment was approximately one fifth of that for offline recruitment in 2020. Efficient and cost-effective online recruitment solution is attracting more enterprise customers. The online recruitment penetration rate for enterprises in China is expected to continue to grow from 24.8% in 2020 to 36.1% in 2025.
The emerging direct recruitment model is SME-friendly and allows more managerial people to participate in the recruitment process early on. SMEs, as the largest segment of Chinas enterprises in terms of entity number, were historically underserved and have a massive demand for cost-effective talent acquisition service. With growing number of companies adopting flat organizational structures, more traditionally non-professional recruitment personnel are becoming recruitment decision makers, which creates significant incremental demand for efficient online recruitment service.
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Enterprises increasing adoption of online recruitment services in China
Source: State Administration for Market Regulation, CIC Report
Note: The online recruitment penetration rate for enterprises refers to the percentage of online recruitment users among the total number of enterprises, excluding individual businesses.
FUTURE TRENDS OF ONLINE RECRUITMENT MARKET
Incremental demand better captured by players with the direct recruitment model. The new direct recruitment model has unleashed incremental online recruitment service demand from businesses. Players that have embraced this model are best positioned to capture such demand, thereby deepening their competitive moat and reinforcing their market leading position.
Increasing emphasis on job-seeker-centric experience. As the demand for talents exceeds the number of talents available in the job market in China, job seekers now have more bargaining power in the recruitment process. Online recruitment platforms thus increasingly focus on fulfilling the demands of job-seekers and strive to provide a more job-seeker-centric experience. As job seekers value their privacy and the authenticity of job postings, online recruitment platforms need to ensure the authenticity of the information posted and better protect user privacy.
Enterprise-wide engagement in recruitment. Nowadays, more individuals within a company join the recruitment process, including executives or middle-level managers of large enterprises and SME and micro business owners, who are themselves supervisors. The involvement of the management team or supervisors usually simplifies the recruitment process, and allows candidates to directly communicate with the final decision-makers. Compared to recruiting professionals, the management team and supervisors can better and more effectively assess the candidates capabilities.
Digitalization across the recruitment value chain. Many steps within the recruitment process are still carried out offline, presenting significant opportunities for online recruitment platforms to digitalize the entire job hunting and recruitment process. Furthermore, building upon a large and loyal customer base, online recruitment platforms can provide more service offerings for employers and job seekers.
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COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE OF ONLINE RECRUITMENT MARKET
Chinas online recruitment market remains fragmented. Market participants in Chinas online recruitment market primarily include online recruitment platforms, online classifieds, and online portals offered by recruiting agencies.
The online recruitment platforms with a direct recruitment model are usually able to bring more interaction, higher hiring efficiency, and better user experience, so as to attract more users. As the pioneer of the direct recruitment model in China, BOSS Zhipin is the largest online recruitment platform in China in terms of average MAU, with the number reaching 19.8 million as of 2020. Among the top five online recruitment platforms in China in terms of average MAU, BOSS Zhipin had the highest year-over-year growth of average MAU (73.2%) in 2020, and the highest ratio of average DAU to average MAU in both 2019 (26.4%) and 2020 (26.4%). We include both job seekers and enterprise users in calculating average MAU and average DAU, which is consistent with the way the other four of the top five online recruitment platforms in China calculate the same metrics.
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Our Vision
Redefine every individuals career development with technology and a passion towards delivering user satisfaction, by optimizing efficiency, equality and choice.
Pain Points Our Industry Faces
The online recruitment industry in China has traditionally suffered from two pain points: job seekers find it difficult to locate suitable job positions, and employers find it hard to secure suitable job candidates. Job seekers and employers keep walking past each other in the dark, yearning for a new platform that can deliver unprecedented efficiency.
We believe three common characteristics of traditional industry players caused such pain points.
First, limited functionality beyond submission and downloading of resumes. Information flows one wayfrom job seekers to employers, via a few pages of stylized introductions, often receiving tardy responses, if any.
Second, a search-based model that unevenly drives internet traffic towards the topfavoring candidates with stellar credentials and well-known corporations with deep pockets, leaving behind the vast majority of average job seekers and SMEs with tremendous unmet demand.
Third, an inability to attract Bosses at scale, relying instead only on recruitment professionals. This resulted from the inefficiencies stemming from the two abovementioned common characteristics. Bosses, including executives, middle-level managers of large enterprises and SMEs, as well as micro business owners, are the only people who truly understand what attributes define the best candidates for a particular job position. This fact is accentuated by the paradigm shift in the Chinese economy towards the next stage of advanced development, and the urgency for businesses to attract a more specialized workforce that can cope with intensified competition.
Who We Are
Cognizant of the industry pain points and their root causes, our founders set out seven years ago to create a transformative product that promotes two-way interactive communication, focuses on intelligent recommendations that is empowering, and brings Bosses onboard the recruitment process. The result was BOSS Zhipina mobile-native product that promotes instant direct chats between Bosses and job seekers, delivers accurate matching results, and is powered by proprietary AI algorithms and big data insights. This proved to be exactly what the industry needed. Despite being a late comer, we have become the largest online recruitment platform in China, as measured by average MAU in 2020, according to the CIC Report.
Our operating philosophy highly respects job seekers, and we are committed to empowering them by giving them more say in the recruitment process. We do not allow enterprise users to access job seekers resumes unless job seekers give express consent. Job seekers can also make their information selectively visible to different types of enterprise users. We believe the superior user experience we provide to individual job seekers attracts them to our platform. Enterprise users also benefit from our operating philosophy as it creates massive opportunities for them to connect with job seekers efficiently.
Our Platform
We connect job seekers and enterprise users in an efficient and seamless manner mainly through our highly interactive BOSS Zhipin mobile app, which together with our other mobile apps and mini
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programs create a vibrant network. We are relentlessly focused on enhancing user experience by delivering efficient, intuitive and convenient experience to them throughout the recruitment cycle.
Job seekers: We have a large and fast growing pool of job seekers consisting of white and gold-collar users, blue-collar users and college students.
Enterprise users: We serve an extensive network of employers covering small, mid-sized and large businesses. Bosses and recruiting professionals of companies of all sizes, including large and small businesses, are the enterprise users of our platform.
Bosses: Bosses refer to executives or middle-level managers of large enterprises and SME and micro business owners, who themselves are supervisors. As of December 31, 2020, 65% of our verified enterprise users are not professional recruiting personnel, and we categorize these people as Bosses.
Recruiting professionals: We also serve recruiting professionals, including human resource officers and specialized hiring function employees of an employer, headhunters and hiring staff from human resource agencies.
We pioneered these features in the online recruiting industry:
| Getting the Bosses involved early on. We get the Bosses involved on our platform from day one of our operation. Bosses are the key decision makers who can better assess candidates capabilities, such as their soft skills and cultural fit, and more efficiently identify the best people for their businesses. Our innovative model facilitates direct interaction between job seekers and Bosses, meeting the Bosses underserved demands to directly participate in the recruiting process at an early stage, and allows us to amass a large number of Bosses. |
| Mobile-native. We started as a mobile app, and we were built for the era of mobile internet, whereas other recruitment platforms were mainly born in the PC age and later piecemeal adapted a mobile interface. We had the largest average MAU in 2020 among online recruitment platforms in China, according to the CIC Report. Our user interface and service design are centered around our mobile offerings, and we provide social-media-app type of |
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enjoyable and intuitive user experience. Our highly interactive mobile-native platform improves user experience and recruitment efficiency by enabling job seekers and enterprise users to engage in meaningful communication anytime, anywhere and receive quick responses. |
| Recommendation-based. Since our inception, we have provided targeted job and candidate matches and recommendations by leveraging our massive high quality data and proprietary technology infrastructure, unlike traditional search-based model. The job and candidate recommendation function of our platform uses a feed stream format, which leverages large, live datasets to deliver accurate and tailored matching results for both job seekers and enterprise users. |
| Direct chat. Either job seekers or enterprise users can initiate direct chat with their counterparties on our platform throughout the recruitment process. Direct chatting ensures that our users are active with real demands for job opportunities or candidates, and users can confirm each others intentions and their suitability before the interview. Therefore, direct chatting makes the job hunting experience highly informative and efficient. |
We highly respect job seekers and are committed to better empowering them by giving them more say in the recruitment process. It is the job seekers themselves, not our platform, who decide which enterprise users can gain access to the job seekers resumes. This provides a powerful protection of job seekers privacy. We are also devoted to protecting job seekers against false information and frauds. We place great emphasis on the importance of ensuring the information presented on our platform is verified and authentic. We use a screening and monitoring system to examine and verify the authenticity of the job openings posted by enterprise users and leverage our advanced technology to detect and respond to threats and frauds continuously.
We believe our technology capabilities are at the core of our platform. Our proprietary AI infrastructure optimizes the analytics of large datasets consisting of massive static and dynamic data contributed by our extensive active user base and highly interactive platform. Our platform generates more data as we digitalize more steps across the recruitment value chain, we are able to gather more data to feed into our AI infrastructure. Our access to data combined with advanced data analytics and AI technology ensures the accuracy and completeness of the recommendation algorithm. Rapid product iteration and constant upgrading of our matching system further enable us to provide more accurate job and candidate matching results.
We adopt an ecosystem-friendly revenue model that balances the supply and demand of jobs and candidates. Most of our enterprise users can use our basic services for free, including posting jobs, browsing mini resumes, chatting with job seekers, hosting video and audio interviews and sending offers. For certain positions where the demand exceeds the supply of job seekers to a certain degree, we charge enterprise users a fee for posting such jobs. Enterprise users can also purchase our value-added services to facilitate their recruitment process. We had served 11.4 million verified enterprise users and 5.5 million verified enterprises as of December 31, 2020. In 2020, we had 2.23 million paid enterprise customers.
We have achieved significant growth. Our average MAU grew by 73.2% from 11.5 million in 2019 to 19.8 million in 2020. Our revenues increased by 94.7% from RMB998.7 million in 2019 to RMB1,944.4 million (US$298.0 million) in 2020. Our calculated cash billings increased by 89.7% from RMB1,334.0 million in 2019 to RMB2,529.9 million (US$387.7 million) in 2020. We generated net losses of RMB502.1 million and RMB941.9 million (US$144.4 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our adjusted net losses were RMB467.8 million and RMB284.7 million (US$43.6 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our operating cash flow turned positive and reached RMB395.9 million (US$60.7 million) in 2020. For discussions of our calculated cash billings and adjusted net loss and reconciliation of calculated cash billings to revenues and reconciliation of adjusted net loss to net loss, see
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Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsNon-GAAP Financial Measures for details.
Our Industry Opportunities
Leveraging our first-mover advantage, innovative business model and market leadership, we believe we can capitalize on the following market trends:
| Large population of potential job seekers with increasing penetration rate of online recruitment, primarily driven by mobile adoption. The total population of non-farm employees in China is expected to reach 612 million in 2025. The penetration rate of online recruitment for job seekers increased from 11.3% in 2015 to 17.9% in 2020, and is expected to reach 34.9% in 2025, according to the CIC Report. The shift from PC to mobile is an ongoing industry trend, and we leapfrogged our peers to build a mobile-native online recruitment platform. Job seekers, especially those from younger generations, are switching their jobs more frequently. Due to the proliferation of mobile internet and smart devices, job seekers are increasingly using online recruitment platforms when looking for jobs and especially value those platforms that can match them with the most suitable jobs more efficiently and conveniently. |
| Significant market potential arising from enterprises growing recruitment needs and the increasing penetration of online recruitment service market. As a result of Chinas economic growth and the disparity between supply and demand in the labor markets, offline recruiting is typically less efficient and cannot meet enterprise users pressing hiring demands. Online recruiting platforms significantly improve the recruitment efficiency and reduce the recruitment cost through technology and innovation. According to the CIC Report, the cost per hire for online recruitment services was approximately one fifth of that for offline recruitment services in 2020. Therefore, more and more businesses begin to turn to online recruitment platforms. The penetration rate of online recruitment for employers in China has increased from 16.9% in 2015 to 24.8% in 2020, and it is expected to reach 36.1% in 2025, according to the CIC Report. In addition to the wider adoption across enterprises for online recruitment solutions, the direct recruitment model attracts more enterprise users across different departments within the same company, further expanding the user base for online recruitment platforms. |
| Massive blue-collar market opportunity. Blue-collar recruitment is a market with massive opportunities. Blue-collar workers are the largest group of employees which accounted for 67% of non-farm employees in China. In addition, blue-collar workers generally switch jobs more frequently. According to the CIC Report, in 2025 the average frequency of switching jobs is expected to reach 2.1 times per year for non-farm employees in China. Such high frequency is primarily attributed to blue-collar employees. Enterprises with blue-collar recruiting needs also generally come with a high volume of vacancies. Urbanization has brought structural changes that create even more growth opportunities for blue-collar online recruitment. According to the CIC Report, the online penetration rate for blue-collar job seekers was 13.0% in 2020 and is expected to grow to 29.9% in 2025, and at the same time the revenue for blue-collar online market was RMB22.8 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach RMB128.4 billion in 2025. |
| Rich opportunities for digitalization across recruitment value chain. Digitalization has led to new technology and created new mode of interaction between people, unlocking untapped potential in the recruitment value chain. Right now, many steps within the recruitment process are still carried out offline, presenting significant opportunities for online recruitment platforms to digitalize the entire job hunting and recruitment process. |
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Strengths
We believe the following strengths have contributed to our success:
Largest online recruitment platform with full spectrum of user coverage, contributing to stronger network effect
We are the largest online recruitment platform in China. We had a total of 76.7 million verified job seekers and 11.4 million verified enterprise users as of December 31, 2020.
Serving different groups of people at the same time is a challenge for our peers. However, we have achieved full user coverage of white and gold-collar users, blue-collar users and college students, and have served a full spectrum of employers, large and small, in numerous industries and from diverse geographical areas. As of December 31, 2020, white and gold-collar users, blue-collar users, and college students accounted for 56.6%, 27.8%, and 15.6% of our job seeker user base, respectively. We serve all 2020 Fortune China 500 companies. Our data-driven recommendations deliver a tailored and efficient job hunting and recruitment experience for all of our users and ensure the co-existence of our diverse user base on one mobile app. Job seekers are less distracted by employers offering jobs that are unrelated to their job pursuits, and employers will receive candidate recommendations that we believe meet their requirements.
Benefiting from our large and diverse user base, our platform has developed a powerful network effect. As more job seekers join our platform, more employers will come, bringing more job opportunities, which in turn attract more job seekers, forming a virtuous cycle. The extensive user coverage of our platform allows us to fulfill the cross job-function category and cross geographic recruitment needs of enterprise users, which offers them significantly more choices and increases the possibility of matching the right candidate with the right job, forming an even larger network of job seekers and employers. Our verified job seekers and verified enterprise users experienced a year-on-year growth of 71.4% and 76.6%, respectively, as of December 31, 2020.
Innovative model delivers higher recruitment efficiency and drives rapid expansion
We are the first to introduce a mobile-native, recommendation-based, and direct recruitment model that transformed the incumbent market practice in Chinas online recruitment industry. Even though it is not hard for our industry peers to come up with a similar looking user interface, the effective communication between job seekers and enterprise users propelled by our innovative model is hard to emulate.
Our recommendation-driven model provides an intuitive user experience and delivers accurate and tailored matching results. Our instant messaging function instills flexibility in the communication process, provides prompt feedback to users and enables frequent interaction. The convenience and
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efficiency brought by this model have attracted Bosses, who are not professional recruiters, to join our platform and directly communicate with job seekers, creating new scenarios that meet their underserved demands to get involved in the recruitment process early on. As the final decision-makers in the hiring process and future business supervisors, Bosses provide more accurate evaluations of candidates. Job seekers can also gain a deeper understanding of employers recruitment needs through directly communicating with Bosses.
Our large Boss user base, feeds-based recommendation function and the direct recruitment model address the low efficiencies in the industry. We also empower individual users (both job seekers and enterprise users) to actively participate in the recruiting process and serve the traditionally underserved talents and SMEs as online traffic is heavily tilted towards large enterprises and top job seekers on other platforms. This allows us to fulfill unmet demands and create incremental market opportunities.
As a result of our powerful and innovative model, we have achieved rapid growth ahead of our peers. We are the fastest growing company in terms of growth of average MAUs in 2020 among Chinas top 5 online recruitment platforms, according to the CIC Report. Our revenue increased by 94.7% from RMB998.7 million in 2019 to RMB1,944.4 million (US$298.0 million) in 2020.
Superior individual user experience brings about stronger user loyalty and brand recognition
We are driven by our relentless focus on superior individual user experience to better serve job seekers, Bosses, HRs and other recruiting individuals. We offer an intuitive user interface, easy-to-use service features, and flexible usage in addition to the efficient job hunting and recruitment user experience brought by our innovative model. We are committed to giving more say to job seekers by giving enterprise users access to job seekers contact information and full resume only upon job seekers express consent. This protects the privacy of job seekers and increases their trust towards our platform. The direct recruitment model also brings about a superior user experience by allowing employers to enjoy high recruitment efficiency.
The exceptional user experience we provide increases the loyalty of our users and ensures an elevated user engagement. In 2020, our average DAU as percentage of average MAU reached 26.4% which was the highest among top 5 online recruitment platforms in China as of 2020, according to the CIC Report. In 2020, our platform generated an average of 1.9 billion chat messages every month.
The high loyalty brought about by our superior user experience allows us to grow with our users throughout their career lifecycle, continually fulfilling their job hunting and employment needs. In addition, loyal and active users help us build our brand awareness, which in turn delivers a viral marketing effect. Increasingly, more job seekers and enterprise users are attracted to our platform by word of mouth. Furthermore, we take a bottom-up approach to expand our presence within a business as one loyal and satisfied user will introduce us to Bosses and recruiting professionals from another team or division of the company. As more users within a company have experienced our highly efficient and quality services, we can foster larger-scale and deeper cooperation with the company. Among the employers that have an annual revenue of more than RMB200,000 in 2020 and have verified enterprise users registered with us since 2017, an average of 148 enterprise users within each company use our platform in 2017; the number increased significantly to an average of 293 in 2018 and 479 in 2019, and further increased to 784 in 2020.
Industry-leading technology capabilities powered by data insights that fuel accurate recommendations
We believe in the strength of technology. Our core competitive strengths derive from our massive multidimensional data insights, powerful AI algorithm and big data capacity which enable us to
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effectively process the data and continuously improve our two-way matching accuracy. Accurate matching results allow us to attract more users and accumulate more data, which in turn improves the matching efficiency and optimizes the user experience, creating a positive feedback loop.
Our online platform generates a high level of interaction, which provides us with massive multidimensional data. We are committed to digitalizing and intellectualizing the entire recruitment process. The digitalization of each phase of the recruitment process and the high frequency and high quality interactions between our users together generate considerable behavioral data, which is being continuously fed back into our AI engine.
In addition to our vast data reserve and big data capabilities, our strong AI technology is also a pillar that allows us to provide more accurate job and candidate matching. We are continuously improving and optimizing our proprietary AI algorithm to achieve rapid iteration. Our algorithm picks up tiny changes of preference demonstrated through each users interaction on our platform, processes these actions instantly through our AI models and provides users with refined matching results within seconds. We continuously improve our recommendation engine by leveraging our natural language processing capability and profound understanding of professional profiles, job descriptions and user interaction data. The use of our algorithm and data capability also helps to ensure the authenticity of information.
Multipronged go-to-market strategy that best serves diverse user demands
We have adopted an ecosystem-friendly monetization model which balances the supply and demand on our platform, meanwhile enhances user experience. Users can try out our service for free, and we also offer a flexible purchase option. For non-recruiting professionals and SMEs with massive and scattered recruitment needs, we allow them to conduct self-service, small amount and short-term purchases. For businesses with large and long-term recruitment service procurement needs, our direct sales team provides high-quality pre-sale planning and after-sales services to ensure the satisfaction of these enterprise users.
Our direct sales team generates all of our sales leads by locating existing users that have indicated a purchase demand. We have full control over our sales activities and do not rely on any third party to obtain users or increase monetization. Our proprietary AI-driven CRM system identifies enterprise users that have a demand and willingness to engage in bulk purchases and push the sales leads to our direct sales team. The sales team can then approach potential paying enterprise users in a targeted way to provide customized service support. This unique sales model has resulted in high sales efficiency.
Visionary management team with deep industry expertise
We have a visionary, experienced and entrepreneurial management team. The majority of our management team has been with us since our inception. Our management team is strategically savvy and has successfully built a platform that is transforming the online recruitment industry in China.
Mr. Peng Zhao is recognized as a leading figure in the Chinese human resources and internet sectors with over 22 years of industry experience. Acting on industry insight, Mr. Zhao has led our company on the waves of innovations in the industry and built our recruitment platform, which has successfully transformed Chinas online recruitment industry and lays a solid foundation to achieve our vision.
Over the years, we have always stayed true to our original philosophy: focus on users, value technology, appreciate simplicity, and encourage self-motivation. We believe our powerful corporate culture is indispensable from what we have achieved today.
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Strategies
We seek to connect and empower job seekers and enterprise users through technology and innovation. We plan to attract more users, including both job seekers and enterprise users to our platform, further enhance our user experience, and improve our brand equity by focusing on the following key growth strategies.
Continuously improve our user experience and increase the breadth and depth of service offerings
We will continue to improve user experience to increase user engagement and retention. We are committed to tailoring our services to better serve them.
We will further deploy our multipronged go-to-market strategy to serve more enterprises users, expand our presence within the same enterprises and increase the breadth and depth of our service offerings.
We plan to further digitalize the recruitment processes and offer more services to users, for example, we are also providing video and audio interviews and employee onboarding, paving the way for future closed-loop recruitment services.
Further increase our presence in different user groups, especially blue-collar users
We plan to continue to drive the robust growth of our user base across the full user spectrum by optimizing our services, strengthening our branding and sales efficiencies.
We view the growth of blue-collar user as an important growth driver and our business model has been proven to be effective for blue-collar recruiting. We will continue to improve our service quality and user experience to grow our blue-collar user base.
Continue to invest in technological innovations and deepen our data insights
We will continue to invest in technology talent and infrastructure, which is the core of our technology strength. We plan to expand our investment in technology talent by expanding our technology team and further attract talent with expertise on key technologies. Meanwhile, we will continue to strengthen investment in deep learning and recommendation algorithm, enhance career knowledge graph, deepen our understanding of various occupations and industries to provide more accurate and professional career services. We will continue to strengthen our data security and user privacy through technology advancement and the continuous deployment of a variety of technical solutions.
Explore other potential sectors in the human resource service market and achieve full coverage of users career lifecycle
The unique market position we hold and the powerful network effect of our platform make us well-positioned to enter other human resource service markets beyond online recruitment, further explore opportunities to provide better solutions and create value with our industry leading technology and data capabilities. These markets include human resource planning, career development, performance management, compensation and benefits management and employment relationship management, covering the entire career lifecycle of talents.
Why Users Love Us
Convenience. We were built for the era of mobile internet. Our mobile apps offer a social-media-apps type of easy and enjoyable user experience. We provide informative feed on job and
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candidate recommendations, which allow users to browse job postings and candidate information, connect and interact. Compared with the traditional job search and recruiting process that requires significant time and effort, our mobile-native platform and proprietary matching system demand little time and effort beyond scrolling, clicking and messaging.
Highly Interactive. We transformed how job seekers and employers interact in the online recruiting industry. Our instant messaging function propels direct and effective conversations between job seekers and enterprise users, especially Bosses, the executives or managers of businesses, generating new excitement in the industry. We make real time interaction between job seekers and enterprise users possible, significantly stimulating user enthusiasm, increasing user retention, and cultivating a more engaged and loyal user base.
Efficient. We make online job hunting and recruiting more efficient. Extensive user interaction facilitated by our innovative business model generates a large amount of multidimensional behavioral data. Such behavioral insight combined with our extensive static user profile information form our comprehensive datasets which are processed by our advanced analytics and self-evolving AI technology, to deliver curated matching results tailored to users needs and preferences. Taking advantage of the wide scale exposure to candidates and job positions and further refine our matching results by analyzing the matching success rate, we connect the right person with the right job.
Privacy. We highly value job seekers privacy and are committed to safeguarding their information. Enterprise users are not allowed to access job seekers full resume or their contact information without job seekers express consents. Job seekers can also easily make their information selectively visible to enterprise users. Our privacy protection mechanisms help foster a trustworthy and credible platform.
Job Hunting and Recruitment Journey on BOSS Zhipin App
The below flowchart illustrates the user journey we offer to our job seekers and enterprise users.
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Job seeker page
We have transformed the stressful process of browsing job openings to an adventure as easy and engaging as exploring social media. Job seekers job hunting experience on our platform begins by registering with us. They are required to provide basic personal and professional information, such as name, educational background and employment status.
The information of the job seekers we acquire through the registration process is used for identity verification and is stored as a mini resume, which does not contain job seekers personal contact information, to be viewed by interested enterprise users. Job seekers can easily switch their privacy settings to make their mini resumes selectively visible to enterprise users. This is especially useful for job seekers who search for their next employment sporadically. Job seekers can also choose not to receive certain job recommendations, including job openings posted by headhunters or jobs in a different city. Information such as desired position and salary expectation are processed by our advanced AI technology to provide customized job opening recommendations.
Enterprise user page
Bosses and recruiting professionals from different employers can set up their own personal accounts as enterprise users to join our platform and interact with job seekers. We require them to provide key information such as their names, job titles and the name of their employers. They can also choose to provide related personal and professional information, including their work experience, education background and business partners. Enterprise users can also post their experiences working at the company, tell a story about why they love the company and their jobs, and why job seekers should consider joining the company. Job seekers can easily browse the full range of job positions offered by an enterprise user, in addition to the ones that we have recommended. After setting up their user page, enterprise users can post job openings on our platform. Our unique enterprise user page gives more depth to a companys corporate image and foster more interaction between job seekers and enterprise users.
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Tailored matching and connecting
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Our typical user experience begins from the main feed, where users scroll through the recommended job postings or candidate listings and other customized professional content from the platform. To save our users from constantly modifying search inputs and getting less relevant results, we leverage our proprietary algorithms and machine learning technologies to match and connect the right person with the right position through our curated job posting and candidate recommendations. This goes beyond the traditional search-based model where users need to type in key words to find suitable job postings.
Our platform generates and aggregates massive unique data points, including user reviews, reach-outs, messaging, resume delivery and exchange of contact information. Informed by this rich and growing dataset, we leverage machine learning technologies to build and refine our advanced proprietary algorithms that enable customized job recommendation for our users at a massive scale. For example, each users every action or inaction to either review or ignore a recommendation delivers a feedback to our data system. These feedbacks, conveying each individuals current likings and preferences, are instantly processed by our AI models and immediately reflected in the new job openings or candidates recommended to the user. Customized matching significantly improves the efficiency of job hunting and recruitment and enhances user experience which in turn elevate user engagement.
In addition, our data-driven tailored matching ensures that enterprise users (or job seekers) are connected with candidates (or job opportunities) that they are likely to be interested in. For example, gold-collar users are unlikely to be reached by enterprise users offering entry-level positions while college students will receive recommendations of such job openings that meet their expectations. This allows us to achieve two seemingly competing goals at the same time, which is the ability to offer tailored and focused experience while achieving a full spectrum of user coverage mainly through one mobile platform.
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Instant messaging
We propel direct conversation between enterprise users and job seekers through our instant messaging function. Our job seeker recommendation system enables enterprise users to access our large job seeker pool to find, connect and interact with qualified job seekers. After reviewing their professional profiles, enterprise users can initiate direct conversation with job seekers to tell them more about their companies or a specific opportunity. Job seekers can also reach out to enterprise users to express their interests in a specific position through text and voice messages, emoticons and pictures.
In a traditional online recruiting process, a job seekers only interaction with the employers on the platform is to mass submit his or her resume. They would then be put through usually weeks of waiting before they could hear back from the employer, and often times, they just never hear back. This dynamic makes it difficult for job seekers to manage their expectations, resulting in low engagement with the recruiting platform. Our instant messaging function, on the other hand, allows seekers to better manage their job hunting journey as they can expect to receive responses from enterprise users within a short time. Enterprise users can reach out to suitable job seekers who are recommended to them through our advanced AI matching technology or who have browsed the postings. Job seekers can also proactively approach enterprise users through our instant messaging function. Failure to receive any responses within a day to two incentivizes job seekers to move on and look for other employment opportunities.
Our instant messaging function encourages continued interaction between enterprise users and job seekers in every step along the recruiting process. Real time interaction between job seekers and enterprise users significantly drives user enthusiasm, increases user retention and fosters a highly engaged user base.
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The instant and close interaction created by our instant messaging feature also attracts many Bosses with recruiting needs to communicate directly with job seekers. Bosses are willing to attract, screen, or communicate with candidates. They have a clear understanding of desired candidate attributes, interested in taking a first crack to communicate, attract or screen candidates and are often the key decision makers in the recruiting process. In addition, our instant messaging function is particularly appealing to traditionally underserved SME employers, who are eager to attract quality candidates. As of December 31, 2020, 65% of our verified enterprise users are Bosses.
Resume delivery based on mutual consent
We firmly believe that recruiting is a two-way street. We are committed to transforming the recruiting process by empowering job seekers and giving them more say.
We put job seekers back to the pilot seat by giving them more control in the job hunting process. Enterprise users do not automatically have full access to job seekers resumes. They only have access to job seekers mini resumes, which contains the job seekers personal strengths, job expectations, employment history and educational background, but does not include their personal contact information. Enterprise users are thus motivated to engage in meaningful conversations with job seekers to confirm mutual interest before inviting them to deliver resumes. For example, to attract quality job seekers and gain access to their resumes, enterprise users may need to proactively reach out to these job seekers, demonstrate benefits of the job and answer their questions. Similarly, job seekers cannot submit their resumes to an enterprise user without the enterprise users consent. Our tailored matching and connecting combined with the safeguarded effective communication between job seekers and enterprise users guarantee a targeted and efficient job hunting and recruiting experience.
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