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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 11, 2018

Registration No. 333-226913

 

 

 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

Amendment No. 3

to

Form F-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

Qutoutiao Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

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)

11/F, Block 3, XingChuang Technology Center

Shen Jiang Road 5005,

Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 200120

People’s Republic of China

+86-21-6858-3790

(Address and Telephone Number of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

 

 

Cogency Global Inc.

10E. 40th Street, 10th Floor

New York, NY10016, United States

+1-212-947-7200

(Name, address and telephone number of agent for service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

Chris K.H. Lin, Esq.

Daniel Fertig, Esq.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

35th Floor, ICBC Tower

3 Garden Road

Central, Hong Kong

+852-2514-7600

     

Dan Ouyang, Esq.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Suite 1509, 15F, Jardine House

1 Connaught Place, Central

Hong Kong

+852-3972-4955

 

Jie Zhu, Esq.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Professional Corporation

Unit 03-04, 38F, Jin Mao Tower

88 Century Boulevard

Pudong New Area, Shanghai 200121

People’s Republic of China

+86-21-6165-1700

 

 

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

 

 

Title of Each Class of

Securities to be Registered (1)

  Amount to be
Registered (2)(3)
  Proposed Maximum
Offering Price per
Share (3)
  Proposed Maximum
Aggregate Offering
Price (2)(3)
  Amount of
Registration Fee (4 )

Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share

  4,600,000   US$36.00   US$165,600,000   US$20,617

 

 

(1)

American depositary shares, or ADSs, issuable upon deposit of the Class A ordinary shares registered hereby will be registered under a separate registration statement on Form F-6 (Registration No. 333-227181). Every four ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share.

(2)

Includes (a) Class A ordinary shares represented by ADSs that may be purchased by the underwriters pursuant to their over-allotment option and (b) all Class A ordinary shares represented by ADSs initially offered and sold outside the United States that may be resold from time to time in the United States either as part of the distribution or within 40 days after the later of the effective date of this registration statement and the date the securities are first bona fide offered to the public.

(3)

Estimated solely for the purpose of computing the amount of the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(a) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

(4)

Previously paid.

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, as amended, or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to such Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 


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The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Subject to Completion. Dated September 11, 2018.

16,000,000 American Depositary Shares

 

LOGO

Qutoutiao Inc.

Representing 4,000,000 Class A Ordinary Shares

This is an initial public offering of shares of American depositary shares, or ADSs, representing Class A ordinary shares of Qutoutiao Inc.

We are offering 16,000,000 ADSs to be sold in this offering. Every four ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share, US$0.0001 par value per share. We anticipate the initial public offering price per ADS will be between US$7.00 and US$9.00.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the ADSs or our shares. We will apply to list the ADSs on the NASDAQ Global Market, under the symbol “QTT.”

An affiliate of JD.com, Inc. has indicated an interest in purchasing up to US$40 million of the ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares in this offering at the initial public offering price and on the same terms as the other ADSs being offered. We and the underwriters are currently under no obligation to sell ADSs to such affiliate of JD.com, Inc.

We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable United States federal securities laws and are eligible for reduced public company reporting requirements.

See “ Risk Factors ” on page 17 to read about factors you should consider before buying the ADSs.

Neither the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. 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)

For additional information on underwriting compensation, see “Underwriting.”

To the extent that the underwriters sell more than 16,000,000 ADSs in this offering, the underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an aggregate of 2,400,000 additional ADSs from us at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions.

Upon the completion of this offering, 37,572,806 Class A ordinary shares and 34,248,442 Class B ordinary shares will be issued and outstanding. Each Class A ordinary share will be entitled to one vote, and each Class B ordinary share will be entitled to ten (10) votes and will be convertible into one Class A ordinary share. We will be a “controlled company” as defined under the Nasdaq Stock Market Rules because Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, our co-founder and executive chairman, will hold 73.2% (or 72.9% assuming the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable in connection with the Series C2 preferred shares issuable) of the aggregate voting power of our company upon the completion of this offering.

The underwriters expect to deliver the ADSs against payment in New York, New York on             , 2018.

(in alphabetical order)

 

Citigroup

  Deutsche Bank Securities

 

China Merchants Securities (HK)   UBS Investment Bank

KeyBanc Capital Markets

Prospectus dated             , 2018


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LOGO


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Prospectus Summary

     1  

Summary Consolidated Financial and Operating Data

     12  

Risk Factors

     17  

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Industry Data

     66  

Use of Proceeds

     67  

Dividend Policy

     68  

Capitalization

     69  

Dilution

     71  

Exchange Rate Information

     74  

Enforcement of Civil Liabilities

     75  

Our History and Corporate Structure

     77  

Selected Consolidated Financial and Operating Data

     83  

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

     88  

Industry Overview

     120  

Business

     125  

Regulations

     137  

Management

     151  

Principal Shareholders

     163  

Related Party Transactions

     167  

Description of Share Capital

     169  

Description of American Depositary Shares

     180  

Shares Eligible for Future Sale

     188  

Taxation

     191  

Underwriting

     198  

Expenses Related to this Offering

     209  

Legal Matters

     210  

Experts

     211  

Where You Can Find More Information

     212  

Index to Consolidated Financial Statements

     F-1  

No dealer, salesperson or other person is authorized to give any information or to represent as to anything not contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus we may authorize to be delivered or made available to you. You must not rely on any unauthorized information or representations. This prospectus is an offer to sell, and we are seeking offers to buy, only the ADSs offered hereby, and only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of the ADSs.

 

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Neither we nor the underwriters have done anything that would permit this offering or the possession or distribution of this prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus in any jurisdiction where other action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus or any free writing prospectus filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the ADSs and the distribution of this prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus outside of the United States.

Until             , 2018 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade ADSs, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the obligation of dealers to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.

 

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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights selected information contained in greater detail elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary may not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in our ADSs. You should carefully read the entire prospectus, including “Risk Factors” and the financial statements, before making an investment decision. This prospectus contains information from an industry report commissioned by us and prepared by Analysys International, an independent market research firm, to provide information regarding our industry and our market position in China. We refer to this report, which is dated as of August 30, 2018, as the Analysys Report.

Our Mission

Bring fun and value to users through content.

Overview

We are the No. 2 mobile content aggregator in China in terms of MAUs and average DAUs in July 2018, according to the Analysys Report. Our flagship mobile application, Qutoutiao , meaning “fun headlines” in Chinese, aggregates articles and short videos from professional media and freelancers and presents customized feeds to users. These feeds are optimized in real time based on each user’s profile, behavior and social relationships through our proprietary AI-powered content recommendation engine. Since its launch in June 2016, Qutoutiao has rapidly gained popularity, reaching MAUs of approximately 62.0 million, average DAUs of approximately 21.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU of approximately 55.4 minutes in August 2018.

We believe we represent a new generation of technology-driven content platforms. Historically, users are accustomed to consume content passively as media dictate content curation with little or no personalization. However, as the volume and diversity of content available on the Internet grow exponentially, users demand, at scale, content personalization, which is only achievable through technology. We believe our technology brings relevant information and entertainment to users, stimulates users’ desire to read, and ultimately improves the knowledge exchange in society.

Since our inception, we have strategically targeted users from tier-3 and below cities in China because of the enormous opportunities in this underserved market. As of the end of 2017, tier-3 and below cities had a population of 1,027 million each owning 0.5 mobile device on average (compared to a population of 363 million each owning 1.3 mobile devices on average in tier-1 and 2 cities), suggesting significant potential for further mobile penetration, according to the Analysys Report. Mobile users in tier-3 and below cities tend to have a slower pace of life and spend more time on the Internet given limited offline entertainment venues. Moreover, they often enjoy fast increasing disposable income and lower financial pressures thanks to lower housing prices. These factors contribute to a significant need for mobile entertainment content while also create strong monetization potential. Users from tier-3 and below cities tend to have different interests and preferences than users from tier-1 and tier-2 cities. Qutoutiao ’s light entertainment-oriented and easily digestible content is designed to resonate with such users and provides us with a significant advantage to capture this underserved market.

Our rapid growth since the launch of Qutoutiao is in large part due to our innovative user account system and gamified user loyalty program. We believe we are a pioneer in the mobile content industry in applying such a loyalty program. Registered users can earn loyalty points by referring new users to register on Qutoutiao , by consuming content or by engaging on Qutoutiao . Although loyalty points only translate into trivial monetary amounts, we believe they foster users’ loyalty and emotional connection to Qutoutiao as compared to other



 

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platforms. The loyalty programs create a strong viral effect, which we believe enables us to enjoy lower user acquisition cost compared to acquiring users through other means. The gamified loyalty point system not only helps us keep users more engaged and enhance user stickiness, but also enables us to track users’ long-term behavior and optimize content recommendation, as almost all of our DAUs are logged-on users.

Covering a broad range of topics, Qutoutiao is focused on humor, stories and other light entertainment content that delight and inspire. Our content is generally sourced from professional media under a licensing arrangement or uploaded by the more than 230,000 freelancers registered on our platform. In June 2018, there were approximately 5.9 million pieces of content added to Qutoutiao , out of which approximately 2.9 million were videos. We also introduced a separate mobile application in May 2017 that allows users to create and upload videos. In addition to articles and short videos, we plan to diversify our content offerings into literature, casual games, live streaming, animations and comics, creating a comprehensive light entertainment content ecosystem.

We currently generate revenue primarily by providing advertising services. We plan to explore additional monetization opportunities as we grow our user base and introduce additional content formats, such as literature, casual games and live streaming.

Our net revenues have increased rapidly from RMB58.0 million (US$8.8 million) in 2016 to RMB517.1 million (US$78.1 million) in 2017, and further from RMB107.3 million (US$16.2 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 to RMB717.8 million (US$108.5 million) in the same period in 2018. As we focused on growing our user base and enhancing our services, we have incurred net losses of RMB10.9 million (US$1.6 million) in 2016, RMB94.8 million (US$14.3 million) in 2017, RMB28.7 million (US$4.3 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 and RMB514.4 million (US$77.7 million) in the same period in 2018. Adjusted net losses, which represented net losses before share-based compensation expenses, were RMB10.5 million (US$1.6 million) in 2016, RMB91.4 million (US$13.8 million) in 2017, RMB28.3 million (US$4.3 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 and RMB329.1 million (US$49.7 million) in the same period in 2018. Share-based compensation expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2018 included RMB158.6 million (US$24.8 million) that relates to certain ordinary shares beneficially owned by certain of our co-founders that became restricted pursuant to share restriction deeds entered into by them in January 2018 and vested in the six months ended June 30, 2018.

Our Strengths

We believe our success to date is largely attributable to the following key competitive strengths:

 

   

leading mobile content aggregator;

 

   

social-based user loyalty programs promoting effective user acquisition;

 

   

powerful account system driving high user engagement;

 

   

differentiated and extensive content offerings;

 

   

intelligent content delivery supported by artificial intelligence and data capabilities; and

 

   

visionary and experienced management team with track record of success.

Our Strategies

Our long-term vision is to create a leading global online content ecosystem. To achieve this vision, we plan to pursue the following growth strategies:

 

   

expand our user base;



 

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enrich our content offerings;

 

   

strengthen social features and promote user generated content;

 

   

invest in technology and innovation;

 

   

enhance monetization capabilities; and

 

   

selectively pursue acquisition and investment opportunities.

Our Challenges

Our business and successful execution of our strategies are subject to certain challenges, risks and uncertainties including:

 

   

our limited operating history;

 

   

our ability to acquire users, retain existing users and maintain high user engagement;

 

   

our ability to increase the strength of our brand;

 

   

the attractiveness of our mobile applications to users, including any new content formats and other products and services that we may introduce in the future;

 

   

our ability to compete effectively in the industry we operate;

 

   

our ability to continue to monetize, including through our advertising solutions and other products and services that we will introduce in the future;

 

   

the fact that we have not completed the registration for “ Qutoutiao ,” the name of our flagship mobile application, due to an objection filed by one of our competitors on the purported ground that “ Qutoutiao ” is similar to a trademark registered by such competitor; and

 

   

whether content providers continue to contribute content to our platform.

In addition, we face risks and uncertainties related to our corporate structure and regulatory environment in China, including:

 

   

regulatory risks related to the mobile content feed industry in China;

 

   

risks associated with our control over our consolidated variable interest entity, or consolidated VIE, in China, which is based on contractual arrangements rather than equity ownership; and

 

   

changes in the political and economic policies of the PRC government.

We also face other risks and uncertainties that may materially affect our business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects. You should consider the risks discussed in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus before investing in our ADSs.

Recent Developments

On August 27, 2018, we entered into various agreements with Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries, or collectively “The Paper” or “ LOGO ”.

The Paper is a leading online news service in China known for its original, authoritative and high-quality content. The Paper is a subsidiary of Shanghai United Media Group, which was established on October 28, 2013 through the merger of Shanghai’s two largest newspaper groups and is a wholly state-owned enterprise under the supervision of the Shanghai State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.



 

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Pursuant to a share purchase agreement, we agreed to issue 1,480,123 Series C2 preferred shares to The Paper for the consideration of US$55,102,061. The consideration will be satisfied by a combination of cash and certain business and strategic cooperation between The Paper and us. The share purchase agreement also provides that The Paper will have the right to designate one director to our board of directors. In connection to the share purchase agreement, we entered into a strategic cooperation framework agreement with The Paper on the same date, pursuant to which the parties agree to cooperate in various areas of online news and content business, including content sourcing and management, marketing, traffic, data and technology. In addition, Shanghai Jifen, our consolidated VIE, has agreed to issue equity interests representing 1% of its enlarged share capital to The Paper at a nominal price. Following the equity issuance, The Paper will assist Shanghai Jifen to enhance the quality and compliance of content on its platforms such as Qutoutiao through secondment of relevant personnel and other relevant measures.

The transactions with The Paper are subject to regulatory approvals from relevant PRC government authorities and we currently expect the transactions to close in the next 12 months. To the extent the closing of the share purchase is after the completion of this offering, the same number of Class A ordinary shares will be issued to The Paper in lieu of Series C2 preferred shares. Upon the issuance of Series C2 preferred shares or the Class A ordinary shares, as the case may be, The Paper will own approximately 2.1% of our total issued and outstanding share capital as of the date of this prospectus prior to the completion of this offering or 2.0% upon the completion of this offering (assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs).

We believe the investment from, and our cooperation with, The Paper will improve the overall quality of content on our platform, enhance our content compliance and strengthen our brand image. We believe that in an environment where compliance becomes increasingly important, this will bring important competitive advantages for us.

Net Revenues for the Month Ended July 31, 2018

For the month ended July 31, 2018, we estimate that our net revenues will range from RMB260.0 million (US$39.3 million) to RMB270.0 million (US$40.8 million) driven by growth in DAUs and our continued ability to monetize.

The financial data presented above is preliminary, based upon our estimates and is subject to revision based upon our financial closing procedures. Our actual results may be materially different from our estimate. In addition, these estimated results are not necessarily indicative of our results for the three months ended September 30, 2018, the fiscal year 2018 or any future period.

The preliminary financial data included in this prospectus has been prepared by, and is the responsibility of the management. PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP has not audited, reviewed, compiled, or applied agreed-upon procedures with respect to the preliminary financial data. Accordingly, PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP does not express an opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto.

Our History and Corporate Structure

We launched our flagship mobile application, Qutoutiao , in June 2016. We primarily operate our business through our consolidated VIE, Shanghai Jifen, and its subsidiaries. To facilitate financing offshores, we incorporated Qtech Ltd. in July 2017. Through a series of transactions, Qtech Ltd. then became our ultimate holding company. On July 5, 2018, Qtech Ltd. was renamed to Qutoutiao Inc.



 

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The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure with our principal subsidiaries and consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries as of the date of this prospectus. Except as otherwise specified, equity interests depicted in this diagram are held as to 100%. The relationships between Shanghai Quyun Internet Technology Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Quyun, Shanghai Jifen Culture Communications Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Jifen, and its shareholders as illustrated in this diagram are governed by contractual arrangements and do not constitute equity ownership.

In connection with the share purchase agreement entered into with The Paper, Shanghai Jifen has agreed to issue equity interests representing 1% of its enlarged share capital to The Paper. As such, on August 27, 2018, Shanghai Jifen, together with its existing shareholders, entered into an agreement with The Paper pursuant to which Shanghai Jifen will increase its registered capital and The Paper will, at a nominal price, subscribe for the newly issued equity interests representing 1% of Shanghai Jifen’s enlarged share capital. We believe Shanghai Quyun, our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, still controls and is the primary beneficiary of Shanghai Jifen as it continues to have a controlling financial interest in Shanghai Jifen pursuant to ASC 810-10-25-38A after the issuance of such 1% equity interests.

 

LOGO

 

(1)

Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, Mr. Lei Li, Tianjin Shanshi Technology L.P. and Shanghai Xihu Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. held 45%, 15%, 20% and 20% equity interest in Shanghai Jifen, respectively.

Both Tianjin Shanshi Technology L.P. and Shanghai Xihu Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. are controlled by Mr. Eric Siliang Tan.

Upon the completion of The Paper’s subscription of the newly issued equity interests in Shanghai Jifen, Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, Mr. Lei Li, Tianjin Shanshi Technology L.P. and Shanghai Xihu Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. will hold 44.55%, 14.85%, 19.80% and 19.80% equity interest in Shanghai Jifen, respectively.

 

(2)

We acquired Shanghai Dianguan in February 2018.



 

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(3)

Include Anhui Zhangduan Internet Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Qukandian Internet Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Xike Information Technology Service Co., Ltd., Shanghai Tuile Information Technology Service Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Quwen Internet Technology Co., Ltd.

In April 2018, we entered into a share purchase agreement to purchase 100% equity interests of an audio/video content platform for a total cash consideration of RMB70.0 million (US$10.6 million). As of June 30, 2018, we have paid RMB43.0 million (US$6.5 million). We currently expect to complete the transaction by the end of 2018.

Our Corporate Information

Our principal executive offices are located at 11/F, Block 3, XingChuang Technology Center, Shen Jiang Road 5005, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 200120, People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86-21-6858-3790. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Vistra (Cayman) Limited, P.O. Box 31119 Grand Pavilion, Hibiscus Way, 802 West Bay Road, Grand Cayman, KY1-1205, Cayman Islands. Investors should submit any inquiries to the address and telephone number of our principal executive offices set forth above.

Our main website is www.qutoutiao.net , and the information contained on this website is not a part of this prospectus. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Cogency Global Inc., located at 10 E. 40th Street, 10th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10016, United States.

Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company

As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in revenue for the last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or 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, or Section 404, related to the assessment of the effectiveness of the emerging growth company’s 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. However, we have elected to “opt out” of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies. This decision to opt out of the extended transition period under the JOBS Act is irrevocable.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (a) the last day of our 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 previous 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 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.



 

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Conventions That Apply to This Prospectus

Unless we indicate otherwise, references in this prospectus to:

 

   

“installed users” are to the aggregate number of unique mobile devices that have downloaded and launched our relevant mobile application at least once;

 

   

“ADSs” are to American depositary shares, with every four ADSs representing one Class A ordinary share, and “ADRs” are to American depositary receipts that evidence ADSs;

 

   

“CAGR” are to compound annual growth rate;

 

   

“CPC” are to cost-per-click as basis for charging our advertising services;

 

   

“CPM” are to cost-per-thousand-impressions as basis for charging our advertising services;

 

   

“China” and the “PRC” are to the People’s Republic of China, excluding, for the purposes of this prospectus only, Taiwan, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region;

 

   

“DAUs” are to the number of unique mobile devices that accessed our relevant mobile application on a given day. “Average DAUs” for a particular period is the average of the DAUs on each day during that period;

 

   

“MAUs” are to the number of unique mobile devices that accessed our relevant mobile application in a given month;

 

   

“registered users” are to users that have registered accounts on our relevant mobile application;

 

   

“RMB” or “Renminbi” are to the legal currency of China;

 

   

“tier-3 and below cities” are to cities in China that are not tier-1 and tier-2 cities;

 

   

“tier-1 and tier-2 cities” refer to (i) tier-1 cities in China, which are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and (ii) tier-2 cities in China, which are Hangzhou, Nanjing, Jinan, Chongqing, Qingdao, Dalian, Ningbo, Xiamen, Tianjin, Chengdu, Wuhan, Harbin, Shenyang, Xi’an, Changchun, Changsha, Fuzhou, Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang, Suzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Wuxi, Yantai, Taiyuan, Hefei, Kunming, Nanchang, Nanning, Tangshan, Wenzhou and Zibo;

 

   

“US$,” “U.S. dollars,” or “dollars” are to the legal currency of the United States; and

 

   

“we,” “us,” “our company” and “our” are to Qutoutiao Inc., its consolidated VIE and their respective subsidiaries, as the context requires.

Unless specifically indicated otherwise or unless the context otherwise requires, all references to our ordinary shares exclude (i) ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of outstanding options with respect to our ordinary shares under our share incentive plan and (ii) assumes that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option to purchase additional ADSs.

This prospectus contains translations between Renminbi and U.S. dollars solely for the convenience of the reader. The translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this prospectus were made at a rate of RMB6.6171 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on June 29, 2018. We make no representation that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this prospectus 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. On August 31, 2018, the noon buying rate for Renminbi was RMB6.8300 to US$1.00.



 

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Unless the context indicates otherwise, all share and per share data in this prospectus have given effect to a share split in September 2017 in which each one of the previously issued ordinary shares was split into 10,000 ordinary shares.



 

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The Offering

 

Offering Price per ADS

We currently estimate that the initial public offering price will be between US$7.00 and US$9.00 per ADS.

 

ADSs Offered by Us

16,000,000 ADSs (or 18,400,000 ADSs if the underwriters exercise in full the over-allotment option).

 

ADSs Outstanding Immediately After This Offering

16,000,000 ADSs (or 18,400,000 ADSs if the underwriters exercise in full the over-allotment option).

 

Ordinary Shares Outstanding Immediately After This Offering

37,572,806 Class A ordinary shares and 34,248,442 Class B ordinary shares (or 38,172,806 Class A ordinary shares and 34,248,442 Class B ordinary shares if the underwriters exercise in full the over-allotment option).

 

The ADSs

Every four ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share, par value US$0.0001 per share.

 

  The depositary will be the holder of the Class A ordinary shares underlying the ADSs and you will have the rights of an ADS holder as provided in the deposit agreement among us, the depositary and registered holders and indirect holders and beneficial owners of ADSs from time to time.

 

  You may surrender your ADSs to the depositary to withdraw the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. The depositary will charge you a fee for any such exchange.

 

  We may amend or terminate the deposit agreement for any reason without your consent. Any amendment that imposes or increases fees or charges or which materially prejudices any substantial existing right you have as an ADS holder will not become effective as to outstanding ADSs until 30 days after notice of the amendment is given to ADS holders. If you continue to hold your ADSs, you will be bound by the deposit agreement as amended.

 

  To better understand the terms of the ADSs, you should carefully read the section in this prospectus entitled “Description of American Depositary Shares.” You should also read the deposit agreement, which is an exhibit to the registration statement that includes this prospectus.

 

Over-Allotment Option

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 2,400,000 additional ADSs at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.


 

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Use of Proceeds

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds of approximately US$115.4 million from this offering (or US$133.3 million if the underwriters exercise their options to purchase additional ADSs in full), assuming an initial public offering price of US$8.00 per ADS, the mid-point of the estimated range of the initial public offering price, after deducting estimated underwriter discounts, commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We anticipate using the net proceeds of this offering for (i) expanding and enhancing our content offerings, (ii) product development and technology infrastructure, (iii) marketing and promotion of our products and branding and (iv) general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions and investments (although we are not currently negotiating any such acquisitions or investments).

 

  See “Use of Proceeds” for more information.

 

Lock-up

We, our officers and directors, our existing shareholders and The Paper have agreed with the underwriters, subject to certain exceptions, not to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any ADSs, ordinary shares or similar securities or any securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for our ordinary shares or ADSs, for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” and “Underwriting.”

 

Risk Factors

See “Risk Factors” and other information included in this prospectus for a discussion of the risks relating to investing in the ADSs. You should carefully consider these risks before deciding to invest in our ADSs.

 

 

Listing

We will apply to list the ADSs on the NASDAQ Global Market. Our Class A ordinary shares will not be listed on any exchange or quoted for trading on any over-the-counter trading system.

 

Proposed NASDAQ Global Market Trading Symbol

QTT

 

Payment and settlement

The underwriters expect to deliver the ADSs against payment on             , 2018, through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company, or DTC.

 

Depositary

The Bank of New York Mellon

The total number of ordinary shares that will be outstanding immediately after this offering is based upon:

 

   

50,000,000 ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of the date of this prospectus (including (i) 40,500,000 ordinary shares held by certain of our co-founders and other ordinary shareholders, of which 15,937,500 ordinary shares are restricted shares beneficially owned by certain of our co-founders and are expected to be fully vested upon the completion of this offering; and (ii) 9,500,000 ordinary shares held by a nominee of our equity incentive trust, of which 4,477,377 are underlying shares of vested options as of the date hereof);



 

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conversion of all outstanding convertible redeemable preferred shares (including Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2, Series B3 and Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares) into 17,821,248 ordinary shares; and

 

   

4,000,000 ordinary shares issued in connection with this offering (assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs),

but excludes:

 

   

1,480,123 ordinary shares issuable to The Paper or convertible from the Series C2 preferred shares issuable to The Paper, as the case may be; and

 

   

2,873,598 ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of outstanding share options and 90,543 ordinary shares reserved for future issuance under our 2018 equity incentive plan.



 

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SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA

The following summary consolidated statements of comprehensive loss data and summary consolidated statements of cash flows data for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017 and summary consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2016 and 2017 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The summary consolidated statements of comprehensive loss data and summary consolidated of cash flow data for the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018 and the summary consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2018 have been derived from our unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or the U.S. GAAP. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any future period. The following summary consolidated financial data for the periods and as of the dates indicated are qualified by reference to, and should be read in conjunction with, our consolidated financial statements and related notes and the information under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” both of which are included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Summary Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss Data

 

    Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended June 30,  
    2016     2017     2017     2018  
    RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
    (in thousands, except for percentages, share and per share data)  

Revenues (1) :

               

Advertising revenue

    57,880       8,747       512,883       77,509       106,348       16,072       669,871       101,233  

Other revenue

    74       11       4,170       630       925       140       47,964       7,249  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net revenues

    57,954       8,758       517,053       78,139       107,273       16,212       717,835       108,482  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cost of revenues (2)

    7,178       1,085       76,481       11,558       10,322       1,560       145,993       22,063  

Gross profit

    50,776       7,673       440,572       66,581       96,951       14,652       571,842       86,419  

Operating expenses (2) :

               

Research and development expenses

    2,627       397       15,317       2,315       2,974       450       62,912       9,508  

Sales and marketing expenses

    54,633       8,256       494,724       74,765       114,069       17,238       836,941       126,481  

General and administrative expenses

    4,427       669       25,947       3,921       8,885       1,343       193,886       29,301  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

    61,687       9,322       535,988       81,001       125,928       19,031       1,093,739       165,290  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss from operations (3)

    (10,911     (1,649     (95,416     (14,420     (28,977     (4,379     (521,897     (78,871
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Interest income

    51       8       673       103       307       46       5,389       815  

Foreign exchange related gains, net

    —         —         —         —         —         —         2,098       317  

Others, net

    (2     (1     (17     (3     (5     (1     (26     (4
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss before income tax expenses

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743

Income tax expenses

    —         —         —         —         —         —         —         —    
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Accretion to convertible redeemable preferred shares redemption value

    —         —         (6,012     (909     —         —         (58,964     (8,911

Deemed dividend to preferred shareholders

    —         —         —         —         —         —         (1,916     (290

Net loss attributable to Qutoutiao Inc.’s ordinary shareholders

    (10,862     (1,642     (100,772     (15,229     (28,675     (4,334     (575,316     (86,944
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 


 

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    Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended June 30,  
    2016     2017     2017     2018  
    RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
    (in thousands, except for percentages, share and per share data)  

Net loss

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743

Other comprehensive income/(loss)

               

Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of nil tax

    —         —         25       3       —         —         (12,562     (1,899
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Comprehensive loss attributable to Qutoutiao Inc.

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,735     (14,317     (28,675     (4,334     (526,998     (79,642
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss per share attributable to Qutoutiao Inc.

               

– Basic and diluted

    (0.45     (0.07     (4.19     (0.63     (1.19     (0.18     (23.74     (3.59

Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in per share calculation:

               

– Basic and diluted

    24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,238,324       24,238,324  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1) Revenue from transactions with related parties are set forth below for the periods indicated:

 

     Year Ended December 31,      Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016      2017      2017      2018  
     RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Advertising revenue

     —          —          —          —          —          —          1,183        179  

Other revenue

     —          —          —          —          —          —          5,293        800  

 

(2)

Cost of revenues and operating expenses from transactions with related parties are set forth below for the periods indicated:

 

     Year Ended December 31,      Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016      2017      2017      2018  
     RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Cost of revenues

     120        18        484        73        145        22        3,368        509  

Research and development expenses

     166        25        220        33        66        10        —          —    

Sales and marketing expenses

     74        11        950        144        284        43        4,918        743  

General and administrative expenses

     2,664        403        15,134        2,287        6,401        967        —          —    

 

(3)

We recognized share-based compensation expenses of RMB0.4 million (US$60.0 thousand), RMB3.4 million (US$0.5 million), RMB0.4 million (US$53.9 thousand) and RMB185.4 million (US$28.0 million) in 2016, 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Share-based compensation expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2018 included RMB158.6 million (US$24.8 million) that relates to certain ordinary shares beneficially owned by certain of our co-founders that became restricted pursuant to share restriction deeds entered into by them in January 2018 and vested in the six months ended June 30, 2018.



 

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Summary Consolidated Balance Sheets Data

 

     As of December 31,     As of June 30,  
     2016     2017     2018  
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Cash and cash equivalents

     269       41       278,458       42,082       1,766,299       266,929  

Short-term investments

     12,370       1,869       129,770       19,611       10,300       1,557  

Total current assets

     29,758       4,497       466,208       70,455       1,873,051       283,062  

Total assets

     29,896       4,518       476,581       72,023       1,942,816       293,605  

Registered users’ loyalty payable

     1,023       155       20,977       3,170       137,038       20,710  

Accrued liabilities related to user loyalty programs

     24,509       3,704       187,003       28,261       149,011       22,519  

Total liabilities

     41,087       6,209       311,246       47,037       545,027       82,366  

Mezzanine equity

     —         —         273,895       41,392       1,906,926       288,182  

Total shareholders’ deficits

     (11,191     (1,691     (108,560     (16,406     (509,137     (76,943

Summary Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Data

 

     Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016     2017     2017     2018  
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Selected Consolidated Cash Flows Data:

              

Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities

     12,719       1,923       132,226       19,983       2,037       (141,738     (21,420

Net cash (used in)/provided by investing activities

     (12,523     (1,893     (121,919     (18,425     (1,700     70,043       10,585  

Net cash provided by financing activities

     —         —         272,121       41,124       —         1,501,333       226,887  

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

     196       30       282,428       42,682       337       1,429,638       216,052  

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

     —         —         (4,239     (641     —         58,203       8,796  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the period

     73       11       269       41       269       278,458       42,082  

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period

     269       41       278,458       42,082       606       1,766,299       266,930  

Non-GAAP Financial Measure

We use adjusted net loss, which is an non-GAAP financial measure, in evaluating our operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. Adjusted net loss represents net loss before share-based compensation expenses. We believe that such non-GAAP financial measure help identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of such share-based compensation expenses that we include in cost of revenues, total operating expenses and net loss. In particular, share-based compensation expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2018 included RMB158.6 million (US$24.8 million) that relates to certain ordinary shares beneficially owned by certain of our co-founders that became restricted pursuant to share restriction deeds entered into by them in January 2018 and vested in the six months ended June 30, 2018. We



 

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believe that such non-GAAP financial measure also provides useful information about our operating results, enhance the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by our management in its financial and operational decision-making.

The non-GAAP financial measure is not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. It should not be considered in isolation or construed as alternatives to net loss or any other measure of performance or as an indicator of our operating performance. Investors are encouraged to review the historical non-GAAP financial measure in light of the most directly comparable GAAP measures, as shown below. The non-GAAP financial measure presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measure differently, limiting its 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 the non-GAAP financial measure for the periods indicated:

 

     Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016     2017     2017     2018  
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Net loss

     (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743

Add: share-based compensation expenses:

                

Cost of revenues

     1       0       942       142       99       15       1,429       216  

Research and development

     149       23       1,317       200       140       21       6,720       1,016  

Sales and marketing

     35       5       939       142       99       15       3,394       513  

General and administrative

     209       32       181       27       19       3       173,840       26,271  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Adjusted net loss

     (10,468     (1,582     (91,381     (13,809     (28,318     (4,280     (329,053     (49,727
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Key Operating Metrics

We regularly review a number of key operating metrics to evaluate our business and measure our performance. The table below sets forth key operating metrics relating to the Qutoutiao mobile application.

 

    For the Three Months Ended  
    September 30,     December 31,     March 31,     June 30,     September 30,     December 31,     March 31,     June 30,  
    2016     2017     2018  
    (in millions, except for daily time spent data)  

Installed users as of the end of the period

    3.7       9.7       16.3       26.4       46.3       73.1       97.9       133.0  

Average MAUs during the period

    1.7       3.9       5.7       8.8       16.0       24.2       27.8       32.1  

Average DAUs during the period

    0.5       1.5       2.5       3.9       6.4       9.5       11.3       12.3  

Average daily time spent per DAU during the period (minutes)

    27.2       29.0       31.3       33.7       34.0       32.3       32.5       47.3  

In June 2018, our MAUs were approximately 39.3 million, average DAUs were approximately 14.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 56.0 minutes. In July 2018, our MAUs were



 

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approximately 48.8 million, average DAUs were approximately 17.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 55.6 minutes. In August 2018, our MAUs were approximately 62.0 million, average DAUs were approximately 21.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 55.4 minutes. As of August 31, 2018, the total installed users was approximately 181.1 million.



 

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RISK FACTORS

An investment in our ADSs involves significant risks. You should carefully consider all 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 materially and adversely affect 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 Industry and Business

We have a limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business.

We launched Qutoutiao in June 2016. We have experienced rapid growth since the launch of Qutoutiao in terms of installed users, MAUs, DAUs and revenues. However, our historical growth may not be indicative of our future performance, and we cannot assure you that this level of significant growth will be sustainable or achievable at all in the future. Our growth prospects should be considered in light of the risks and uncertainties that fast-growing companies with a limited operating history in our industry may encounter, including, among others, risks and uncertainties regarding our ability to:

 

   

retain existing users on, and attract new users to, our platform;

 

   

present real-time customized feeds to users based on their profiles, behaviors and social relationships;

 

   

maintain the effectiveness of our user loyalty programs;

 

   

maintain stable relationships with our content providers;

 

   

develop and implement successful monetization measures;

 

   

convince advertising customers of the benefits of our advertising services compared to alternative forms of marketing;

 

   

increase brand awareness through marketing and promotional activities;

 

   

upgrade existing technology and infrastructure and develop new technologies to support increasing user traffic, improve user experience, expand functionality and ensure system stability;

 

   

successfully compete with other companies that are currently in, or may in the future enter, our industry;

 

   

attract, retain and motivate talented employees;

 

   

adapt to the evolving regulatory environment; and

 

   

defend ourselves against litigation, regulatory, intellectual property, privacy or other claims.

All of these endeavors involve risks and will require significant capital expenditures and allocation of valuable management and employee resources. We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively manage our growth or implement our business strategies effectively. If the market for our platform does not develop as we expect or if we fail to address the needs of this dynamic market, our business, results of operations and financial condition will be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to acquire new users or retain existing users, or if user engagement on our platform declines, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

The growth of our user base and the level of user engagement are critical to our success. Our Qutoutiao mobile application had approximately 62.0 million MAUs, approximately 21.1 million average DAUs and average daily time spent per DAU of approximately 55.4 minutes in August 2018. Our business has been and

 

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will continue to be significantly affected by our success in growing the number of active users and increasing their overall level of engagement on our platform. We anticipate that our user growth rate will slow over time as the size of our user base increases. To the extent our user growth rate slows, our success will become increasingly dependent on our ability to increase user engagement with our platform. We have implemented user account systems and loyalty programs to, among other things, help us cost effectively acquire new users and develop an engaged and loyal user base. However, although such user account systems and loyalty programs have contributed significantly to the growth in our installed users and high user engagement in the past, there can be no assurance that such systems and programs will continue to function effectively. Additionally, our acquisition cost per user may increase as we implement new marketing initiatives, such as placing advertisements in app stores. Our user engagement efforts, including by increasing the number of content providers, expanding the breadth and quality of content, including video and user generated content, on our platform, diversifying into new content formats and strengthening our content recommendation capabilities, may also not achieve expected results. Users may no longer perceive content and other products and services on our platform to be entertaining and relevant, and we may not be able to attract users or increase their usage frequency of our platform. If we fail to execute any such new initiatives successfully or in a cost-effective manner, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected. If we are unable to grow our user base or the level of user engagement, or if the number of users or their level of engagement declines, this could result in our platform being less attractive to potential new users and thus advertising customers, which would have a material and adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we do not continue to increase the strength of our brand, we may not be able to maintain current or attract new users and customers for our products and services.

Our operational and financial performance is highly dependent on the strength of our brand. We believe we enjoy lower user acquisition cost compared to acquiring users through other means. Our platform’s innovative user account systems and gamified loyalty programs enable us to focus our resources on directly connecting with new users. In order to further expand our user base, we may need to substantially increase our marketing expenditures to enhance brand awareness.

In addition, negative coverage in the media of our company could threaten the perception of our brand, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to defuse negative press coverage about our company to the satisfaction of our investors, users, advertising customers and content providers. If we are unable to defuse negative press coverage about our company, our brand may suffer in the marketplace, our operational and financial performance may be negatively impacted and the price of our ADSs may decline.

Furthermore, we have not completed the trademark registration for “ Qutoutiao ,” the name of our flagship mobile application. After we submitted our application material with the relevant authorities, one of our competitors filed an objection on the ground that “ Qutoutiao ” is similar to a trademark registered by such competitor. We believe such objection is meritless and we have contested the objection and submitted the written defense to the Trademark Office in February 2018. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to prevail and register “ Qutoutiao ” as a trademark. If we fail to do so, we will not be able to protect our brand name. In addition, if our competitors initiate a lawsuit against on for infringing its trademark, we may be forced to adopt a new brand name for our flagship mobile application. As a result, we may incur additional marketing cost to raise awareness of such new brand name. We may also be ordered to pay a significant amount of damages, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Our lack of an Internet news license may expose us to administrative sanctions, including an order to cease our Internet information services that provide news or to cease the Internet access services provided by third parties to us.

The PRC government regulates the Internet industry extensively, including foreign ownership of, and the licensing requirements pertaining to, companies in the Internet industry. A number of regulatory agencies,

 

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including the Ministry of Culture, or the MOC, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT, the Cyberspace Administration of China, or CAOC, the State Administration of Radio and Television, or the SART (previously known as GAPPRFT and SARFT), the State Council Information Office, or the SCIO, and other governmental authorities, jointly regulate all major aspects of the Internet industry. Operators are required to obtain various government approvals and licenses prior to providing the relevant Internet information services.

Our platform primarily focuses on light entertainment content. Nonetheless, certain content related to current affairs, finance, society and economy provided on our Qutoutiao mobile application may be deemed to be news content. According to the Provisions for the Administration of Internet News Information Services issued by the national CAOC on May 2, 2017 that became effective on June 1, 2017, an Internet news license shall be obtained for a provider of Internet news information services to the public in a variety of ways, including through the offering of platforms for the dissemination of Internet news. As such, we may be required to obtain an Internet news license from CAOC for the dissemination of news through our mobile application. In practice, Internet news information service providers that are not state-owned, such as our company, are required to introduce a state-owned shareholder in order to apply for the Internet news license. See “Regulations — Regulation on Internet News Dissemination.” As a result of our lack of an Internet news license, the CAOC or its applicable office at the provincial level may order us to cease disseminating news and impose a fine on us of not less than RMB10,000 but not more than RMB30,000. In the event we were ordered to cease disseminating news, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

We are in the process of preparing an application for an Internet news license and have agreed to introduce The Paper as a state-owned shareholder. However, there can be no assurance that our application will be accepted or approved by the regulatory authorities.

Our lack of an Internet audio-visual program transmission license may expose us to administrative sanctions, which would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Pursuant to the Administrative Provisions on Internet Audio-visual Program Service , or the Audio-visual Program Provisions, which was issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (the predecessor of GAPPRFT), or SARFT, and MIIT on December 20, 2007 and came into effect on January 31, 2008 and was amended on August 28, 2015, online transmission of audio and video programs requires an Internet audio-visual program transmission license and online audio-visual service providers must be either wholly state-owned or state-controlled. In a press conference jointly held by SARFT and MIIT to answer questions with respect to the Audio-visual Program Provisions in February 2008, SARFT and MIIT clarified that online audio-visual service providers that had already been operating lawfully prior to the issuance of the Audio-visual Program Provisions may re-register and continue to operate without becoming state-owned or controlled, provided that such providers have not engaged in any unlawful activities. This exemption will not be granted to online audio/video service providers established after the Audio-visual Program Provisions was issued. See “Regulation — Regulation on Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs.”

We currently do not possess an Internet audio-visual program transmission license. As a result, the relevant regulatory authorities may find our operations to be in violation of the applicable laws and regulations. We may receive a warning and be ordered to pay a fine of not more than RMB30,000. In the case of severe contravention, we may be ordered to cease transmission of audio and video programs, be subject to a penalty equal to one to two times our total investment in the affected business and the devices we used for such operation may be confiscated. Furthermore, according to the Audio-visual Program Provisions, the telecommunications administrative authorities may, based on written opinions of GAPPRFT, and in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations on supervision of telecommunications and Internet, close our platform, revoke the license for the provision of Internet information services, or the ICP license, and order the relevant network operation entity which provides us signal access services to stop such provision of services. Such penalties would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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New content formats and other products and services and changes to existing content formats and products and services could fail to attract users or generate revenues.

Our ability to increase the size and engagement level of our user base, attract advertising customers and generate revenues will depend in part on our ability to create and offer successful new content formats and other products and services. Such new content formats and other products and services may involve new distribution capabilities or technologies with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience, such as literature, casual games and live streaming. We may also continuously refine our existing content formats and other products and services as part of our efforts to further enhance user engagement. However, if such efforts or our efforts in launching new content formats and other products and services fail to engage users, we may fail to attract or retain users or to generate sufficient revenues to justify our investments, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

If we are unable to compete effectively in the industry we operate, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Competition for user traffic and user engagement, as well as advertising and marketing spending, is intense and we face strong competition in our business. Our primary competitors include content aggregators such as Jinritoutiao, Kuaibao (operated by Tencent) and Yidianzixun (an affiliate of Phoenix News). To a lesser extent, we also compete with mobile news portals such as Tencent News, SINA News, Sohu News, NetEase News and Phoenix News. Many of our competitors have more resources and longer operating history than us. New players may emerge and seek to imitate our business strategies, thereby directly competing with us for users. Furthermore, we may face potential competition from global online content delivery platforms that seek to enter the China market, whether independently or through the formation of strategic alliances with, or acquisition of, PRC Internet companies. If we are not able to effectively compete with our competitors, our overall user base and level of user engagement may decrease. We may be required to spend additional resources to further enhance our brand recognition and promote our products and services, and such additional spending could adversely affect our profitability. Furthermore, if we are involved in disputes with any of our competitors that result in negative publicity to us, such disputes, regardless of their veracity or outcome, may harm our reputation or brand image and in turn lead to reduced number of users and advertising customers. Our competitors may unilaterally decide to adopt a wide range of measures targeted at us, including possibly designing their products to negatively impact our operations. Any legal proceedings or measures we take in response to competition and disputes with our competitors may be expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to our operations and divert our management’s attention.

In addition, our users face a vast array of entertainment choices. Other forms of entertainment, including other Internet-based activities such as social networking, online video or games, live streaming, as well as offline games and activities such as television, movies and sports, are much larger and more well-established markets and may be perceived by our users to offer greater variety, affordability, interactivity and enjoyment. Our platform competes against these other forms of entertainment for the discretionary time and spending of our users. If we are unable to sustain sufficient interest in our platform in comparison to other forms of entertainment, including new forms of entertainment that may emerge in the future, our business model may no longer be viable.

The Chinese government may prevent us from distributing content that it believes is inappropriate and we may be subject to penalties for such content or we may have to interrupt or stop the operation of our platform.

China has enacted regulations governing Internet access and the distribution of news and other information. In the past, the Chinese government has stopped the distribution of information over the Internet or through mobile Internet devices that it believes violates Chinese law, including content that it believes is obscene, defamatory, misleading or inappropriately satirical, incites violence, endangers the national security, concerns politically sensitive topics, or contravenes the national interest. In the past, new downloads of certain mobile content

 

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aggregator applications and mobile news applications were temporarily blocked and suspended for different lengths of time, ranging from a few days to a few weeks, following publication of content considered to be noncompliant. In addition, in July 2018 PRC governmental and regulatory authorities responsible for “eradicating pornography and illegal publications” announced new coordinated efforts to regulate and control the nascent online short video sector, including citations against 19 online short video platforms which allegedly had disregarded previous and repeated warnings not to distribute content deemed by the authorities as obscene, misleading, pornographic, violent, infringing, sensationalist, deviant from socialist core values, harmful to younger viewers, or otherwise unlawful or detrimental. Of these 19 platforms, 15 had their applications removed from app stores and new downloads blocked; among these 15 platforms, three also had their operations suspended by relevant authorities. Any such future suspension in operations or downloads of our mobile applications for this or other reasons may negatively affect our relationships with users and advertisers, and thereby adversely affect our business and results of operations. Although our mobile applications historically have not been blocked or suspended due to non-compliant content, there can be no assurance that such suspensions in downloads of our mobile applications will not occur in the future, or that such incidents will not result in loss of users, advertisers and revenue, reputational damage to us, and will not have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. The Chinese government may continue to implement stricter standards for content to be considered compliant, and increase enforcement against content considered to be noncompliant. In addition, certain news items, such as news relating to national security, may not be published without permission from the Chinese government. If the Chinese government were to take any action to limit or prohibit the distribution of information through our mobile applications, or to limit or regulate any current or future content or services available to users on our platform, our business could be significantly harmed. Although we have adopted internal procedures to monitor the content displayed on our platform, due to the significant amount of content, including user generated content, we may not be able to identify all the content that may violate relevant laws and regulations, whether or not due to a failure on the part of our staff. Failure to identify and prevent inappropriate or illegal content from being displayed on our platform may subject us to penalties, including suspension of operations.

Moreover, because the interpretation of prohibited content is in many cases vague and subjective, and the definition of prohibited content may be subject to change on an ongoing basis, it is not always possible to determine or predict what content might be prohibited under existing restrictions, or what restrictions might be imposed in the future. SART or other Chinese government authorities may prohibit the marketing of other types of wireless value-added services through mobile applications, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We generate a substantial majority of our revenues from advertising. A decline in our advertising revenue could harm our business.

We generated almost all of our revenues from advertising services in 2016, 2017, and the six months ended June 30, 2018. When we first commenced our business, we collaborated with various third-party advertising platforms to place advertisements on our mobile applications. To enhance our platform’s monetization capabilities, we acquired an advertising agent in February 2018 that operates a programmatic advertising system. This system will serve to power our advertising solutions while reducing the use of third-party advertising platforms. In 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2018, 26.2% and 78.2%, respectively, of our net revenues were generated through this advertising agent. We have limited experience in operating the programmatic advertising system and in acquiring our own advertising agents and advertising customers. We may not be able to establish our own sales personnel to effectively and efficiently acquire and retain advertising agents and advertising customers. The effectiveness of our programmatic advertising system may not perform as expected and achieve widespread acceptance by advertising customers.

Our advertising customers for our programmatic advertising system are comprised of advertising agents and end advertisers. There can be no assurance that these advertising agents will continue to attract advertising customers to our platform. Furthermore, as is common in the industry, we do not enter into long-term agreements with advertising agents or advertising customers. Advertising agents and advertising customers are not obligated

 

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to use our advertising solutions on an exclusive basis and they generally use multiple channels to manage their advertising need. Accordingly, we or advertising agents must convince advertising customers to use our programmatic advertising system, increase their usage and spend a larger share of their online advertising budgets with us, and to do so on an on-going basis. Advertising customers may not continue to utilize our platform or may only be willing to advertise with us at reduced prices if we do not deliver advertising services in an effective manner, including persuading our advertising customers as to the relevancy of our user base for their products or services, or if they do not believe that their investment in advertising with us will generate a competitive return relative to alternative advertising platforms. If we fail to retain existing advertising customers or ensure that their advertising spend with us remains at similar or increased levels or attract new advertising customers to advertise on our platform, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Our efforts to expand the monetization of our products and services in addition to advertising may not be successful.

In order to sustain our revenue growth, we must effectively monetize our user base and expand the monetization of our products and services in addition to advertising. We plan to leverage our user account systems and loyalty programs to induce users not only to spend the cash credits in their accounts from using our platform but also to supplement their spending on our platform with additional funds. These measures include introducing paid content such as literature, casual games, animation and comics, as well as content-driven e-commerce and live streaming products. There can be no assurance that we can successfully capture such monetization opportunities. For example, users may prefer to purchase merchandise from “pure play” e-commerce platforms, which tend to offer wider selections and may provide better services due to their deeper industry experience. In addition, we have primarily offered free content to users, and our paid content may not gain significant user acceptance. If we were unable to successfully execute our monetization strategies, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to continue to anticipate user preferences and interests, we may not be able to generate sufficient user traffic to remain competitive.

Our success depends on our ability to intelligently deliver personalized light entertainment content to users. Through an automated process, we develop interest and social graphs for each user based on such person’s profile, behavior and social relationships. The user’s behavior also provides us with a granular view of the topics and content characteristics that likely are of interest to the user. In addition, the interest and social graphs take into account the user’s social relationships with other users and such other users’ interests, including their behaviors. Our content recommendation engine analyzes content and the interest and social graphs of each user to identify content that is most likely to interest such person. Such recommendation is based on analysis we have made as to user preferences and interests, and any errors in such analysis may lead our system to recommend content that fails to attract users. Furthermore, our future success will depend on our ability to anticipate and adapt new technologies. If we fail to continuously improve user experience through better recommendation results, we may not be able to compete effectively with our competitors, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

If content providers on our platform do not continue to contribute content, decrease the amount of content contributed or the quality of their contributions declines, we may experience a decrease in the number of users and level of user engagement.

Our success depends on our ability to generate sufficient user traffic through the intelligent delivery of personalized light entertainment content, which in turn depends on the content contributed by our content providers. We believe that access to light entertainment-oriented and easily digestible content is one of the main reasons users visit Qutoutiao . We encourage our content providers to actively contribute quality content that will resonate with our users by implementing a system in which fees paid to them are related to the amount of views

 

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associated with content they contribute. We also seek to foster a broader and more engaged user base by encouraging social interactions and production of user generated content. If our content providers do not continue to contribute content, including user generated content, to our mobile applications due to their dissatisfaction with our fee arrangements with them, their entry into exclusive arrangements with other platforms or any other reasons, or the attractiveness of their content declines, and we are unable to provide users with entertaining and relevant content, our user base and user engagement may decline. If we were required to share a higher proportion of advertising revenue with content providers in order to enhance the quality of content delivered by us or increase the amount of content provided to us, our profitability could be materially and adversely affected. If we experience a decline in the number of users or the level of user engagement, advertising customers may not view our platform as attractive for their advertising expenditures and may reduce their spending with us, which would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have incurred net losses in the past, and we may not be able to achieve or subsequently maintain profitability.

Since our inception, we have incurred net losses. In 2016, 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018, we recorded net losses of RMB10.9 million (US$1.6 million), RMB94.8 million (US$14.3 million), RMB28.7 million (US$4.3 million) and RMB514.4 million (US$77.7 million), respectively and our adjusted net losses was RMB10.5 million (US$1.6 million), RMB91.4 million (US$13.8 million), RMB28.3 million (US$4.3 million) and RMB329.1 million (US$49.7 million), respectively. We believe that our future revenue growth will depend on, among other factors, our ability to attract new users, increase user stickiness and level of engagement, establish effective monetization strategies, compete effectively and successfully, and develop new products and services. Accordingly, you should not rely on the revenues of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future performance. We also expect our costs to increase in future periods as we continue to expand our business and operations. In addition, we expect to incur substantial costs and expenses as a result of being a public company. If we are unable to generate adequate revenues and to manage our expenses, we may continue to incur significant losses in the future and may not be able to achieve or subsequently maintain profitability.

Our current dependence on a limited number of customers may cause significant fluctuations or declines in our revenues.

We currently generate a significant portion of our net revenues from a limited number of third-party advertising platforms. Baidu, which is our largest customer and operates a third-party advertising platform, contributed 69.9%, 43.7%, 75.8% and 12.1% of our net revenues in 2016, 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Baidu also accounted for 92.6%, 59.8% and 30.5% of our accounts receivable as of December 31, 2016 and 2017 and June 30, 2018, respectively. We supply traffic to the customer’s platform through advertisements placed on our mobile applications. Baidu has the right to terminate its agreement with us at any time. Such concentration of customers was primarily the result of our limited operating history and the fact that when we first commenced our business, we only collaborated with a limited number of third-party advertising platforms to place advertisements on our platform. Although we are reducing our collaboration with third-party advertising platforms, certain of these platforms may continue to contribute a large portion of our net revenues in the near future. Any adverse change in our relationship with these advertising platforms, including our arrangements with them, or a decrease in the amount or quality of the advertisement placed by these platforms on our mobile applications may materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Our user metrics and other estimates are subject to inherent challenges in measuring our operating performance, which may harm our reputation.

We regularly review MAUs, DAUs, average time spent per DAU and other operating metrics to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance, and make strategic decisions. These metrics are calculated using

 

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internal company data, have not been validated by an independent third party, and may not be indicative of our future financial results. 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 how our platform is used across a large population in China. For example, we may not be able to distinguish individual users who have multiple registered accounts.

Errors or inaccuracies in our metrics or data could result in incorrect business decisions and inefficiencies. For instance, if a significant understatement or overstatement of active users were to occur, we might expend resources to implement unnecessary business measures or fail to take required actions to remedy an unfavorable trend. If advertising customers or investors do not perceive our user or other operating metrics to accurately represent our user base, or if we discover inaccuracies in our user or other operating metrics, our reputation may be harmed.

If we fail to effectively manage our growth, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.

We expect we will continue to experience rapid growth in our business and operations, which will place significant demands on our management, operational and financial resources. We may encounter difficulties as we establish and expand our operations, product development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative capabilities. We face significant competition for talented employees from other high-growth companies, which include both publicly traded and privately held companies, and we may not be able to hire new employees quickly enough to meet our needs. To attract highly skilled personnel, we have had to offer, and believe we will need to continue to offer, competitive compensation packages. As we continue to grow, we are subject to the risks of over-hiring, over-compensating our employees and over-expanding our operating infrastructure, and to the challenges of integrating, developing and motivating a growing employee base. In addition, we may not be able to innovate or execute as quickly as a smaller and more efficient organization. If we fail to effectively manage our hiring needs and successfully integrate our new hires, our efficiency and ability to meet our forecasts and our employee morale, productivity and retention could suffer, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Providing products and services to users may be costly and we expect our expenses to continue to increase in the future as we broaden our user base and increase user engagement, and develop and implement new content formats, features, products and services that require more infrastructure, such as literature, casual games and live streaming. In addition, our costs and expenses, such as our labor-related expenses, product development expenses and sales and marketing expenses have grown rapidly as we have expanded our business. In particular, we have focused considerable resources on user acquisition through our loyalty programs. Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of cost of users’ loyalty points associated with our user loyalty programs, which increased from RMB50.9 million (US$7.7 million) in 2016 to RMB419.6 million (US$63.4 million) in 2017, and further from RMB105.4 million (US$15.9 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 to RMB611.9 million (US$92.5 million) in the same period in 2018, representing 87.8%, 81.2%, 98.2% and 85.2% of our net revenues in 2016, 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Historically, our costs have increased due to these factors and we expect to continue to incur increasing costs to support our anticipated future growth. We expect to continue to invest in our infrastructure to enable us to provide our products and services rapidly and reliably to users. Continued growth could also strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our users, content providers and advertising customers, develop and improve our operational, financial, legal and management controls, and enhance our reporting systems and procedures. Our expenses may grow faster than our revenues, and our expenses may be greater than we anticipate. Managing our growth will require significant expenditures and allocation of valuable management resources. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.

 

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Advertisements on our mobile applications may subject us to penalties and other administrative actions.

Under PRC advertising laws and regulations, we are obligated to monitor the advertising content shown on our mobile applications to ensure that such content is true, accurate and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. On April 24, 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress issued the Advertisement Law , which took effect on September 1, 2015, to further strengthen the supervision and management of advertisement services. On July 4, 2016, SAIC issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, or the New Interim Measures , to further regulate Internet advertising activities. Pursuant to these laws and regulations, any advertisement that contains false or misleading information to deceive or mislead consumers shall be deemed false advertising. Furthermore, the Advertisement Law explicitly stipulates detailed requirements for the content of several different kinds of advertisement, including advertisements for medical treatment, pharmaceuticals, medical instruments, health food, alcoholic drinks, education or training, products or services having an expected return on investment, real estate, pesticides, feed and feed additives, and some other agriculture-related advertisement. Also, according to the New Interim Measures, no advertisement of such special products or services which are subject to examination by an advertising examination authority shall be published unless it has passed such examination. In addition, an Internet advertisement shall be identifiable and clearly identified as an “advertisement” so that consumers will know that it is an advertisement. The New Interim Measures also provide that Internet advertisement publishers shall verify related supporting documents, check the content of the advertisement and be prohibited from publishing any advertisement with nonconforming content or without all the necessary certification documents. However, for the determination of the truth and accuracy of the advertisements, there are no implementing rules or official interpretations, and such a determination is at the sole discretion of the relevant local branch of the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the SAMR (successor of SAIC and the State Food and Drug Administration), which results in uncertainty in the application of these laws and regulations. In addition, advertising content deemed as obscene, defamatory, inappropriately satirical or otherwise inappropriate by a relevant government authority may also subject us to penalties. For instance, the Chinese government has temporarily suspended advertising services on a short video platform in China because advertising content shown on the platform was deemed to be offensive and disrespectful to a revolutionary figure.

We cannot assure you that all the advertisements shown on our mobile applications are true, accurate, appropriate and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. For example, advertisers on our mobile applications, or their agents, may use measures that are designed to evade our monitoring, such as providing inauthentic material that does not match the actual advertisement, or supplying advertising which is superficially compliant but nevertheless is linked to one or more webpages that feature noncompliant advertising content. In addition, our employees responsible for reviewing advertisements may not fully understand the relevant laws and regulations or may be inappropriately influenced by the advertisers. In each case, we may still be held responsible for noncompliant advertising content. We include clauses in most of our advertising contracts requiring that all advertising content provided by advertising customers must comply with relevant laws and regulations. Pursuant to the contracts between us and the relevant advertising agents or advertising customers, they are liable for all damages to us caused by their breach of such representations. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully enforce our contractual rights.

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 eliminate the effect of illegal advertisement. If an illegal advertisement featured on our mobile applications were to have excessive negative effects, our brand and reputation may be harmed, and PRC governmental authorities may pursue more severe penalties and administrative actions against us. PRC governmental authorities may even force us to terminate our advertising operation or revoke our licenses in circumstances involving serious violations. Such penalties may have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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Increased government regulation of content platforms may subject us to penalties and other administrative actions.

Recently, PRC government authorities have strengthened their oversight of content platforms similar to our mobile applications. Other than the content that are considered to be violating PRC laws and regulations, such oversight has tend to pay more attention to content that is or may be deemed misleading, obscene, pornographic, detrimental, and/or contrary to social values and morals prevailing in China, which content may subject the platform’s operator to penalties and other administrative actions. For example, in April 2018, a platform that provides entertainment-oriented contents was ordered by the SART to permanently cease its operation for delivering content that were considered to be vulgar and “deviating from mainstream values.” In addition, in July 2018 PRC governmental and regulatory authorities responsible for “eradicating pornography and illegal publications” announced new coordinated efforts to regulate and control the nascent online short video sector, including citations against 19 online short video platforms which allegedly had disregarded previous and repeated warnings not to distribute content deemed by the authorities as obscene, misleading, pornographic, violent, infringing, sensationalist, deviant from socialist core values, harmful to younger viewers, or otherwise unlawful or detrimental. Of these 19 platforms, 15 had their applications removed from app stores and new downloads blocked; among these 15 platforms, three also had their operations suspended by relevant authorities.

Government regulation of content and of content platforms generally may broaden in scope and oversee additional aspects of content platforms’ operation, such as information security, user suitability management, anti-addiction, and sales and marketing, in addition to being strengthened and becoming more strict as to content and advertising. Any such new or broadened regulatory measures or oversight may cause us to incur higher compliance costs, revise or amend our operational strategies, target user groups, or promotional models, and thereby adversely affect our business and results of operations.

If we fail to detect click-through fraud of our platform, we could lose the confidence of advertising customers and our revenues could decline.

We are exposed to the risk of click-through fraud on our advertising services. Click-through fraud occurs when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user clicking on an advertisement, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having an actual interest in the target of the advertisement’s link. If we fail to detect fraudulent clicks or otherwise are unable to prevent such fraudulent activity, the affected advertising customers may experience a reduced return on their investment in our mobile advertising services and lose confidence in the integrity of our services. If this happens, our reputation may be damaged and we may be unable to retain existing advertising customers and attract new advertising customers for our advertising services and our advertising revenue could decline.

If we fail to detect user misconduct on our platform, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Our platform enables users to upload content, post comments, interact with others and engage in various other online activities. As the gatekeeper for our platform, our content management system is designed to ensure both the quality and appropriateness of information presented to users, which include content and comment postings. We undertake an efficient and thorough screening process that involves both algorithm-based screening and manual review. We have also implemented a complaint procedure that enables us to identify bad content with our users’ help. However, such procedures may not prevent all illegal or impropriate content or comments from being posted, and our staff may fail to review and screen such content or comments effectively. In response to allegations of illegal or inappropriate activities conducted through our platform or any negative media coverage about us, PRC government authorities may intervene and hold us liable and subject us to administrative penalties or other sanctions, such as requiring us to restrict or discontinue some of the features and services provided on our mobile application. As a result, our business may suffer and our user base, revenues and profitability may be materially and adversely affected, and the price of the ADSs may decline.

 

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Additionally, we may be subject to fines or other disciplinary actions, including suspension or revocation of the licenses necessary to operate our platform, if we are deemed to have facilitated the appearance of inappropriate content placed by third parties on our platform, including user generated content. Although we require content providers on our platform to promise that they will not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of third parties, such content may nevertheless be unauthorized and infringe upon others’ intellectual property, including copyrights, and we may not be able to detect and identify every instance of intellectual property infringement. See “—Non-compliance with law on the part of third parties with which we conduct business could disrupt our business and adversely affect results of our operation and financial condition” and “We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, or delivered to our users, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.” As a result, we may face claims for defamation, libel, negligence, copyright, patent or trademark infringement, other unlawful activities or other claims based on the nature and content of the information delivered on or otherwise accessed through our platform. Defending such actions could be costly and involve significant time and attention of our management and other resources, which would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial conditions.

Our ability to prevent the misuse of our user loyalty programs while ensuring their efficacy in user acquisition and engagement will have a material effect as to our business, results of operations and financial condition.

To incentivize word-of-mouth viral referrals and improve user engagement and loyalty, we have gamified our platform by giving users loyalty points and cash credits in certain cases for taking specific actions. Such actions primarily include making referrals of our Qutoutiao mobile application to new users or for user engagement such as through the viewing or sharing of content, providing valuable comments and encourage inactive users to continue to use Qutoutiao . Loyalty points are automatically exchanged into cash credits at the end of each day based on an exchange rate determined by us. A user can then withdraw cash credits, which reflects the same amount of cash value, from the user’s account after the balance exceed a minimum amount as determined by us from time to time. A user can also currently redeem cash credits by purchasing merchandise through the marketplace on our Qutoutiao mobile application. Our user loyalty programs also cover our Quduopai mobile application. Our user loyalty programs have contributed significantly to the growth in our installed users and high user engagement. Although we believe consuming content, rather than earning loyalty points, is the main purpose for our registered users to use Qutoutiao , we have nonetheless designed our loyalty programs to balance between their efficacy in user acquisition and engagement while preventing users from using our mobile applications merely for the loyalty points. Our inability to achieve such balance may make our user loyalty programs no longer becoming enticing to users, which may materially and adversely affect user growth and user engagement. Moreover, we cannot assure you that there will still be users who are only attracted to our mobile applications because of our user loyalty programs. We have mechanisms in place to prevent potential abuse of our user loyalty programs. For example, our system takes into account how fast the user scrolls down the page to determine whether the viewer has actually viewed the article and loyalty points are now provided on a per minute spent on viewing content basis. However, our system may not be able to detect all instances of abuse. Furthermore, although our loyalty programs are designed so that only a small amount of loyalty points is provided for taking any specific action with the aim to entice user referral and engagement, we cannot ensure you that there will not be users who will be able to hack our user loyalty programs to make earning loyalty points a highly lucrative endeavor. We have also focused on developing fraud detection technologies to combat fraudulent users and activities targeting our user loyalty programs and we cannot assure you that such system will be effective in identifying fraud. If we allow users to improperly earn loyalty points, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected. As clearly stated in our user agreement, we have the sole discretion in determining user misuse of our user loyalty programs, and we may freeze a user’s account if we find such user misused our user loyalty programs. Certain users that have their accounts frozen have complained online. Such complaints could undermine the public perception and credibility of our platform, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

 

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Our results of operations may fluctuate from quarter to quarter, which makes them difficult to predict.

Our quarterly results of operations have fluctuated in the past and will continue to fluctuate in the future. As a result, our past quarterly results of operations are not necessarily indicators of future performance. Our results of operations in any given quarter can be influenced by numerous factors, many of which we are unable to predict or are outside of our control, including:

 

   

our ability to grow our user base and user engagement;

 

   

fluctuations in spending by our advertising customers, including as a result of seasonality or other factors;

 

   

our ability to attract and retain advertising customers;

 

   

the occurrence of planned or unplanned significant events, including events that may cause substantial share-based compensation or other charges;

 

   

the development and introduction of new content formats, products or services or changes in features of existing content formats, products or services;

 

   

the impact of competitors or competitive products and services;

 

   

increases in our costs and expenses that we may incur to grow and expand our operations and to remain competitive;

 

   

changes in the legal or regulatory environment or proceedings, including with respect to security, privacy or enforcement by government regulators, including fines, orders or consent decrees; and

 

   

changes in Chinese or global business or macroeconomic conditions.

Given our limited operating history and the rapidly evolving market in which we compete, our historical results of operations may not be useful to you in predicting our future results of operations. Our short operating history and our rapid growth make it difficult for us to identify recurring seasonal trends in our business. The advertising industry in China experiences seasonality. Historically, advertising spending and user activities on our platform tend to be the lowest in the first quarter of each calendar year due to long holidays around the Lunar New Year, during which users tend to spend more time with family and celebrations offline and less time online, including on our mobile applications. In addition, advertising customers, such as those in the e-commerce industry, may also reduce its advertising spending during the holidays around the Lunar New Year due to reduced consumer spending or reduced or suspended production and logistics activities by manufacturers or other service providers. We believe this seasonality affects our quarterly results especially our results of operations in the first quarter of each year.

We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of Internet businesses and companies, including limitations on our ability to own key assets such as our mobile applications.

The Chinese government heavily regulates the Internet industry, including foreign investment in the Chinese Internet industry, content on the Internet and license and permit requirements for service providers in the Internet industry. Since some of the laws, regulations and legal requirements with respect to the Internet are relatively new and evolving, their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainties. In addition, the Chinese legal system is based on written statutes, such that prior court decisions can only be cited for reference and have little precedential value. As a result, in many cases it is difficult to determine what actions or omissions may result in liabilities. Issues, risks and uncertainties relating to China’s government regulation of the Chinese Internet sector include the following:

 

   

We operate our mobile applications in China through businesses controlled via contractual arrangements versus direct ownership due to restrictions on foreign investment in businesses providing value-added telecommunication services, including substantially all of our paid services and advertising services.

 

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Uncertainties relating to the regulation of the Internet business in China, including evolving licensing practices, give rise to the risk that some of our permits, licenses or operations may be subject to challenge, which may be disruptive to our business, subject us to sanctions or require us to increase capital, compromise the enforceability of relevant contractual arrangements, or have other adverse effects on us. The numerous and often vague restrictions on acceptable content in China subject us to potential civil and criminal liability, temporary blockage of our mobile applications or complete shut-down of our mobile applications. For example, the State Secrecy Bureau, which is directly responsible for the protection of state secrets of all Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party organizations, is authorized to block any website or mobile applications it deems to be leaking state secrets or failing to meet the relevant regulations relating to the protection of state secrets in the distribution of online information. In addition, the newly amended Law on Preservation of State Secrets which became effective on October 1, 2010 provides that whenever an Internet service provider detects any leakage of state secrets in the distribution of online information, it should stop the distribution of such information and report to the authorities of state security and public security. As per request of the authorities of state security, public security or state secrecy, the Internet service provider should delete any content on its website that may lead to disclosure of state secrets. Failure to do so on a timely and adequate basis may subject the service provider to liability and certain penalties imposed by the State Security Bureau, Ministry of Public Security and/or MIIT or their respective local counterparts.

 

   

On September 28, 2009, the General Administration of Press and Publication (the predecessor of GAPPRFT), or the GAPP, and the National Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications jointly published a circular expressly prohibiting foreign investors from participating in Internet game operating business via wholly owned, equity joint venture or cooperative joint venture investments in China, and from controlling and participating in such businesses directly or indirectly through contractual or technical support arrangements. On February 4, 2016, the GAPPRFT and the MIIT jointly issued the Rules for the Administration for Internet Publishing Services , or the Internet Publishing Rules, which took effect in March 10, 2016 and prohibit wholly foreign-owned enterprises, Sino-foreign equity joint ventures and Sino-foreign cooperative enterprises from engaging in the provision of web publishing services. Under such rules, an Internet publishing license is required for a provider of online publications. Uncertainty remains regarding the interpretation of relevant concepts, including “online publications.” Although we have not been required by the SART or other relevant authorities to obtain an Internet publishing license so far, we may face further scrutiny by such authorities, which may require us to apply for such license and/or subject us to penalties. In addition, project cooperation between an Internet publishing service provider and a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, Sino-foreign equity joint venture, or Sino-foreign cooperative enterprise within China or an overseas organization or individual involving Internet publishing services shall be subject to examination and approval by the SART in advance.

Due to the increasing popularity and use of the Internet and other online services, it is possible that a number of laws and regulations may be adopted with respect to the Internet or other online services covering issues such as user privacy, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, antitrust and characteristics and quality of products and services. The adoption of additional laws or regulations may impede the growth of the Internet or other online services, which could, in turn, decrease the demand for our products and services and increase our cost of doing business. Moreover, the applicability to the Internet and other online services of existing laws in various jurisdictions governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes, libel and personal privacy is uncertain and may take years to resolve. Any new legislation or regulation, the application of laws and regulations from jurisdictions whose laws do not currently apply to our business, or the application of existing laws and regulations to the Internet and other online services could significantly disrupt our operations or subject us to penalties.

The interpretation and application of existing PRC laws, regulations and policies, the stated positions of relevant PRC government authorities and possible new laws, regulations or policies have created substantial

 

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uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, Internet businesses in China, including our business.

Non-compliance with law on the part of third parties with which we conduct business could disrupt our business and adversely affect results of our operation and financial condition.

Third parties with which we conduct business, such as content providers, advertising agents, advertising customers and merchandise suppliers, may be subject to regulatory penalties or punishments because of their regulatory compliance failures or may be infringing upon other parties’ legal rights, which may, directly or indirectly, disrupt our business. Although we conduct review of legal formalities and certifications before entering into contractual relationships with third parties, and take measures to reduce the risks that we may be exposed to in case of any non-compliance by third parties, we cannot be certain whether such third party has violated any regulatory requirements or infringed or will infringe any other parties’ legal rights. For example, content providers may submit copyrighted content that they have no right to distribute. While our content management system screens content for potential copyright infringements, we may not be able to identify all instances of copyright infringement. In the event we deliver content that violates the copyrights of a third party, we may be required to pay damages to compensate such third party. Even though we have the contractual right to seek indemnification from the relevant content provider for such payment, there can be no assurance that we will be able to enforce such right. As a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. Similarly, advertising content of advertising customers may also not be in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations that may have an adverse effect as to our business, results of operations and financial condition. See “— Advertisements on our mobile applications may subject us to penalties and other administrative actions.”

We cannot rule out the possibility of incurring liabilities or suffering losses due to any non-compliance by third parties. We cannot assure you that we will be able to identify irregularities or non-compliance in the business practices of third parties we conduct business with, or that such irregularities or non-compliance will be corrected in a prompt and proper manner. Any legal liabilities and regulatory actions affecting third parties involved in our business may affect our business activities and reputation, and may in turn affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Privacy concerns relating to our products and services and the use of user information could damage our reputation, deter current and potential users and customers from using our mobile applications and negatively impact our business.

We collect personal data from our users in order to better understand our users and their needs and to help advertising customers target specific demographic groups. Through an automated process, we develop a social graph for each user based on such person’s profile, behavior and social relationships. Concerns about the collection, use, disclosure or security of personal information or other privacy-related matters, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation, cause us to lose users and customers and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. While we strive to comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations, as well as our own posted privacy policies and other obligations we may have with respect to privacy and data protection, the failure or perceived failure to comply may result, and in some cases has resulted, in inquiries and other proceedings or actions against us by government agencies or others, as well as negative publicity and damage to our reputation and brand, each of which could cause us to lose users and customers, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

Any systems failure or compromise of our security that results in the unauthorized access to or release of our users’ or customers’ data could significantly limit the adoption of our products and services, as well as harm our reputation and brand and, therefore, our business. We expect to continue to expend 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 number of products and services we offer and expand our user base.

 

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New laws or regulations concerning data protection, or the interpretation and application of existing consumer and data protection laws or regulations, which is often uncertain and in flux, may be inconsistent with our practices. Complying with new 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. For example, if privacy concerns or regulatory restrictions prevent us from selling demographically targeted advertising, we may become less attractive to advertising customers.

If we are unable to keep pace with rapid technological changes in the mobile Internet industries, our business may suffer.

The mobile feed industry, and the Internet industry in general, are characterized by constant changes, including rapid technological evolution, continual shifts in customer demands, frequent introductions of new products and services and constant emergence of new industry standards and practices. Thus, our success will depend, in part, on our ability to respond to these changes in a cost-effective and timely manner. If we are unable to keep up with big data analysis, artificial intelligence and other technological developments, users may no longer be attracted to our platform. A decrease in the number of active users may reduce our monetization opportunities and have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our technological capabilities and infrastructure underlying our platform are critical to our success. The industry we operate in is subject to rapid technological changes and is evolving quickly in terms of technology innovation. We need to anticipate the emergence of new technologies and assess their market acceptance. We also need to invest significant resources, including financial resources, in research and development to keep pace with technological advances in order to make our products and services competitive in the market. However, development activities are inherently uncertain, and we might encounter practical difficulties in commercializing our development results. Our significant expenditures on research and development may not generate corresponding benefits. Given the fast pace with which the technology has been and will continue to be developed, we may not be able to timely upgrade our technologies in an efficient and cost-effective manner, or at all. New technologies in programming or operations could render our technologies, our platform or products or services that we are developing or expect to develop in the future obsolete or unattractive, thereby limiting our ability to recover related product development costs, outsourcing costs and licensing fees, which could result in a decline in our revenues and market share.

If our security measures are breached, or if our products and services are subject to attacks that degrade or deny the ability of users to access our products and services, our products and services may be perceived as not being secure, users may curtail or stop using our products and services and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be harmed.

Our products and services involve the storage and transmission of users’ information, and security breaches expose us to a risk of loss of this information, litigation and potential liability. We may experience cyber-attacks of varying degrees, including attempts to hack into our user accounts or redirect our user traffic to other websites. Functions that facilitate interactivity with other mobile applications, such as WeChat, which among other things allows users to log into our platform using their WeChat identities, could increase the scope of access of hackers to user accounts. Our security measures may also be breached due to employee error, malfeasance or otherwise. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or users to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our data or our users’ data or accounts, or may otherwise obtain access to such data or accounts. Any such breach or unauthorized access could result in significant legal and financial exposure, damage to our reputation and a loss of confidence in the security of our products and services that could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. If an actual or perceived breach of our security occurs, the market

 

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perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed, we could lose users and we may be exposed to significant legal and financial risks, including legal claims and regulatory fines and penalties. Any of these actions could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Negative publicity about us, our services, operations and our management may adversely affect our reputation and business.

We have from time to time received negative publicity, including negative Internet and blog postings about our company, our business, our management or our services. Certain of such negative publicity may be the result of malicious harassment or unfair competition acts by third parties. We may even be subject to government or regulatory investigation as a result of such third-party conduct and may be required to spend significant time and incur substantial costs to defend ourselves against such third-party conduct, and we may not be able to conclusively refute each of the allegations within a reasonable period of time, or at all. Our brand and reputation may be materially and adversely affected as a result of any negative publicity, which in turn may cause us to lose market share, users, advertising customers and other third parties we conduct business with. We have implemented user loyalty programs to gamify user experience and tap into the competitive reward psyche of users. However, some users have misunderstood the purpose of the system and expect it to function as a source of significant monetary compensation. This system and aspect of our referral-based viral user acquisition approach has been criticized and negatively evaluated in certain user generated content uploaded by users. Such users have also complained about the inadequacy of loyalty points through Internet blog postings. Though we believe such criticisms are without merit, such postings could have a material and adverse effect on our ability to acquire new customers.

We may incur liability for merchandise sold on our platform that is without or has yet to receive proper authorization, infringe on other parties’ intellectual property rights, or fail to comply with related permits or filing requirements.

Our Qutoutiao mobile application includes an online marketplace which users can access and purchase merchandise offered by third-party merchandise suppliers, which allows us to both enhance user stickiness and capture valuable monetization opportunities. We may incur liability for merchandise sold by third-party merchandise suppliers that are without or have yet to receive proper authorization, infringe on other parties’ intellectual property rights, or fail to comply with related permits or filing requirements. If any material claim occurs in the future, irrespective of the validity of such claims, we may incur significant costs and efforts in either defending against or settling such claims. If there is a successful claim against us, we might be required to pay substantial damages or refrain from further sale of the relevant merchandise. Moreover, such claims could result in negative publicity and our reputation could be severely damaged. Any of these events could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We rely on third-party online payment platforms as to certain aspects of our operations.

Our users withdraw cash credits from their accounts on Qutoutiao through third-party online payment systems. Our users also can use third-party online payment systems to supplement their spending on Qutoutiao with additional funds. In such online payment transactions, secured transmission of confidential information such as customers’ personal information over public networks is essential to maintain consumer confidence.

We do not have control over the security measures of our third-party online payment platforms, and security breaches of the online payment systems that we use could expose us to litigation and possible liability for failing to secure confidential customer 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 concerned about the security of their online financial transactions may become reluctant to purchase our virtual items even if the publicized breach did not involve payment

 

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systems or methods used by us. In addition, there may be billing software errors that would damage customer 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 lose active users, which may have an adverse effect on our business.

Furthermore, if any of the payment platforms we use decide to significantly increase the percentage they charge us for using their payment systems, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Any change, disruption, discontinuity in the features and functions of major social networks could limit our ability to continue growing our user base, and our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We leverage social networks, such as WeChat and QQ, as part of our user acquisition and engagement effort. These social networks enable users to share content on our mobile applications or recommend our mobile applications to their friends, family and other social contacts to generate low-cost organic traffic and enhance user engagement for us. To the extent that we fail to leverage such social networks, our ability to attract or retain users may be harmed. If any of these social networks makes changes to its functions or support, or stops offering its functions or support to us, we may not be able to locate alternative social networks of similar scale to provide similar functions or support. Furthermore, we may fail to establish or maintain relationships with additional social network operators to support the growth of our business on economically viable terms, or at all. Any interruption to or discontinuation of our relationships with major social network operators may severely and negatively impact our ability to continue growing our user base, and any occurrence of the circumstances mentioned above may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business and growth could suffer if we are unable to hire and retain key personnel.

We depend on the continued contributions of our senior management and other key employees, many of whom are difficult to replace. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers or other key employees could harm our business. Competition for qualified talent in China is intense. Our future success is dependent on our ability to attract a significant number of qualified employees and retain existing key employees. If we are unable to do so, our business and growth may be materially and adversely affected and the trading price of our ADSs could suffer. Our need to significantly increase the number of our qualified employees and retain key employees may cause us to materially increase compensation-related costs, including share-based compensation.

We are also dependent on the services of Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, our co-founder and executive chairman. Although Mr. Tan spends significant time with us and is active in the management of our business, he does not devote his full time and attention to us. If Mr. Tan reduces his time with us in the future and become less involved with the management of our business, we may no longer benefit from his extensive industry experience and our business and growth may suffer.

Our co-founder and executive chairman Mr. Eric Siliang Tan has control over us and our corporate matters.

Our co-founder and executive chairman, Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, has control over us and our corporate matters. Innotech Group Holdings Ltd., a British Virgin Islands limited liability company which is ultimately controlled by Mr. Tan, holds 27,123,442 of our ordinary shares. In addition, pursuant to the power of attorney by several shareholders, Innotech Group Holdings Ltd. has the right to exercise the voting power associated with 1,931,265 ordinary shares held by such shareholders. As a result, Innotech Group Holdings Ltd. has the voting power over 29,054,707 ordinary shares, or 48.4% of the aggregate voting power of our issued and outstanding share capital as of the date of this prospectus. However, such power of attorney will be terminated upon the completion of this offering.

 

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In addition, immediately prior to the completion of this offering, we expect to create a dual-class share structure such that our ordinary shares will consist of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. In respect of matters requiring the votes of shareholders, holders of Class B ordinary shares will be entitled to ten (10) votes per share, subject to certain conditions, while holders of Class A ordinary shares will be entitled to one vote per share based on our proposed dual-class share structure. We will sell 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. Upon any transfer of Class B ordinary shares by a holder to any person or entity which is not an affiliate of such holder, each of such Class B ordinary shares shall be converted into one Class A ordinary share in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.

Immediately prior to the completion of this offering, Mr. Tan will beneficially own 27,123,442 of our issued Class B ordinary shares. These Class B ordinary shares will constitute approximately 37.8% of our total issued and outstanding share capital immediately after the completion of this offering and 73.2% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital immediately after the completion of this offering (or approximately 37.0% of our total issued and outstanding share capital and 72.9% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital assuming the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable to The Paper or convertible from the Series C2 preferred shares issuable to The Paper, as the case may be) due to the disparate voting powers associated with our dual-class share structure, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option. See “Principal Shareholders.” As a result of the dual-class share structure and the concentration of ownership, Mr. Tan will have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers, consolidations and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could also discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions, which could have the effect of depriving the holders of our ordinary shares and our ADSs of the opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over the prevailing market price.

We will be a “controlled company” under the rules of NASDAQ Global Market and, as a result, will 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 Nasdaq Stock Market Rules because Mr. Eric Siliang Tan will hold more than 50% of the aggregate voting power of our company upon the completion of this offering. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely, and will 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 will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.

We have incurred and may continue to incur substantial share-based compensation expenses.

We have adopted a 2017 equity incentive plan that permits the grant of share options, and a 2018 equity incentive plan that permits the grant of share options, restricted shares, restricted share units, dividend equivalents, share appreciation rights and share payments as equity-based awards, to our directors, officers, employees and consultants. The maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares that may be issued pursuant to all share options and other awards under our equity incentive plans is 12,964,141, of which 9,500,000 ordinary shares are held by a nominee of our equity incentive trust. As of the date of this prospectus, options to purchase 12,297,276 ordinary shares have been granted and are outstanding under our equity incentive plans. We are required to account for options granted to our employees, directors and consultants. We are required to classify options granted to our employees, directors and consultants as equity awards and recognize share-based compensation expense based on the fair value of such share options, with the share-based compensation expense recognized over the period in which the recipient is required to provide service in exchange for the share option or other equity award.

 

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On January 3, 2018, entities respectively controlled by our co-founders Mr. Eric Siliang Tan and Mr. Lei Li entered into share restriction deeds with us, pursuant to which a total of 15,937,500 ordinary shares beneficially owned by such co-founders became restricted shares. 12,187,500 of such restricted shares are beneficially owned by Mr. Eric Siliang Tan and will be vested in a period over 34 months. 3,750,000 of such restricted shares are beneficially owned by Mr. Lei Li and will be vested in a period over 24 months. These share restriction deeds will be terminated, and any remaining restricted shares will be vested, upon the completion of this offering. For accounting purposes, this transaction has been reflected retrospectively similar to a reverse stock split, with a grant of 15,937,500 restricted shares to be recognized in January 2018 at their then fair value of approximately RMB818.4 million (US$128.1 million) and recognized as compensation expense over the vesting periods. In the six months ended June 30, 2018, RMB158.6 million (US$24.8 million) was recognized as share-based compensation expenses. In addition, upon the completion of this offering, any remaining unrecognized share-based compensation expenses relating to the foregoing will be expensed immediately. For further information, see “Management — Equity Incentive Plans — Share Restriction Deeds.”

We believe the granting of share-based compensation is of significant importance to our ability to attract, retain and motivate our management team and talented employees, and we will continue to grant share-based compensation to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase significantly, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Critical Accounting Policies, Judgments and Estimates — Share-based Compensation and Valuation of Our Ordinary Shares.”

Future investments in and acquisitions of complementary assets, technologies and businesses may fail and may result in equity or earnings dilution.

We may invest in or acquire assets, technologies and businesses that are complementary to our existing business. Our investments or acquisitions may not yield the results we expect. In addition, investments and acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, significant amortization expenses related to goodwill or intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Furthermore, if such goodwill or intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to our results of operations. Such investments and acquisitions may also require our management team to devote a significant amount of attention. Moreover, the cost of identifying and consummating investments and acquisitions, and integrating the acquired businesses into ours, may be significant, and the integration of acquired businesses may be disruptive to our existing business operations. In addition, we may have to obtain approval from the relevant PRC governmental authorities for the investments and acquisitions and comply with any applicable PRC rules and regulations, which may be costly. In the event our investments and acquisitions are not successful, our results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property, which could cause us to be less competitive.

We regard our intellectual property as critical to our success. Such intellectual property includes trademarks, domain names, copyrights, know-how and proprietary technologies. We currently rely on trademarks, copyrights, trade secret law and confidentiality, invention assignment and non-compete agreements with our employees and others to protect our proprietary rights. See “Business — Intellectual Property” and “Regulations — Regulations Related to Intellectual Property Rights.” However, we cannot assure you that any of our intellectual property rights would not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or such intellectual property will be sufficient to provide us with competitive advantages. We have not completed the trademark registration for “ Qutoutiao ,” the name of our flagship mobile application. After we submitted our application material with the relevant authorities, one of our competitors filed an objection on the purported ground that “ Qutoutiao ” is similar to a trademark registered by such competitor. We believe such objection is meritless and we have contested the

 

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objection and submitted the written defense to the Trademark Office in February 2018. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to prevail and register “ Qutoutiao ” as a trademark. See “— If we do not continue to increase the strength of our brand, we may not be able to maintain current or attract new users and customers for our products and services.” In addition, other parties may misappropriate our intellectual property rights, which would cause us to suffer economic or reputational damages. Because of the rapid pace of technological change, nor can we assure you that all of our proprietary technologies and similar intellectual property can be patented in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. Furthermore, parts of our business rely on technologies developed or licensed by other parties, or co-developed with other parties, and we may not be able to obtain or continue to obtain licenses and technologies from these other parties on reasonable terms, or at all.

It is often difficult to register, maintain and enforce intellectual property rights in China. Statutory laws and regulations are subject to judicial interpretation and enforcement and may not be applied consistently due to the lack of clear guidance on statutory interpretation. Confidentiality, invention assignment and non-compete agreements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights in China. Preventing any unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly and the steps we take may be inadequate to prevent the misappropriation of our intellectual property. In the event that we resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our managerial and financial resources. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigation. In addition, our trade secrets may be leaked or otherwise become available to, or be independently discovered by, our competitors. To the extent that our employees or consultants use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related know-how and inventions. Any failure in protecting or enforcing our intellectual property rights could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, or delivered to our users, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for products or services on our platform, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

Companies in the Internet, technology and media 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 more common in China in resolving commercial disputes, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims.

We allow content providers to upload texts, images and videos on our platform. We have procedures designed 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 of copyrighted content. 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 platform.

Defending intellectual property litigation is costly and can impose a significant burden on our management and employees, and there can be no assurances that favorable final outcomes will be obtained in all cases. Such claims, even if they do not result in liability, may harm our reputation. Any resulting liability or expenses, or changes required to our platform to reduce the risk of future liability, may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

 

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If we fail to implement and maintain an effective system of internal control, we may be unable to accurately or timely report our results of operations or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of the ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

We will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the rules and regulations of the NASDAQ Global Market after the completion of this offering. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Commencing with our fiscal year ending December 31, 2019, we must perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our Form 20-F filing for that year, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as the 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 not reach the same conclusion. Prior to this offering, we were a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal control and procedures, and we were never required to evaluate our internal control over financial reporting within a specified period, and, as a result, we may experience difficulty in meeting these reporting requirements in a timely manner. Our management has not completed an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and our independent registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting.

In the course of preparing and auditing our consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified one material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017. In accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC, 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 our company’s annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness identified relates to the lack of sufficient financial reporting and accounting personnel with appropriate knowledge of U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements to formalize key controls over financial reporting and to prepare consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. Neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm undertook a comprehensive assessment of our internal control under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for purposes of identifying and reporting any weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. We and they are required to do so only after we become a public company. Had we performed a formal assessment of our internal control over financial reporting or had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, additional control weaknesses may have been identified. To remedy our identified material weakness subsequent to December 31, 2017, we plan to undertake steps to strengthen our internal control over financial reporting, including: (i) hiring more qualified resources including financial controller, equipped with relevant U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting experience and qualifications to strengthen the financial reporting function and to set up a financial and system control framework, (ii) implementing regular and continuous U.S. GAAP accounting and financial reporting training programs for our accounting and financial reporting personnel, (iii) establishing effective oversight and clarifying reporting requirements for non-recurring and complex transactions to ensure consolidated financial statements and related disclosures are accurate, complete and in compliance with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements, and (iv) enhancing an internal audit function as well as engaging an external consulting firm to help us assess our compliance readiness under rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act and improve overall internal control. However, we cannot assure you that we will remediate our material weakness in a timely manner.

Our internal control over financial reporting will not prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the

 

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control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.

If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner, or if we are unable to maintain proper and effective internal control, we may not be able to produce timely and accurate financial statements. If that were to happen, the market price of our ADSs could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the NASDAQ Global Market, SEC or other regulatory authorities.

The discontinuation of any of the preferential tax treatments available to us in China could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Under PRC tax laws and regulations, our consolidated VIE, Shanghai Jifen enjoyed, or is qualified to enjoy, certain preferential income tax benefits. The modified Enterprise Income Tax Law, effective on February 24, 2017, or the EIT Law, and its implementation rules generally impose a uniform income tax rate of 25% on all enterprises, but grant preferential treatment to “high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state”, or HNTEs, to enjoy a reduced enterprise tax rate of 15%. According to the relevant administrative measures, to qualify as a “HNTE”, Shanghai Jifen must meet certain financial and non-financial criteria and complete verification procedures with the administrative authorities. Continued qualification as a “HNTE” is subject to a three-year review by the relevant government authorities in China, and in practice certain local tax authorities also require annual evaluation of the qualification. In the event the preferential tax treatment for Shanghai Jifen is discontinued or is not verified by the local tax authorities, and the affected entity fails to obtain preferential income tax treatment based on other qualifications such as Advanced Technology Service Enterprise, it will become subject to the standard PRC enterprise income tax rate of 25%. We cannot assure you that the tax authorities will not, in the future, discontinue any of our preferential tax treatments, potentially with retroactive effect.

User growth and engagement depend upon effective interoperation with operating systems, networks, devices and major mobile application distribution channels that we do not control.

We make our products and services available across a variety of mobile operating systems and through major mobile application distribution channels, namely app stores. We are dependent on the interoperability of our products and services with popular devices and mobile operating systems that we do not control, such as Android and iOS. We are also dependent on users’ ability to find and download our mobile applications through app stores operated by third parties, such as the Apple App Store and app stores operated by mobile phone manufacturers in China such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.

Any changes in such operating systems, devices or mobile application distribution channels that degrade the functionality of our products and services or give preferential treatment to competitive products or services could adversely affect usage of our products and services. Further, if the number of platforms for which we develop our products increases, it will result in an increase in our costs and expenses. In order to deliver high-quality products and services, it is important that our products and services work well with a range of mobile operating systems and devices which we do not control. The various app stores also have their own rules and requirements that our mobile applications need to comply with for them to be included in the respective app stores. Such rules and requirements may change from time to time. There are no assurances that our mobile applications will be able to continue to meet these rules and requirements, which may result in their removal from the relevant app stores. Compliance with these rules and requirements may also prove to be costly or require change to the functionality of our mobile applications that may make them less desirable to users. We may not be successful in developing relationships with key participants in the mobile Internet industry or in developing products or services that operate effectively with these mobile operating systems, devices and mobile application distribution channels. In the event it is difficult for our users to access and use our products and services on their mobile devices, our user

 

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growth and user engagement could be harmed, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our operations depend on the performance of the Internet infrastructure and fixed telecommunications networks in China.

Almost all access to the Internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT. Moreover, we primarily rely on a limited number of telecommunication service providers to provide us with data communications capacity through local telecommunications lines and Internet data centers to host our servers. We have limited access to alternative networks or services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with China’s Internet infrastructure or the fixed telecommunications networks provided by telecommunication service providers. Internet traffic in China has experienced significant growth during the past few years. Effective bandwidth and server storage at Internet data centers in large cities such as Shanghai are scarce. With the expansion of our business, we may be required to upgrade our technology and infrastructure to keep up with the increasing traffic on our platform. We cannot assure you that the Internet infrastructure and the fixed telecommunications networks in China will be able to support the demands associated with the continued growth in Internet usage. If we are unable to increase our online content and service delivering capacity accordingly, we may not be able to continuously grow our traffic, and the adoption of our products and services may be hindered, which could adversely impact our business and our share price.

In addition, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by telecommunication service providers. If the prices we pay for telecommunications and Internet services rise significantly, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if mobile Internet access fees or other charges to mobile Internet users increase, some users may be prevented from accessing the mobile Internet and thus cause the growth of mobile Internet users to decelerate. Such deceleration may adversely affect our ability to continue to expand our user base and increase our attractiveness to online customers.

Our business, results of operations and financial condition may be harmed by service disruptions, or by our failure to timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology and infrastructure.

We may experience service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, hardware failure, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of people accessing our products and services simultaneously, computer viruses and denial of service, fraud and security attacks. Any disruption or failure in our infrastructure could hinder our ability to handle existing or increased traffic on our platform or cause us to lose content stored on our platform, which could significantly harm our business and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users.

As the number of our users increases and our users generate increasing volumes of user generated videos on our platform, and as we continue to diversify into new content formats, we may be required to expand and adapt our technology and infrastructure to continue to reliably store, analyze and deliver content. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the performance of our products and services, especially during peak usage times, as our products and services become more complex and our user traffic increases. In addition, because we lease our data center facilities, we cannot be assured that we will be able to expand our data center infrastructure to meet users’ demand in a timely manner, or on favorable economic terms. If our users are unable to access Qutoutiao or we are not able to make information available rapidly on Qutoutiao , or at all, users may become frustrated and seek other channels for their light entertainment needs, and may not return to Qutoutiao or use Qutoutiao as often in the future, or at all. This would negatively impact our ability to attract users and maintain high level of user engagement as well as our ability to attract advertising customers.

 

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Legal or administrative proceedings or allegations of impropriety against us or our management could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, results of operation and financial condition.

We and members of our management may be subject to allegations or lawsuits brought by our competitors, individuals, government and regulatory authorities or other persons in the future. Any such lawsuit or allegation, with or without merit, or any perceived unfair, unethical, fraudulent or inappropriate business practice by us or perceived wrong-doing by any key member of our management team could harm our reputation and cause our user base to decline and distract our management from day-to-day operations of our company. We cannot assure you that we or key members of our management team will not be subject to lawsuits or allegations of a similar nature in the future. Where we can make a reasonable estimate of the liability relating to pending litigation and determine that an adverse liability resulting from such litigation is probable, we will record a related contingent liability. As additional information becomes available, we will assess the potential liability and revise estimates as appropriate. In 2016, 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2018, we did not record any contingent liabilities relating to pending litigation. However, when we record or revise our estimates of contingent liabilities in the future, the amount of our estimates may be inaccurate due to the inherent uncertainties relating to litigation. In addition, the outcomes of actions we institute against third parties may not be successful or favorable to us. Litigation and allegations against us or any of our management members, irrespective of their veracity, may also generate negative publicity that significantly harms our reputation, which may materially and adversely affect our user base and our ability to attract content providers and advertising customers. In addition to the related cost, managing and defending litigation and related indemnity obligations can significantly divert our management and the board of directors’ attention from operating our business. We may also need to pay damages or settle the litigation with a substantial amount of cash. All of these could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, results of operation and financial condition.

We may not have fully paid certain fees and surcharges in the past. As such, we may be subject to further scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities that may result in a finding which may subject us to additional taxes, fees and surcharges and fines or other penalties.

According to the Circular on Issues Relating to Cultural Undertaking Development Fee Policies and Administration of Levying and Collection Relating to Levying VAT in place of Business Tax , which was issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, on March 28, 2016, or Circular 25, the provision of advertising services by advertising media agencies and outdoor advertisement business operators (including entities engaging in distribution, screening, promotion and exhibition of outdoor advertisements and other advertisements, as well as entities engaging in advertisement agency services) in China is subject to a cultural development fee at an applicable rate of 3% of the net advertising revenue. The net advertising revenue refers to, as specified in Circular 25, the balance after deducting advertisement distribution fee paid to other advertising company or advertisement distributor, from the total tax inclusive price and out of pocket expenses obtained from provision of advertising services. Historically, we did not pay cultural development fee and surcharges for the part of our revenue that we did not consider as revenue from advertising services subject to Circular 25. Although we have not been challenged by the tax authorities so far, we may face further scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities that may result in a conclusion that subjects us to additional taxes, fees and surcharges and substantially increases our taxes owed, thereby materially and adversely affecting our results of operations. As a result of not making adequate contributions, we may also be subject to fines or other penalties imposed by the relevant authorities pursuant to applicable laws and regulations.

A severe or prolonged downturn in the Chinese or global economy could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Any prolonged slowdown in the Chinese or global economy may have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In particular, general economic factors and conditions in China or worldwide, including the general interest rate environment and unemployment rates, may affect advertising customers’ willingness to advertise or consumers’ willingness to spend on entertainment. Economic conditions in

 

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China are sensitive to global economic conditions. The global financial markets have experienced significant disruptions since 2008 and the United States, Europe and other economies have experienced periods of recession. The recovery from the lows of 2008 and 2009 has been uneven and is facing new challenges, including the escalation of the European sovereign debt crisis from 2011 and the slowdown of the Chinese economy since 2012. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China. There have been concerns over unrest in North Korea, Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa, which have resulted in volatility in financial and other markets. There have also been concerns over the expected withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union as well as concerns about the economic effect of the tensions in the relationship between the United States, China and neighboring Asian countries. If present Chinese and global economic uncertainties persist, we may have difficulty in attracting advertising customers or spending by consumers on entertainment. Additionally, continued turbulence in the international markets may adversely affect our ability to access the capital markets to meet liquidity needs.

We have limited business insurance coverage.

Insurance companies in China currently do not offer as extensive an array of insurance products as are offered by insurance companies in more developed economies. We do not have any business liability or disruption insurance coverage for our operations. Any uninsured business disruptions may result in our incurring substantial costs and diversion of resources, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Any catastrophe, including natural catastrophes and outbreaks of health pandemics and other extraordinary events, could disrupt our business operation.

We are vulnerable to natural disasters and other calamities. Fire, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, break-ins, war, riots, terrorist attacks or similar events may give rise to server interruptions, breakdowns, system failures or Internet failures, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or malfunctions of software or hardware as well as adversely affect our ability to provide our products or services.

Our business could also be adversely affected by the effects of Ebola virus disease, H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, avian flu, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, or other epidemics. Our business operations could be disrupted if any of our employees is suspected of having Ebola virus disease, H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, avian flu, SARS or another contagious disease or condition, since it could require our employees to be quarantined and/or our offices to be disinfected. In addition, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected to the extent that any of these epidemics harms the Chinese economy in general.

Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure

We rely on contractual arrangements with our consolidated VIE and its shareholders to operate our business, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control and otherwise materially and adversely affect our business.

We rely on contractual arrangements with our consolidated VIE and its shareholders to operate our business. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see “Our History and Corporate Structure — Contractual Arrangements among Shanghai Quyun, Shanghai Jifen and Its Shareholders.” All of our revenue is attributed to our consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over our consolidated VIE. If our consolidated VIE or its shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under these contractual arrangements, our recourse to the assets held by our consolidated VIE is indirect and we may have to incur substantial costs and expend significant resources to enforce such arrangements in reliance on legal remedies under PRC law. These remedies may not always be effective, particularly in light of uncertainties in the PRC legal system. Furthermore, in connection with

 

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litigation, arbitration or other judicial or dispute resolution proceedings, assets under the name of any of record holder of equity interest in our consolidated VIE, including such equity interest, may be put under court custody. As a consequence, we cannot be certain that the equity interest will be disposed pursuant to the contractual arrangement or ownership by the record holder of the equity interest.

All of these contractual arrangements are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in the PRC. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC laws and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal environment in the PRC is not as developed as in other jurisdictions, such as the U.S. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. In the event that we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer significant time delays or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, it would be very difficult to exert effective control over our consolidated VIE, and our ability to conduct our business and our results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected. See “— Risks Relating to Doing Business in China — There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws, rules and regulations.”

The arbitration provisions under these contractual arrangements have no effect on the rights of our shareholders to pursue claims against us under United States federal securities laws.

Furthermore, in connection with the share purchase agreement entered into with The Paper, Shanghai Jifen has agreed to issue equity interests representing 1% of its enlarged share capital to The Paper at a nominal price. See “Prospectus Summary — Recent Developments.” However, The Paper will not be a party to the contractual arrangements that are currently entered into among Shanghai Quyun and Shanghai Jifen and its shareholders. As such, despite the fact that we will still be able to enjoy economic benefits and exercise effective control over Shanghai Jifen and its subsidiaries, in contrast to what we have been granted by other shareholders of Shanghai Jifen under the contractual arrangements, we will not be able to purchase or have The Paper pledge such 1% equity interests in the same manner as agreed under existing contractual arrangements, nor we will be granted the authorization of voting rights over these 1% equity interests. We believe Shanghai Quyun, our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, still controls and is the primary beneficiary of Shanghai Jifen as it continues to have a controlling financial interest in Shanghai Jifen pursuant to ASC 810-10-25-38A after the issuance of such 1% equity interests. See “Our History and Corporate Structure — Contractual Arrangements among Shanghai Quyun and Shanghai Jifen and its Shareholders — Supplemental Agreement to the Contractual Arrangements in Connection with The Paper.”

Any failure by our consolidated VIE or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would materially and adversely affect our business.

We, through one of our subsidiaries and a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in the PRC, have entered into a series of contractual arrangements with our consolidated VIE and its shareholders. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see “Our History and Corporate Structure — Contractual Arrangements among Shanghai Quyun, Shanghai Jifen and Its Shareholders.” If our consolidated VIE or its shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under these contractual arrangements, we may incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC laws, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure you will be effective under PRC laws. For example, if the shareholders of our consolidated VIE were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in the consolidated VIE to us or our designee when 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.

All the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC laws and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC laws and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The

 

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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. Meanwhile, there are very few precedents and little formal guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a VIE should be interpreted or enforced under PRC laws. There remain significant uncertainties regarding the ultimate outcome of such arbitration should legal action become necessary. In addition, under PRC laws, rulings by arbitrators are final and parties cannot appeal arbitration results in court unless such rulings are revoked or determined unenforceable by a competent court. 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 that 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 consolidated VIE and relevant rights and licenses held by it which we require in order to operate our business, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected. See “— Risks Related to Doing Business in China — There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws, rules and regulations.”

The shareholders of our consolidated VIE may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The interests of the shareholders of our consolidated VIE in their capacities as such shareholders may differ from the interests of our company as a whole, as what is in the best interests of our consolidated VIE, including matters such as whether to distribute dividends or to make other distributions to fund our offshore requirement, may not be in the best interests of our company. There can be no assurance that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or those conflicts of interest will be resolved in our favor. In addition, these shareholders may breach or cause our consolidated VIE and their subsidiaries to breach or refuse to renew the existing contractual arrangements with us.

Currently, we do not have arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest the shareholders of our consolidated VIE may encounter, on the one hand, and as a beneficial owner of our company, on the other hand. We, however, could, at all times, exercise our option under the exclusive option agreement to cause them to transfer all of their equity ownership in our consolidated VIE to a PRC entity or individual designated by us as permitted by the then applicable PRC laws. In addition, if such conflicts of interest arise, we could also, in the capacity of attorney-in-fact of the then existing shareholders of our consolidated VIE as provided under the power of attorney agreements, directly appoint new directors of our consolidated VIE. We rely on the shareholders of our consolidated VIE to comply with PRC laws and regulations, which protect contracts and provide that directors and executive officers owe a duty of loyalty to our company and require them to avoid conflicts of interest and not to take advantage of their positions for personal gains, and the laws of the Cayman Islands, which provide that directors have a duty of care and a duty of loyalty to act honestly in good faith with a view to our best interests. However, the legal frameworks of China and the Cayman Islands do not provide guidance on resolving conflicts in the event of a conflict with another corporate governance regime. If we cannot resolve any conflicts of interest or disputes between us and the shareholders of our consolidated 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.

If the PRC government deems that the contractual arrangements in relation to our consolidated VIE do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

The PRC government regulates telecommunications-related businesses through strict business licensing requirements and other government regulations. These laws and regulations also include limitations on foreign ownership of PRC companies that engage in telecommunications-related businesses. Specifically, foreign

 

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investors are not allowed to own more than a 50% equity interest in any PRC company engaging in value-added telecommunications businesses. The primary foreign investor must also have experience and a good track record in providing value-added telecommunications services, or VATS, overseas.

Because we are an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are classified as a foreign enterprise under PRC laws and regulations, and our wholly foreign-owned enterprise in the PRC is a foreign-invested enterprise, or FIE. Accordingly, none of these subsidiaries are eligible to operate VATS business in China. We conduct our business in China through our consolidated VIE and its affiliates. Our PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, has entered into a series of contractual arrangements with our consolidated VIE and its shareholders, which enable us to (i) exercise effective control over the consolidated VIE, (ii) receive substantially all of the economic benefits of the consolidated VIE, and (iii) have an exclusive option to purchase all or part of the equity interests and assets in the consolidated VIE when and to the extent permitted by PRC law. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we have control over and are the primary beneficiary of the consolidated VIE and hence consolidate its financial results as our consolidated VIE under U.S. GAAP. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see “Our History and Corporate Structure — Contractual Arrangements among Shanghai Quyun, Shanghai Jifen and Its Shareholders.”

We believe that our corporate structure and contractual arrangements comply with the current applicable PRC laws and regulations. Our PRC legal counsel, King & Wood Mallesons, based on its understanding of the relevant laws and regulations, is of the opinion that each of the contracts among our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, our consolidated VIE and its shareholders is valid, binding and enforceable in accordance with its terms. However, as there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of PRC laws and regulations, including the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors , or the M&A Rules, and the Telecommunications Regulations and the relevant regulatory measures concerning the telecommunications industry, there can be no assurance that the PRC government authorities, such as the MOFCOM or the MIIT, or other authorities that regulate Internet content providers and other participants in the telecommunications industry, would agree that our corporate structure or any of the above contractual arrangements comply with PRC licensing, registration or other regulatory requirements, with existing policies or with requirements or policies that may be adopted in the future. PRC laws and regulations governing the validity of these contractual arrangements are uncertain and the relevant government authorities have broad discretion in interpreting these laws and regulations.

If our corporate structure and contractual arrangements are deemed by the MIIT or the MOFCOM or other regulators having competent authority to be illegal, either in whole or in part, we may lose control of our consolidated VIE and have to modify such structure to comply with regulatory requirements. However, there can be no assurance that we can achieve this without material disruption to our business. Further, if our corporate structure and contractual arrangements are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, the relevant regulatory authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violations, including:

 

   

revoking our business and operating licenses;

 

   

levying fines on us;

 

   

confiscating any of our income that they deem to be obtained through illegal operations;

 

   

shutting down our services;

 

   

discontinuing or restricting our operations in China;

 

   

imposing conditions or requirements with which we may not be able to comply;

 

   

requiring us to change our corporate structure and contractual arrangements;

 

   

restricting or prohibiting our use of the proceeds from overseas offering to finance our consolidated VIE’s business and operations; and

 

   

taking other regulatory or enforcement actions that could be harmful to our business.

 

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Furthermore, new PRC laws, rules and regulations may be introduced to impose additional requirements that may be applicable to our corporate structure and contractual arrangements. See “— Substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation of the draft PRC Foreign Investment Law, and its enactment may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.” Occurrence of any of these events could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, if the imposition of any of these penalties or requirement to restructure our corporate structure causes us to lose the rights to direct the activities of our consolidated VIE or our right to receive its economic benefits, we would no longer be able to consolidate the financial results of such VIE in our consolidated financial statements. However, we do not believe that such actions would result in the liquidation or dissolution of our company, our wholly-owned subsidiary in China or our consolidated VIE or its subsidiaries. See “Our History and Corporate Structure — Contractual Arrangements among Shanghai Quyun, Shanghai Jifen and Its Shareholders.”

Contractual arrangements in relation to our consolidated VIE may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities and they may determine that our consolidated VIE owes additional taxes, which could negatively affect our results of operations and 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. The PRC enterprise income tax law requires every enterprise in China to submit its annual enterprise income tax return together with a report on transactions with its related parties to the relevant tax authorities. The tax authorities may impose reasonable adjustments on taxation if they have identified any related party transactions that are inconsistent with arm’s length principles. We may face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements among our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, our consolidated VIE and its shareholders were not entered into on an arm’s length basis in such a way as to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, regulations and rules, and adjust their income 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 Shanghai Quyun or our consolidated VIE for PRC tax purposes, which could in turn increase their tax liabilities without reducing their tax expenses. In addition, if our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, requests the shareholders of our consolidated VIE to transfer their equity interests in our consolidated VIE at nominal or no value pursuant to these contractual arrangements, such transfer could be viewed as a gift and subject the relevant subsidiary to PRC income tax. Furthermore, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties on our PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, and consolidated VIE for adjusted but unpaid taxes according to applicable regulations. Our financial position could be materially and adversely affected if the tax liabilities of our PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, and consolidated VIE increase, or if they are required to pay late payment fees and other penalties.

We may lose the ability to use and enjoy assets held by our consolidated VIE that are material to the operation of our business if the entity goes bankrupt or becomes subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.

Our consolidated VIE holds substantially of all our assets. Under the contractual arrangements, our consolidated VIE may not and its shareholders may not cause it to, in any manner, sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of its assets or its legal or beneficial interests in the business without our prior consent. However, in the event that the shareholders of our consolidated VIE breach these contractual arrangements and voluntarily liquidate our consolidated VIE, or our consolidated 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, results of operations and financial condition. If our consolidated VIE undergoes a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, independent third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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If the custodians or authorized users of our controlling non-tangible assets, including chops and seals, fail to fulfill their responsibilities, or misappropriate or misuse these assets, our business and operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Under PRC law, legal documents for corporate transactions, including agreements and contracts that our business relies on, are executed using the chop or seal of the signing entity or with the signature of a legal representative whose designation is registered and filed with the relevant local branch of the SAMR. We generally execute legal documents by affixing chops or seals, rather than having the designated legal representatives sign the documents.

We have three major types of chops — corporate chops, contract chops and finance chops. We use corporate chops generally for documents to be submitted to government agencies, such as applications for changing business scope, directors or company name, and for legal letters. We use contract chops for executing leases and commercial contracts. We use finance chops generally for making and collecting payments, including issuing invoices. Use of corporate chops and contract chops must be approved by our legal department and administrative department, and use of finance chops must be approved by our finance department. The chops of our subsidiaries and consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries are generally held by the relevant entities so that documents can be executed locally. Although we usually utilize chops to execute contracts, the registered legal representatives of our subsidiaries and consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries have the apparent authority to enter into contracts on behalf of such entities without chops, unless such contracts set forth otherwise.

In order to maintain the physical security of our chops, we generally have them stored in secured locations accessible only to the designated key employees of our legal, administrative or finance departments. Our designated legal representatives generally do not have access to the chops. Although we have approval procedures in place and monitor our key employees, including the designated legal representatives of our subsidiaries and consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries, the procedures may not be sufficient to prevent all instances of abuse or negligence. There is a risk that our key employees or designated legal representatives could abuse their authority, for example, by binding our subsidiaries and consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries with contracts against our interests, as we would be obligated to honor these contracts if the other contracting party acts in good faith in reliance on the apparent authority of our chops or signatures of our legal representatives. If any designated legal representative obtains control of the chop in an effort to obtain control over the relevant entity, we would need to have a shareholder or board resolution to designate a new legal representative and to take legal action to seek the return of the chop, apply for a new chop with the relevant authorities, or otherwise seek legal remedies for the legal representative’s misconduct. If any of the designated legal representatives obtains and misuses or misappropriates our chops and seals or other controlling intangible assets for whatever reason, we could experience disruption to our normal business operations. We may have to take corporate or legal action, which could involve significant time and resources to resolve while distracting management from our operations, and our business and operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation of the draft PRC Foreign Investment Law, and its enactment may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The MOFCOM published a discussion draft of the proposed Foreign Investment Law in January 2015 aiming to, upon its enactment, replace the major existing laws and regulations governing foreign investment in China. While the MOFCOM solicited comments on this draft, substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation of the proposed legislation and the extent of revision to the currently proposed draft. The draft Foreign Investment Law, if enacted as proposed, may materially impact the entire legal framework regulating foreign investments in China.

Among other things, the draft Foreign Investment Law purports to introduce the principle of “actual control” in determining whether a company is considered a foreign invested enterprise, or an FIE. The draft

 

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Foreign Investment Law specifically provides that entities established in China but “controlled” by foreign investors will be treated as FIEs, whereas an entity organized in a foreign jurisdiction, but cleared by the MOFCOM as “controlled” by PRC entities and/or citizens, would nonetheless be treated as a PRC domestic entity for investment in the “restriction category” that could appear on any such “negative list.” In this connection, “control” is broadly defined in the draft law to cover any of the following summarized categories: (i) holding 50% or more of the voting rights or similar rights and interests of the subject entity; (ii) holding less than 50% of the voting rights or similar rights and interests of the subject entity but having the power to directly or indirectly appoint or otherwise secure at least 50% of the seats on the board or other equivalent decision making bodies, or having the voting power to materially influence the board, the shareholders’ meeting or other equivalent decision making bodies; or (iii) having the power to exert decisive influence, via contractual or trust arrangements, over the subject entity’s operations, financial, staffing and technology matters.

Once an entity is determined to be an FIE, and its investment amount exceeds certain thresholds or its business operation falls within a “negative list” purported to be separately issued by the State Council in the future, market entry clearance by the MOFCOM or its local counterparts would be required.

The “variable interest entity” structure, or VIE structure, has been adopted by many PRC-based companies, including us, to conduct business in the industries that are currently subject to foreign investment restrictions in China. Under the draft Foreign Investment Law, VIEs that are controlled via contractual arrangements would also be deemed as FIEs, if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors. For any companies with a VIE structure in an industry category that is in the “restriction category” that could appear on any such “negative list,” the existing VIE structure may be deemed legitimate only if the ultimate controlling person(s) is/are of PRC nationality (either PRC state owned enterprises or agencies, or PRC citizens). Conversely, if the actual controlling person(s) is/are of foreign nationalities, then the VIEs will be treated as FIEs, in which case, the existing VIE structures will likely to be scrutinized and subject to foreign investment restrictions and approval from the MOFCOM and other supervising authorities such as MIIT. Any operation in the industry category on the “negative list” without market entry clearance may be considered as illegal.

However, there are significant uncertainties as to how the control status of our consolidated VIE would be determined under the enacted version of the Foreign Investment Law. In addition, it is uncertain whether any of the businesses that we currently operate or plan to operate in the future through our consolidated VIE would be on the to-be-issued “negative list” and therefore be subject to any foreign investment restrictions or prohibitions. If our consolidated VIE were deemed as an FIE under the enacted version of the Foreign Investment Law, and any of the businesses that we operate were in the “restricted” category on the to-be-issued “negative list,” such determination would materially and adversely affect the value of our ADSs. We also face uncertainties as to whether the enacted version of the Foreign Investment Law and the final “negative list” would mandate further actions, such as MOFCOM market entry clearance, to be completed by companies with existing VIE structure and whether such clearance can be timely obtained, or at all. If we were not considered as ultimately controlled by PRC domestic investors under the enacted version of the Foreign Investment Law, further actions required to be taken by us under the enacted Foreign Investment Law may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, our corporate governance practice may be materially impacted and our compliance costs could increase if we were not considered as ultimately controlled by PRC domestic investors under the Foreign Investment Law, if enacted as currently proposed. For instance, the draft Foreign Investment Law as proposed purports to impose stringent ad hoc and periodic information reporting requirements on foreign investors and the applicable FIEs. Aside from investment implementation report and investment amendment report that would be required for each investment and alteration of investment specifics, an annual report would be mandatory, and large foreign investors meeting certain criteria would be required to report on a quarterly basis. Any company found to be non-compliant with these information reporting obligations could potentially be subject to fines and/or administrative or criminal liabilities, and the persons directly responsible could be subject to criminal liabilities.

 

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Risks Relating to Doing Business in China

Changes in the political and economic policies of the PRC government may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition and may result in our inability to sustain our growth and expansion strategies.

Substantially all of our operations are conducted in the PRC and substantially all of our revenue is sourced from the PRC. Accordingly, our business, results of operations and financial condition are affected to a significant extent by economic, political and legal developments in the PRC.

The PRC economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the extent of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the PRC 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 is still owned by the government. In addition, the PRC government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The PRC government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth by allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy, regulating financial services and institutions and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

While the PRC economy has experienced significant growth in the past three decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The PRC government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall PRC economy, but may also have a negative effect on us. Our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations that are applicable to us. In addition, the PRC government has implemented in the past certain measures to control the pace of economic growth. These measures may cause decreased economic activity, which in turn could lead to a reduction in demand for our services and consequently materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws, rules and regulations.

Substantially all of our operations are conducted in the PRC, and are governed by PRC laws, rules and regulations. Our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries are subject to laws, rules and regulations applicable to foreign investment in China. 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.

In 1979, the PRC government began to promulgate a comprehensive system of laws, rules and regulations governing economic matters in general. The overall effect of legislation over the past three decades has significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investment in China. However, China has not developed a fully integrated legal system, and recently enacted laws, rules and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in China or may be subject to significant degrees of interpretation by PRC regulatory agencies. In particular, because these laws, rules and regulations are relatively new, and because of the limited number of published decisions and the nonbinding nature of such decisions, and because the laws, rules and regulations often give the relevant regulator significant discretion in how to enforce them, the interpretation and enforcement of these laws, rules and regulations involve uncertainties and can be inconsistent and unpredictable. In addition, 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 these policies and rules until after the occurrence of the violation.

 

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Any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. 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 legal protection we enjoy than in more developed legal systems. These uncertainties may impede our ability to enforce the contracts we have entered into and could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, may be required in connection with this offering under a PRC regulation. The regulation also establishes more complex procedures for acquisitions conducted by foreign investors that could make it more difficult for us to grow through acquisitions.

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the MOFCOM, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, or the SASAC, the State Administration of Taxation, the SAIC, the CSRC, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE, jointly adopted the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors , or the M&A Rules, which came into effect on September 8, 2006 and were amended on June 22, 2009. The M&A Rules include, among other things, provisions that purport to require that an offshore special purpose vehicle that is controlled by PRC domestic companies or individuals and that has been formed for the purpose of an overseas listing of securities through acquisitions of PRC domestic companies or assets to obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the listing and trading of such special purpose vehicle’s securities on an overseas stock exchange. On September 21, 2006, the CSRC published on its official website procedures regarding its approval of overseas listings by special purpose vehicles. However, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the scope and applicability of the M&A Rules to offshore special purpose vehicles.

While the application of the M&A Rules remains unclear, we believe, based on the advice of our PRC legal counsel, King & Wood Mallesons, that the CSRC approval is not required in the context of this offering because (i) our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, was incorporated as a foreign-invested enterprise by means of foreign direct investments rather than by merger with or acquisition of any PRC domestic companies as defined under the M&A Rules, and (ii) there is no statutory provision that clearly classifies the contractual arrangement among our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, and our consolidated VIE and its shareholders as transactions regulated by the M&A Rules. There can be no assurance that the relevant PRC government agencies, including the CSRC, would reach the same conclusion as our PRC legal counsel. If the CSRC or other PRC regulatory body subsequently determines that we need to obtain the CSRC’s approval for this offering or if the CSRC or any other PRC government authorities promulgates any interpretation or implements rules before our listing that would require us to obtain CSRC or other governmental approvals for this offering, we may face adverse actions or sanctions by the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies. In any such event, these regulatory agencies may impose fines and penalties on our operations in China, limit our operating privileges in China, delay or restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from this offering into the PRC or take other actions that could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition as well as our ability to complete this offering. The CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies may also take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, to halt this offering before settlement and delivery of the ADSs offered by this prospectus. Consequently, if you engage in market trading or other activities in anticipation of and prior to settlement and delivery, you do so at the risk that such settlement and delivery may not occur. In addition, if the CSRC or other regulatory agencies later promulgate new rules or explanations requiring us to obtain their approvals for this offering, we may be unable to obtain waivers of such approval requirements. Any uncertainties and/or negative publicity regarding such approval requirements could materially and adversely affect the trading price of the ADSs.

These regulations also established additional procedures and requirements that are expected to make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex. For example, the M&A rules require that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a

 

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foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise if (i) any important industry is concerned, (ii) such transaction involves factors that have or may have impact on the national economic security, or (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise which holds a famous trademark or PRC time-honored brand. The approval from the MOFCOM shall be obtained in circumstances where overseas companies established or controlled by PRC enterprises or residents acquire affiliated domestic companies. Mergers, acquisitions or contractual arrangements that allow one market player to take control of or to exert decisive impact on another market player must also be notified in advance to the MOFCOM when the threshold under the Provisions on Thresholds for Prior Notification of Concentrations of Undertakings, or the Prior Notification Rules, issued by the State Council in August 2008 is triggered. In addition, the security review rules issued by the MOFCOM that became effective in September 2011 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 the MOFCOM, and the rules prohibit any activities attempting to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. We may grow our business in part by acquiring other companies operating in our industry. Complying with the requirements of the new regulations to complete such transactions could be time-consuming, and any required approval processes, including approval from the 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. See “Regulations — Regulations Related to Mergers and Acquisitions and Overseas Listings.”

PRC laws and regulations mandate complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to make acquisitions in China.

PRC laws and regulations, such as the M&A Rules, and other relevant rules, established additional procedures and requirements that are expected to make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, or that the approval from the MOFCOM be obtained in circumstances where overseas companies established or controlled by PRC enterprises or residents acquire affiliated domestic companies. PRC laws and regulations also require certain merger and acquisition transactions to be subject to a merger control security review. In August 2011, the MOFCOM promulgated the Rules on Implementation of Security Review System , or MOFCOM Security Review Rules, effective from September 1, 2011, further provide that, when deciding whether a specific merger or acquisition of a domestic enterprise by foreign investors is subject to a security review by the MOFCOM, the principle of substance over form should be applied and foreign investors are prohibited from bypassing the security review requirement by structuring transactions through proxies, trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements of offshore transaction. Factors that the MOFCOM considers in its review are whether (i) an important industry is involved, (ii) such transaction involves factors that have had or may have an impact on national economic security and (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise that holds a well-known PRC trademark or a time-honored PRC brand. If a business of any target company that we plan to acquire falls into the ambit of security review, we may not be able to successfully acquire such company. Complying with the requirements of the relevant regulations to complete any such transaction could be time-consuming, and any required approval process, including approval from the MOFCOM, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business.

PRC regulations relating to investments in offshore companies by PRC residents may subject our PRC-resident beneficial owners or our PRC subsidiaries to liability or penalties, limit our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiaries or limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits.

The SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Offshore Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose

 

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Vehicles , or SAFE Circular 37, on July 4, 2014, which replaced the former circular commonly known as “SAFE Circular 75” promulgated by the SAFE on October 21, 2005. SAFE Circular 37 requires PRC residents to register with local branches of the SAFE in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, for the purpose of overseas investment and financing, with such PRC residents’ legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests, referred to in SAFE Circular 37 as a “special purpose vehicle.” Pursuant to SAFE Circular 37, “control” refers to the act through which a PRC resident obtains the right to carry out business operation of, to gain proceeds from or to make decisions on a special purpose vehicle by means of, among others, shareholding entrustment arrangement. SAFE Circular 37 further requires amendment to the registration in the event of any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as change of shareholders of the special purpose vehicle, increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC individuals, share transfer or exchange, merger, division or other material event. In the event that a PRC shareholder holding interests in a special purpose vehicle fails to fulfill the required SAFE registration, the PRC subsidiaries of that special purpose vehicle may be prohibited from making profit distributions to the offshore parent and from carrying out subsequent cross-border foreign exchange activities, and the special purpose vehicle may be restricted in its ability to contribute additional capital into its PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with the various SAFE registration requirements described above could result in liability under PRC law for evasion of foreign exchange controls. 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.

Mr. Eric Siliang Tan and Mr. Lei Li have completed the SAFE registration pursuant to SAFE Circular 37 in 2017, with Innotech Group Holdings Ltd. and News Optimizer (BV) Ltd. being separately registered as the respective “special purpose vehicle.” After transferring all shares in Innotech Group Holdings Ltd. to the trust of which himself is also a beneficiary, Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, as well as all the other beneficiaries of the trust who are PRC residents are required to complete relevant registrations pursuant to SAFE Circular 37. We have notified substantial beneficial owners of our ordinary shares and the beneficiaries of the trust who we know are PRC residents of their filing obligation, including the obligation to make updates under SAFE Circular 37, and the beneficial owners have undertaken to complete relevant registrations as soon as such registration is practical with local SAFE. Nevertheless, we may not be continuously aware of the identities of all of our beneficial owners who are PRC residents. We do not have control over our beneficial owners and there can be no assurance that all of our PRC-resident beneficial owners will comply with SAFE Circular 37 and subsequent implementation rules, and there is no assurance that the registration under SAFE Circular 37 and any amendment will be completed in a timely manner, or will be completed at all. The failure of our beneficial owners who are PRC residents to register or amend their foreign exchange registrations in a timely manner pursuant to SAFE Circular 37 and subsequent implementation rules, or the failure of future beneficial owners of our company who are PRC residents to comply with the registration procedures set forth in SAFE Circular 37 and subsequent implementation rules, may subject such beneficial owners or our PRC subsidiaries to fines and legal sanctions. Failure to register or comply with relevant requirements may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to our company. These risks may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding employee equity 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 equity 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 the foreign exchange registration with respect to offshore special purpose companies. Our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC residents and who have been granted options may follow SAFE Circular 37 to apply for the foreign exchange registration before our company becomes an overseas listed company. After our

 

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company becomes an overseas listed company upon completion of this offering, we and our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC residents and who have been granted options will be subject 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, according to which, employees, directors, supervisors and other management members participating in any equity incentive plans of an overseas publicly listed company who are PRC residents are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. We will make efforts to comply with these requirements upon completion of our initial public offering. However, there can be no assurance that they can successfully register with SAFE in full compliance with the rules. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit the ability to make payment under our equity incentive plans or receive dividends or sales proceeds related thereto, or our ability to contribute additional capital into our wholly-foreign owned enterprise in China and limit our wholly-foreign owned enterprise’s ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional equity incentive plans for our directors and employees under PRC law.

We rely to a significant extent on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our principal operating subsidiaries to fund offshore cash and financing requirements. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC operating subsidiaries to make payments to us could materially and adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.

We are a holding company and rely to a significant extent on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our principal operating subsidiaries and on remittances from the consolidated VIE for our offshore cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders, fund inter-company loans, service any debt we may incur outside of China and pay our expenses. When our principal operating subsidiaries or the consolidated VIE incur additional debt, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions or remittances to us. Furthermore, the laws, rules and regulations applicable to our PRC subsidiaries and certain other subsidiaries permit payments of dividends only out of their retained earnings, if any, determined in accordance with applicable accounting standards and regulations.

Under PRC laws, rules and regulations, each of our subsidiaries incorporated in China is required to set aside at least 10% of its net income each year to fund certain statutory reserves until the cumulative amount of such reserves reaches 50% of its registered capital. These reserves, together with the registered capital, are not distributable as cash dividends. As a result of these laws, rules and regulations, our subsidiaries incorporated in China are restricted in their ability to transfer a portion of their respective net assets to their shareholders as dividends, loans or advances. Certain of our subsidiaries did not have any retained earnings available for distribution in the form of dividends as of December 31, 2017. In addition, registered share capital and capital reserve accounts are also restricted from withdrawal in the PRC, up to the amount of net assets held in each operating subsidiary.

Limitations on the ability of our consolidated VIE to make remittance to the wholly-foreign owned enterprise and on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends to us could limit our ability to access cash generated by the operations of those entities, including to make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our businesses, pay dividends to our shareholders or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

We may be treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, and we may therefore be subject to PRC income tax on our global income.

Under the modified Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementing rules, enterprises established under the laws of jurisdictions outside of China with “de facto management bodies” located in China may be considered PRC tax resident enterprises for tax purposes and may be subject to the PRC enterprise income tax at

 

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the rate of 25% on their global income. “De facto management body” refers to a managing body that exercises substantive and overall management and control over the production and business, personnel, accounting books and assets of an enterprise. The State Administration of Taxation issued the Notice Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore-Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies , or Circular 82, on April 22, 2009. Circular 82 provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a Chinese-controlled offshore-incorporated enterprise is located in China. Although Circular 82 only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises, not those controlled by foreign enterprises or individuals, the determining criteria set forth in Circular 82 may reflect the State Administration of Taxation’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises. If we were to be considered a PRC resident enterprise, we would be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on our global income. In such case, our profitability and cash flow may be materially reduced as a result of our global income being taxed under the Enterprise Income Tax Law. 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.”

Dividends payable to our foreign investors and gains on the sale of ADSs or our ordinary shares by our foreign investors may become subject to PRC tax.

Under the modified Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation regulations issued by the State Council, a 10% PRC withholding tax is applicable to dividends payable to investors that are non-resident enterprises, which do not have an establishment or place of business in the PRC or which have such establishment or place of business but the dividends are not effectively connected with such establishment or place of business, to the extent such dividends are derived from sources within the PRC. Similarly, any gain realized on the transfer of ADSs or ordinary shares by such investors is also subject to PRC tax at a current rate of 10%, subject to any reduction or exemption set forth in applicable tax treaties or under applicable tax arrangements between jurisdictions, if such gain is regarded as income derived from sources within the PRC. If we are deemed a PRC resident enterprise, dividends paid on our ordinary shares, and any gain realized from the transfer of our ordinary shares or the ADSs, would be treated as income derived from sources within the PRC and would as a result be subject to PRC taxation. Furthermore, if we are deemed a PRC resident enterprise, dividends payable to individual investors who are non-PRC residents and any gain realized on the transfer of ADSs or ordinary shares by such investors may be subject to PRC tax at a current rate of 20%, subject to any reduction or exemption set forth in applicable tax treaties or under applicable tax arrangements between jurisdictions. If we or any of our subsidiaries established outside China are considered a PRC resident enterprise, it is unclear whether holders of ADSs or our ordinary shares would be able to claim the benefit of income tax treaties or agreements entered into between China and other countries or areas. If dividends payable to our non-PRC investors, or gains from the transfer of ADSs or our ordinary shares by such investors, are deemed as income derived from sources within the PRC and thus are subject to PRC tax, the value of your investment in ADSs or our ordinary shares may decline significantly.

We and our shareholders face uncertainties with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises or other assets attributed to a Chinese establishment of a non-Chinese company, or immovable properties located in China owned by non-Chinese companies.

On February 3, 2015, the State Administration of Taxation issued the Bulletin on Issues of Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Transfers of Assets by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises , or Bulletin 7, which partially replaced and supplemented previous rules under the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises , or SAT Circular 698, issued by the State Administration of Taxation, on December 10, 2009. Pursuant to this Bulletin 7, an “indirect transfer” of assets, including equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise, by non-PRC resident enterprises may be re-characterized and treated as a direct transfer of PRC taxable assets, if such arrangement does not have a reasonable commercial

 

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purpose and was established for the purpose of avoiding payment of PRC enterprise income tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax. According to Bulletin 7, “PRC taxable assets” include assets attributed to an establishment in China, immovable properties located in China, and equity investments in PRC resident enterprises, in respect of which gains from their transfer by a direct holder, being a non-PRC resident enterprise, would be subject to PRC enterprise income taxes. When determining whether there is a “reasonable commercial purpose” of the transaction arrangement, features to be taken into consideration include: whether the main value of the equity interest of the relevant offshore enterprise derives from PRC taxable assets; whether the assets of the relevant offshore enterprise mainly consists of direct or indirect investment in China or if its income mainly derives from China; whether the offshore enterprise and its subsidiaries directly or indirectly holding PRC taxable assets have real commercial nature which is evidenced by their actual function and risk exposure; the duration of existence of the business model and organizational structure; the replicability of the transaction by direct transfer of PRC taxable assets; and the tax situation of such indirect transfer and applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements. In respect of an indirect offshore transfer of assets of a PRC establishment, the resulting gain is to be included with the enterprise income tax filing of the PRC establishment or place of business being transferred, and would consequently be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%. Where the underlying transfer relates to the immovable properties located in China or to equity investments in a PRC resident enterprise, which is not related to a PRC establishment or place of business of a non-resident enterprise, a PRC enterprise income tax of 10% would apply, subject to available preferential tax treatment under applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements, and the party who is obligated to make the transfer payments has the withholding obligation. Where the payor fails to withhold any or sufficient tax, the transferor is required to declare and pay such tax to the tax authority by itself within the statutory time limit. Late payment of applicable tax will subject the transferor to default interest. Bulletin 7 does not apply to transactions of sale of shares by investors through a public stock exchange where such shares were acquired from a transaction through a public stock exchange. On October 17, 2017, the State Administration of Taxation promulgated the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues Concerning the Withholding of Non-resident Enterprise Income Tax at Source , or SAT Circular 37, which became effective on December 1, 2017, and SAT Circular 698 then was repealed with effect from December 1, 2017. SAT Circular 37, among other things, simplified procedures of withholding and payment of income tax levied on non-resident enterprises.

There is uncertainty as to the application of Bulletin 7. We face uncertainties as to the reporting and other implications of certain past and future transactions where PRC taxable assets are involved, such as offshore restructuring, sale of the shares in our offshore subsidiaries or investments. Our company may be subject to filing obligations or taxed if our company is transferor in such transactions, and may be subject to withholding obligations if our company is transferee in such transactions under Bulletin 7. For transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises, our PRC subsidiaries may be requested to assist in the filing under Bulletin 7. As a result, we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with Bulletin 7 or to request the relevant transferors from whom we purchase taxable assets to comply with these circulars, or to establish that our company should not be taxed under these circulars, which may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to restrictions on currency exchange.

All of our revenue is denominated in Renminbi. The Renminbi is currently convertible under the “current account,” which includes dividends, trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, but not under the “capital account,” which includes foreign direct investment and loans, including loans we may secure from our onshore subsidiary or consolidated VIE. Currently, certain of our PRC subsidiaries may purchase foreign currency for settlement of “current account transactions,” including payment of dividends to us, without the approval of the SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. However, the relevant PRC governmental authorities may limit or eliminate our ability to purchase foreign currencies in the future for current account transactions. Foreign exchange transactions under the capital account remain subject to limitations and require approvals from, or registration with, the SAFE and other relevant PRC governmental authorities. Since a significant amount of our future revenue and cash flow will be denominated in Renminbi, any

 

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existing and future restrictions on currency exchange may limit our ability to utilize cash generated in Renminbi to fund our business activities outside of the PRC or pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, and may limit our ability to obtain foreign currency through debt or equity financing for our onshore subsidiary and consolidated VIE.

PRC regulation of loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may restrict or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans to our PRC subsidiaries and our consolidated VIE, or to make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries.

In utilizing the proceeds of this offering, we, as an offshore holding company, are permitted under PRC laws and regulations to provide funding to our PRC subsidiaries, which are treated as foreign-invested enterprises under PRC laws, through loans or capital contributions. However, loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of SAFE and capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries are subject to the requirement of making necessary filings in the Foreign Investment Comprehensive Management Information System, and registration with other governmental authorities in China.

SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital of Foreign-invested Enterprises , or Circular 19, effective on June 1, 2015, in replacement of the Circular on the Relevant Operating Issues Concerning the Improvement of the Administration of the Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises , or SAFE Circular 142, the Notice from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Relevant Issues Concerning Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Exchange Businesses , or Circular 59, and the Circular on Further Clarification and Regulation of the Issues Concerning the Administration of Certain Capital Account Foreign Exchange Businesses , or Circular 45. According to Circular 19, the flow and use of the Renminbi capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company is regulated such that Renminbi capital may not be used for the issuance of Renminbi entrusted loans, the repayment of inter-enterprise loans or the repayment of banks loans that have been transferred to a third party. Although Circular 19 allows Renminbi capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise to be used for equity investments within the PRC, it also reiterates the principle that Renminbi 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 the PRC 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 Circular 16, effective on June 9, 2016, which reiterates some of the rules set forth in Circular 19, but changes the prohibition against using Renminbi capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company to issue Renminbi entrusted loans to a prohibition against using such capital to issue loans to non-associated enterprises. Violations of SAFE Circular 19 and Circular 16 could result in administrative penalties. Circular 19 and 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 the PRC.

Due to the restrictions imposed on loans in foreign currencies extended to any PRC domestic companies, we are not likely to make such loans to our consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries, each a PRC domestic company. Meanwhile, we are not likely to finance the activities of our consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries by means of capital contributions given the restrictions on foreign investment in the businesses that are currently conducted by our consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries.

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

 

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government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans to our PRC subsidiaries or any consolidated VIE or future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiaries. As a result, uncertainties exist as to our ability to provide prompt financial support to our PRC subsidiaries or consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries when needed. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use foreign currency, including the proceeds we received from this 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.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could result in foreign currency exchange losses and could materially reduce the value of your investment.

The value of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies may fluctuate and is affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions and the foreign exchange policy adopted by the PRC government. On July 21, 2005, the PRC government changed its policy of pegging the value of the Renminbi to the U.S. dollar. Following the removal of the U.S. dollar peg, the Renminbi appreciated more than 20% against the U.S. dollar over the following three years. Between July 2008 and June 2010, this appreciation halted 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. On November 30, 2015, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund completed the regular five-year review of the basket of currencies that make up the Special Drawing Right, or the SDR, and decided that with effect from October 1, 2016, Renminbi is determined to be a freely usable currency and will be included in the SDR basket as a fifth currency, along with the U.S. dollar, the Euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the Renminbi has depreciated significantly in the backdrop of a surging U.S. dollar and persistent capital outflows of China. With the development of the foreign exchange market and progress towards interest rate liberalization and Renminbi internationalization, the PRC government may in the future announce further changes to the exchange rate system, and we cannot assure you that the 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 the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

Substantially all of our revenue and costs are denominated in Renminbi. We are a holding company and we rely on dividends paid by our operating subsidiaries in China for our cash needs. Any significant fluctuation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial position reported in Renminbi when translated into U.S. dollars, and the value of, and any dividends payable in U.S. dollars. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we receive from this offering into Renminbi for our operations, appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the Renminbi amount we would receive. Conversely, if we decide to convert our Renminbi into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Renminbi would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount.

The audit report included in this prospectus is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and, as such, our investors are deprived of the benefits of such inspection.

Our independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included in our prospectus filed with the SEC, as auditors of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, is required by the laws of the U.S. to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the U.S. and professional standards. Because our auditors are located in the People’s Republic of China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB.

 

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Inspections of other firms that the PCAOB has conducted outside China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. This lack of PCAOB inspections in China prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our auditor’s audits and its quality control procedures. As a result, investors may be deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.

The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our consolidated financial statements.

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 be unable 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 the United States and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain United States listed companies operating and audited in mainland China, the SEC and the PCAOB sought to obtain from the Chinese accounting 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 United States 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. In January 2014, the administrative law judge reached an initial decision to impose penalties on the firms including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC. The accounting firms filed a petition for review of the initial decision. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the commissioners of the SEC 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 firm’s 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.

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 to not 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, United States listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm were 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 consolidated financial statements, our consolidated 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 delay or abandonment of this offering, delisting of our ADSs from the NASDAQ Global Market or deregistration

 

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from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of the ADSs in the United States.

Risks Relating to This Offering

There has been no public market for our shares or the ADSs prior to this offering, and you may not be able to resell ADSs at or above the price you paid, or at all.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our shares or the ADSs. We will apply to list the ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares on the NASDAQ Global Market. Our Class A ordinary 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 the ADSs does not develop after this offering, the market price and liquidity of the ADSs will be materially and adversely affected.

Negotiations with the underwriters will determine the initial public offering price for the ADSs which may bear no relationship to their market price after the initial public offering. There can be no assurance that an active trading market for the ADSs will develop or that the market price of the ADSs will not decline below the initial public offering price.

The trading price of the ADSs may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to you.

The trading prices of the ADSs are likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, like the performance and fluctuation in the market prices or the underperformance or deteriorating financial results of other listed companies based in China. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in the trading prices of their securities. The trading performances of other Chinese companies’ securities after their offerings, including technology companies and mobile content feed platforms, may affect the attitudes of investors toward Chinese companies listed in the United States, which consequently may impact the trading performance of the ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or matters of other Chinese companies may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards Chinese companies in general, including us, regardless of whether we have conducted any inappropriate activities. Furthermore, securities markets may from time to time experience significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to our operating performance, such as the large decline in share prices in the United States, China and other jurisdictions in late 2008, early 2009, the second half of 2011 and in 2015, which may have a material and adverse effect on the trading price of the ADSs.

In addition to the above factors, the price and trading volume of the ADSs may be highly volatile due to multiple factors, including the following:

 

   

regulatory developments affecting us or our industry;

 

   

announcements of studies and reports relating to the quality of our credit offerings or those of our competitors;

 

   

changes in the economic performance or market valuations of other mobile content feed platforms;

 

   

actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and changes or revisions of our expected results;

 

   

changes in financial estimates by securities research analysts;

 

   

conditions in the markets for mobile content feed and targeted advertising services;

 

   

announcements by us or our competitors of new product and service offerings, acquisitions, strategic relationships, joint ventures, capital raisings or capital commitments;

 

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additions to or departures of our senior management;

 

   

fluctuations of exchange rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar;

 

   

release or expiry of lock-up or other transfer restrictions on our outstanding shares or the ADSs; and

 

   

sales or perceived potential sales of additional ordinary shares or ADSs.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for the ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for the 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 the ADSs or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for the 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 the ADSs to decline.

As 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$6.63 per ADS (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional ADSs), representing the difference between our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per ADS of US$1.37 as of June 30, 2018 and the assumed initial public offering price of US$8.00 per ADS. In addition, you will experience further dilution to the extent that our Class A ordinary shares are issued upon the vesting of any share awards under our equity incentive plans. All of the Class A ordinary shares issuable under our then equity incentive plans will be issued at a purchase price on a per ADS basis that is less than the public offering price per ADS in this offering. See “Dilution” for a more complete description of how the value of your investment in ADSs will be diluted upon completion of this offering.

We have not determined a specific use for 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 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. We cannot assure you that the net proceeds will be used in a manner that will improve our results of operations or increase the ADS price, nor that these net proceeds will be placed only in investments that generate income or appreciate in value.

Because we do not expect to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future after this offering, you may not receive any return on your investment unless you sell your Class A ordinary shares or ADSs for a price greater than that which you paid for them.

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. See “Dividend Policy.” Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in the ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.

Our board of directors has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will

 

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depend on, among other things, 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 ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of the ADSs. There is no guarantee that the 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 ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in ADSs.

Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales of ADSs in the public market could cause the price of the ADSs to decline.

Sales of ADSs in the public market after this offering, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of the ADSs to decline significantly. Upon completion of this offering, we will have 37,572,806 Class A ordinary shares and 34,248,442 Class B ordinary shares outstanding, including 4,000,000 Class A ordinary shares represented by ADSs newly issued in connection with this offering, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. All ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares sold in this offering will be freely transferable by persons other than our “affiliates” without restriction or additional registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. All of the other ordinary shares outstanding after this offering will be available for sale, upon the expiration of the lock-up periods described elsewhere in this prospectus beginning from the date of this prospectus (if applicable to such holder), subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act. Any or all of these ordinary shares may be released prior to the expiration of the applicable lock-up period at the discretion of the designated representatives. To the extent shares are released before the expiration of the applicable lock-up period and sold into the market, the market price of the ADSs could decline significantly. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale — Lock-up Agreements.”

Certain holders of our ordinary shares after completion of this offering will have the right to cause us to register under the Securities Act the sale of their shares, subject to the applicable lock-up periods in connection with this offering. 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 ADSs in the public market could cause the price of the ADSs to decline significantly.

You, as holders of ADSs, may have fewer rights than holders of our ordinary shares and must act through the depositary to exercise those rights.

Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights of our shareholders and may only exercise the voting rights with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the minimum notice period required to convene a general meeting will be seven calendar days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient notice of a shareholders’ meeting to permit you to withdraw your Class A ordinary shares to allow you to cast your vote with respect to any specific matter. In addition, the depositary and its agents may not be able to send information to you or carry out your voting instructions in a timely manner. We will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to you in a timely manner, but there can be no assurance that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote your ADSs. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may lack recourse if 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.

 

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Your right to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution to your holdings.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make rights available to you in the U.S. 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 make rights available to you unless both the rights and the underlying securities to be distributed to ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective and we may not be able to establish a necessary exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings in the future and may experience dilution in your holdings.

You may not receive cash dividends if the depositary decides it is impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary will pay cash distributions on the ADSs only to the extent that we decide to distribute dividends on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities, and we do not have any present plan to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. See “Dividend Policy.” To the extent that there is a distribution, the depositary has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of Class A 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 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 will incur increased costs and become subject to additional regulations and requirements as a result of becoming a public company, which could lower our profits or make it more difficult to run our business.

Upon completion of this offering, we will 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 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. In addition, 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. For example, as a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal control 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 the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our

 

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business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. 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 materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

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 transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it 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.

The dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may adversely affect the trading market for our ADSs.

S&P Dow Jones has recently announced changes to its 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 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.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could discourage a third party from acquiring us, which could limit our shareholders’ opportunity to sell their shares, including Class A ordinary shares represented by ADSs, at a premium.

We have adopted amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to be effective upon the completion of this offering that contain provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transaction. For example, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges, and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our ordinary shares. Preferred shares could be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our company or make removal of management more difficult. If our board of directors decides to issue preferred shares, the price of the ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our ordinary shares and the ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

Certain judgments obtained against us may not be enforceable.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Substantially all of our assets are located outside the United States. In addition, substantially all of our directors and executive officers and the experts named in this prospectus reside outside the United States, and most of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against them in the United States, in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the

 

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U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands, China or other relevant jurisdiction may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers and/or their assets. For more information regarding the relevant laws of the Cayman Islands and China, see “Enforcement of Civil Liabilities.”

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 limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands (as amended) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors 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 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 have a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some states in the United 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 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 will have discretion under the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association expected to be 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 resolution or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

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 the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the U.S. For a discussion of significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Law (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the U.S. and their shareholders, see “Description of Share Capital — Differences in Corporate Law.”

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempted from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempted from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to United States domestic issuers, including: (i) 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; (ii) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; (iii) 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; and (iv) the selective disclosure rules by issuers of material nonpublic information under Regulation FD.

We are 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

 

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and regulations of the 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 United States 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 and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for so long as we are an emerging growth company. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such 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. However, we have elected to “opt out” of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies. This decision to opt out of the extended transition period under the JOBS Act is irrevocable.

We may be or may become a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, which could result in adverse United States tax consequences to United States investors.

Based on the past and projected composition of our income and assets, and the valuation of our assets, including goodwill, we do not believe we were a passive foreign investment company (a “PFIC”), for our most recent taxable year, and we do not expect to become a PFIC in the current taxable year or the foreseeable future, although there can be no assurance in this regard.

In general, we will be a PFIC for any taxable year in which:

 

   

at least 75% of our gross income is passive income, or

 

   

at least 50% of the value (determined based on a quarterly average) of our assets is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income, which include cash, such as cash raised in this offering.

The determination of whether we are a PFIC is made annually. Accordingly, it is possible that we may become a PFIC in the current or any future taxable year due to changes in our asset or income composition. Because we have calculated the value of our goodwill by taking into account the market value of our ADSs, a decrease in the price of our ADSs may also result in our becoming a PFIC.

In addition, there is uncertainty as to the treatment of our corporate structure and ownership of our consolidated VIE for United States federal income tax purposes. For United States federal income tax purposes, we consider ourselves to own the equity of our consolidated VIE. If it is determined, contrary to our view, that we do not own the equity of our consolidated VIE for United States federal income tax purposes (for instance, because the relevant PRC authorities do not respect these arrangements), we may be treated as a PFIC.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, our PFIC status could result in adverse United States federal income tax consequences to you if you are a United States Holder, as defined under “Taxation — Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations.” For example, if we are or become a PFIC, you may become subject to increased tax liabilities under United States federal income tax laws and regulations, and will become subject to burdensome reporting requirements. See “Taxation — Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — Passive Foreign Investment Company.” There can be no assurance that we will not be a PFIC for the current or any future taxable year.

 

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As a 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 NASDAQ Global Market corporate governance listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the NASDAQ Global Market corporate governance listing standards.

We are a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and we will apply to list our ADSs on the NASDAQ Global Market. The NASDAQ Global Market 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 Global Market corporate governance listing standards.

For instance, we are not required to: (i) have a majority of the board be independent; (ii) have a compensation committee or a nominating and corporate governance committee consisting entirely of independent directors; or (iii) have regularly scheduled executive sessions with only independent directors each year.

We intend to rely on some of these exemptions. As a result, you may not be provided with the benefits of certain corporate governance requirements of the NASDAQ Global Market.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INDUSTRY DATA

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about us and our industry. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Use of Proceeds,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Industry” and “Business.” These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In some cases, these forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “potential,” “continue,” “is/are likely to” or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements included in this prospectus relate to, among others:

 

   

our goal and strategies;

 

   

our ability to maintain and strengthen our position as a leader amongst content aggregators in China’s mobile content feed industry;

 

   

our expansion plans;

 

   

our ability to monetize through advertising and other products and services that we plan to introduce;

 

   

our future business development, financial condition and results of operations;

 

   

our expectation regarding the use of proceeds from this offering;

 

   

PRC laws, regulations, and policies relating to the Internet and Internet content providers; and

 

   

general economic and business conditions.

This prospectus also contains market data relating to the mobile content feed industry in China, including market position, market size, and growth rates of the markets in which we participate, that are based on industry publications and reports. This prospectus contains statistical data and estimates published by Analysys International, including a report which we commissioned Analysys International to prepare and for which we paid a fee. This information involves a number of assumptions, estimates and limitations. These industry publications, surveys and forecasts generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. Nothing in such data should be construed as advice. We have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the data contained in these industry publications and reports. The mobile content feed industry in China may not grow at the rates projected by market data, or at all. The failure of these markets to grow at the projected rates may materially and adversely affect our business and the market price of our ADSs. If any one or more of the assumptions underlying the market data turns out to be incorrect, actual results may differ from the projections based on these assumptions. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industry in which we operate is necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. 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 any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances 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 have referred 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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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from this offering of approximately US$115.4 million, or approximately US$133.3 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us and based upon an assumed initial offering price of US$8.00 per ADS (the mid-point of the estimated public offering price range shown on the front cover of this prospectus). A US$1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of US$8.00 per ADS would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by US$14.9 million, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated aggregate offering expenses payable by us and assuming no change to the number of ADSs offered by us as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus.

We plan to use the net proceeds of this offering as follows:

 

   

up to approximately US$40.0 million for expanding and enhancing our content offerings;

 

   

up to approximately US$30.0 million for product development and technology infrastructure;

 

   

up to approximately US$30.0 million for marketing and promotion of our products and branding; and

 

   

the balance for general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions and investments (although we are not currently negotiating any such acquisitions or investments).

The foregoing represents our intentions as of the date of this prospectus with respect of the use and allocation of the net proceeds of this offering based upon our present plans and business conditions, but our management will have significant flexibility and discretion in applying the net proceeds of the offering. The occurrence of unforeseen events or changed business conditions may result in application of the proceeds of this offering in a manner other than as described in this prospectus.

To the extent that the net proceeds we receive from this offering are not immediately applied for the above purposes, we intend to invest our net proceeds in short-term, interest bearing, debt instruments or bank deposits.

In utilizing the proceeds of this offering, we, as an offshore holding company, are permitted under PRC laws and regulations 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 may extend inter-company loans to our PRC subsidiary or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary to fund its capital expenditures or working capital. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain these government registrations or approvals on a timely basis, if at all. For further information, see “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Doing Business in China — PRC regulation of loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may restrict or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans to our PRC subsidiaries and our consolidated VIE, or to make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries.”

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

Since inception, we have not declared or paid any dividends on our shares. We do not have any present plan to pay any dividends on our Class A ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. We intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to operate and expand our business.

Any other future determination to pay dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and may be based on a number of factors, including 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. If we pay any dividends, ADS holders will receive payment to the same extent as holders of our Class A ordinary shares, 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 Class A ordinary shares, if any, will be paid in U.S. dollars.

We are an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. In order for us to distribute any dividends to our shareholders and ADS holders, we may rely on dividends distributed by our PRC subsidiaries. Certain payments from our PRC subsidiaries to us may be subject to PRC withholding income tax. In addition, regulations in the PRC currently permit payment of dividends of a PRC company only out of accumulated distributable after-tax profits as determined in accordance with its articles of association and the accounting standards and regulations in China. Each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profit based on PRC accounting standards every year to a statutory common reserve fund until the aggregate amount of such reserve fund reaches 50% of the registered capital of such subsidiary. Such statutory reserves are not distributable as loans, advances or cash dividends.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our capitalization as of June 30, 2018 presented on:

 

   

an actual basis;

 

   

a pro forma basis to reflect the conversion of all our outstanding Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2 and Series B3 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 17,386,092 of our Class A ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering; and

 

   

a pro forma as adjusted basis to give effect to (i) the conversion of all our outstanding Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2 and Series B3 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 17,386,092 of our Class A ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering, (ii) the issuance of Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares and the conversion of all our outstanding Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 435,156 of our Class A ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering, which would result in an increase in ordinary shares and additional paid-in capital of RMB288.0 (US$43.5) and RMB106.7 million (US$16.1 million), respectively, (iii) the vesting of 15,937,500 ordinary shares owned by our co-founders that became subsequently restricted on January 3, 2018 upon the completion of this offering into 15,937,500 of our Class B ordinary shares, which would result in immediate recognition of previously unrecognized compensation expense that would be reflected as an increase in accumulated deficit and increase in additional paid-in capital of RMB683.5 million (US$103.3 million), and (iv) the issuance and sale of the Class A ordinary shares in the form of ADSs offered hereby at an assumed initial public offering price of US$8.00 per ADS, the mid-point of the estimated public offering price range shown on the front cover of this prospectus, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional ADSs.

Although 9,500,000 ordinary shares held by a nominee of our equity incentive trust are legally issued and outstanding as disclosed elsewhere in this prospectus, they are accounted for as treasury shares and as a result, are not outstanding on an actual, pro forma or pro forma as adjusted basis from an accounting perspective.

 

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The pro forma and pro forma as adjusted information below is illustrative only and our capitalization following the closing of this offering is subject to adjustment based on the initial public offering price of our ADSs and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. You should read this table in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

     As of June 30, 2018  
     Actual     Pro Forma     Pro Forma
as Adjusted
 
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Total mezzanine equity

     1,906,926       288,182       —         —         —         —    

Shareholders’ (deficit)/equity:

            

Ordinary shares (US$0.0001 par value; 482,613,908 shares authorized, 50,000,000 shares issued as of June 30, 2018, 24,562,500 shares outstanding as of June 30, 2018; 41,948,592 shares outstanding on a pro-forma basis as of June 30, 2018 and 62,321,248 outstanding on a pro-forma as adjusted basis as of June 30, 2018)

     16       2       28       4       42       6  

Additional paid-in capital

     202,994       30,677       2,109,908       318,857       3,670,492       554,691  

Treasury stock (US$0.0001 par value; 9,500,000 shares as of June 30, 2018; actual, pro-forma and pro-forma as adjusted basis)

     —         —         —         —         —         —    

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

     (12,537     (1,895     (12,537     (1,895     (12,537     (1,895

Accumulated deficit

     (699,610     (105,727     (699,610     (105,727     (1,383,158     (209,027
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total shareholders’ (deficit)/equity

     (509,137     (76,943     1,397,789       211,239       2,274,839       343,775  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total mezzanine equity and shareholders’ (deficit)/equity

     1,397,789       211,239       1,397,789       211,239       2,274,839       343,775  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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DILUTION

If you invest in 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 Class A ordinary share is substantially in excess of the book value per ordinary share attributable to the existing shareholders.

Our net tangible book value as of June 30, 2018 was approximately US$209.5 million, or US$8.53 per ordinary share as of that date, and US$2.13 per ADS. Net tangible book value represents the amount of our total consolidated assets (except for the deferred initial public offering costs), less the amount of our intangible assets, goodwill and total consolidated liabilities. Dilution is determined by subtracting adjusted pro forma net tangible book value per ordinary share (which represents net tangible book value per share after giving effect to (i) the conversion of all of our outstanding Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2 and Series B3 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 17,386,092 of our Class A ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering (ii) the issuance of Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares and the conversion of all our outstanding Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 435,156 of our Class A ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering, (iii) the vesting of 15,937,500 ordinary shares owned by our co-founders that became subsequently restricted on January 3, 2018 upon the completion of this offering into 15,937,500 of our Class B ordinary shares and (iv) the issuance and sale by us of ADSs in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of US$8.00 per ADS (the mid-point of the estimated initial public offering price range shown on the front cover page of this prospectus) after deduction of the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us) from the assumed initial public offering price.

Without taking into account any other changes in net tangible book value after June 30, 2018, other than to give effect to (i) the conversion of all of our outstanding Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2 and Series B3 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 17,386,092 of our Class A ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering (ii) the issuance of Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares and the conversion of all our outstanding Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 435,156 of our Class A ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering, (iii) the vesting of 15,937,500 ordinary shares owned by our co-founders that became subsequently restricted on January 3, 2018 upon the completion of this offering into 15,937,500 of our Class B ordinary shares and (iv) the issuance and sale by us of ADSs in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of US$8.00 per ADS (the mid-point of the estimated initial public offering price range shown on the front cover page of this prospectus) after deduction of the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, and assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised, our adjusted pro forma net tangible book value as of June 30, 2018 would have been US$342.0 million, or US$5.49 per outstanding ordinary share and US$1.37 per ADS. This represents an immediate decrease in net tangible book value of US$3.04 per ordinary share and US$0.76 per ADS to the existing shareholders, and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of US$26.51 per ordinary share and US$6.63 per ADS to investors purchasing ADSs in this offering.

 

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The following table illustrates such dilution:

 

     Per
Ordinary
Share
     Per ADS  

Actual net tangible book value per share as of June 30, 2018

   US$ 8.53      US$ 2.13  

Adjusted pro forma net tangible book value per share that gives effect to (i) the conversion of all of our outstanding Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2 and Series B3 convertible redeemable preferred shares into Class A ordinary shares (ii) the issuance of Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares and the conversion of all our outstanding Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares into 435,156 Class A ordinary shares, (iii) the vesting of 15,937,500 restricted ordinary shares owned by our co-founders and (iv) this offering

   US$ 5.49      US$ 1.37  

Assumed initial public offering price

   US$ 32.00      US$ 8.00  

Dilution in net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS to new investors in the offering

   US$ 26.51      US$ 6.63  

The amount of dilution in net tangible book value to new investors in this offering set forth above is calculated by deducting (i) the adjusted pro forma net tangible book value after giving effect to the conversion of our outstanding Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2 and Series B3 convertible redeemable preferred shares, the issuance and conversion of Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares, the vesting of restricted shares and this offering from (ii) the assumed initial public offering price.

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma as adjusted basis as of June 30, 2018, the differences between existing shareholders, including holders of our Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2, Series B3 and Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares and 15,937,500 restricted ordinary shares owned by the Company’s co-founders, and the new investors with respect to the number of Class A ordinary shares (including ordinary shares represented by ADSs) purchased from us, the total consideration paid and the average price per Class A ordinary share and per ADS paid before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. The total number of ordinary shares does not include Class A ordinary shares underlying the ADSs issuable upon the exercise of the option to purchase additional ADSs granted to the underwriters.

 

    

 

Ordinary Shares Total

   

 

Total Consideration

    US$
Average
Price per
Ordinary
Share
Equivalent
     Average
Price per
ADS
Equivalent
 
     Number      Percent     Amount      Percent  

Existing shareholders

     58,321,248        93.6   US$ 301,110,726        70.2   US$ 5.16      US$ 1.29  

New investors

     4,000,000        6.4   US$ 128,000,000        29.8   US$ 32.00      US$ 8.00  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

      

Total

     62,321,248        100.0   US$ 429,110,726        100.0     
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

      

A US$1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of US$8.00 per ADS (the mid-point of the estimated initial public offering price range shown on the front cover page of this prospectus) would increase (decrease) our adjusted pro forma net tangible book value by US$14.9 million, the adjusted pro forma net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS by US$0.24 per ordinary share and US$0.06 per ADS and the dilution in net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS to new investors in this offering by US$3.76 per ordinary share and US$0.94 per ADS, assuming no change to the number of ADS offered by us as set forth on the front cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses.

 

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The pro forma 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 our ADSs and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

The discussion and tables above take into consideration the conversion into ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering all of our outstanding Series A, Series A1, Series B1, Series B2, Series B3 and Series C1 convertible redeemable preferred shares, and they do not take into consideration of (i) 9,500,000 ordinary shares held by a nominee of our equity incentive trust and accounted for as treasury shares, (ii) Class A ordinary shares issuable to The Paper or convertible from the Series C2 preferred shares issuable to The Paper, as the case may be and (iii) any outstanding share options. As of the date of this prospectus, there are also (i) 2,873,598 ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding share options under our 2018 equity incentive plan and (ii) 90,543 ordinary shares available for future issuance upon the exercise of future grants under our 2018 equity incentive plan. If any of these options are exercised, there will be further dilution to new investors.

 

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EXCHANGE RATE INFORMATION

Substantially all of our operations are conducted in the PRC and substantially all of our revenue is denominated in Renminbi. This prospectus contains translations of Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars at specific rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this prospectus were made at a rate of RMB6.6171 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on June 29, 2018. We make no representation that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this prospectus 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. The PRC government imposes control over its foreign currency reserves in part through direct regulation of the conversion of Renminbi into foreign exchange and through restrictions on foreign trade. On August 31, 2018, the noon buying rate for Renminbi was RMB6.8300 to US$1.00.

The following table sets forth information concerning exchange rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar for the periods presented. These rates are provided solely for your convenience and are not necessarily the exchange rates that we used in this prospectus or will use in the preparation of our periodic reports or any other information to be provided to you. For all dates and periods, the exchange rate refers to the exchange rate as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board.

 

     Noon Buying Rate  

Period

   Period End      Average (1)      Low      High  
     (RMB per US$1.00)  

2013

     6.0537        6.1412        6.2438        6.0537  

2014

     6.2046        6.1704        6.2591        6.0402  

2015

     6.4778        6.2869        6.4896        6.1870  

2016

     6.9430        6.6549        6.9580        6.4480  

2017

     6.5063        6.7350        6.9575        6.4773  

2018

           

March

     6.2726        6.3174        6.3565        6.2685  

April

     6.3325        6.2967        6.3340        6.2655  

May

     6.4096        6.3701        6.4175        6.3325  

June

     6.6171        6.4651        6.6235        6.3850  

July

     6.8038        6.7164        6.8102        6.6123  

August

     6.8300        6.8453        6.9330        6.8018  

 

Source: Federal Reserve Statistical Release

(1)

Annual averages are calculated using the average of the rates on the last business day of each month during the relevant year. Monthly averages are calculated using the average of the daily rates during the relevant month.

 

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ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES

We are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability. We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands because of certain benefits associated with being a Cayman Islands company, such as political and economic stability, an effective judicial system, a favorable tax system, the absence of foreign exchange control or currency restrictions and the availability of professional and support services. However, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States and provides protections for investors to a lesser extent. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the federal courts of the United States.

Substantially all of our operations are conducted in the PRC, and substantially all of our assets are located in the PRC. In addition, most of our directors and officers are residents of jurisdictions other than the United States and all or a substantial portion of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon us or 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. It may also be difficult for you to enforce in United States courts judgments obtained in United States courts based on the civil liability provisions of the United States federal securities laws against us and our officers and directors.

We have appointed Cogency Global Inc. as our agent to receive service of process with respect to any action brought against us in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York under the federal securities laws of the United States or of any state in the United States or any action brought against us in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in the County of New York under the securities laws of the State of New York.

Walkers, our counsel as to Cayman Islands law, and King & Wood Mallesons, our counsel as to PRC law, have advised us that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands or the PRC would, respectively, (1) 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 and (2) entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands or the PRC against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

Walkers has informed us that the uncertainty with regard to Cayman Islands law relates to whether a judgment obtained from the United States courts under the civil liability provisions of the securities laws will be determined by the courts of the Cayman Islands as penal or punitive in nature. If such a determination is made, the courts of the Cayman Islands will not recognize or enforce the judgment against a Cayman company. Because the courts of the Cayman Islands have yet to rule on whether such judgments are penal or punitive in nature, it is uncertain whether they would be enforceable in the Cayman Islands. Walkers has further advised us that a final and conclusive judgment in the federal or state courts of the United States under which a sum of money is payable, other than a sum payable in respect of taxes, fines, penalties or similar charges, may be subject to enforcement proceedings as a debt in the courts of the Cayman Islands under the common law doctrine of obligation.

In addition, Walkers has advised us that there is no statutory recognition in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, although the Cayman Islands will generally recognize as a valid judgment, a final and conclusive judgment in personam obtained in the federal or state courts in the United States under which a sum of money is payable (other than a sum of money payable in respect of multiple damages, taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty) and would give a judgment based thereon provided that such judgment (i) is final and conclusive, (ii) is one in respect of which the foreign court had jurisdiction over the defendant according to Cayman Islands conflict of law rules; (iii) is either for a liquidated sum not in respect of penalties or taxes or a fine or similar fiscal or revenue obligations or, in certain circumstances, for in personam non-money relief, and (iv) was neither obtained in a manner, nor is of a kind enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands.

 

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King & Wood Mallesons has advised us that the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedure Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedure Law based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. King & Wood Mallesons has advised us further that under PRC law, a foreign judgment, which does not otherwise violate basic legal principles, state sovereignty, safety or social public interest, may be recognized and enforced by a PRC court, based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. As there existed no treaty or other form of reciprocity between China and the United States governing the recognition and enforcement of judgments as of the date of this prospectus, including those predicated upon the liability provisions of the United States federal securities laws, there is uncertainty whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce judgments rendered by United States courts.

 

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OUR HISTORY AND CORPORATE STRUCTURE

We launched our flagship mobile application, Qutoutiao , in June 2016. We primarily operate our business through our consolidated VIE, Shanghai Jifen, and its subsidiaries. To facilitate financing offshores, we incorporated Qtech Ltd. in July 2017. Through a series of transactions, Qtech Ltd. then became our ultimate holding company. On July 5, 2018, Qtech Ltd. was renamed to Qutoutiao Inc.

We currently conduct our business primarily through the following subsidiaries, consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries:

 

   

Shanghai Jifen, our consolidated VIE, primarily engages in the operation of our Qutoutiao mobile application;

 

   

Shanghai Xike Information Technology Service Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Xike, primarily engages in the operation of our Qudoupai mobile application;

 

   

Anhui Zhangduan Internet Technology Co., Ltd., or Anhui Zhangduan, primarily engages in content management;

 

   

Beijing Qukandian Internet Technology Co., Ltd., or Beijing Qukandian, primarily engages in content procurement;

 

   

Shanghai Dianguan Internet Technology Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Dianguan, our subsidiary in China acquired in February 2018, primarily provides advertising services; and

 

   

Kubik Technology Pte. Ltd., our subsidiary in Singapore, primarily engages in the operation of our mobile application launched in late 2017 targeted towards the Southeast Asia market.

In April 2018, we entered into a share purchase agreement to purchase 100% equity interests of an audio/video content platform for a total cash consideration of RMB70.0 million (US$10.6 million). As of June 30, 2018, we have paid RMB43.0 million (US$6.5 million). We currently expect to complete the transaction by the end of 2018.

Our Corporate Structure

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure with our principal subsidiaries, consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries as of the date of this prospectus. Except as otherwise specified, equity interests depicted in this diagram are held as to 100%. The relationships between Shanghai Quyun, Shanghai Jifen and its shareholders as illustrated in this diagram are governed by contractual arrangements and do not constitute equity ownership.

 

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In connection with the share purchase agreement entered into with The Paper, Shanghai Jifen has agreed to issue equity interests representing 1% of its enlarged share capital to The Paper. As such, on August 27, 2018, Shanghai Jifen, together with its existing shareholders, entered into an agreement with The Paper pursuant to which Shanghai Jifen will increase its registered capital and The Paper will, at a nominal price, subscribe for the newly issued equity interests representing 1% of Shanghai Jifen’s enlarged share capital. We believe Shanghai Quyun, our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, still controls and is the primary beneficiary of Shanghai Jifen as it continues to have a controlling financial interest in Shanghai Jifen pursuant to ASC 810-10-25-38A after the issuance of such 1% equity interests.

 

LOGO

 

(1)

Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, Mr. Lei Li, Tianjin Shanshi Technology L.P. and Shanghai Xihu Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. held 45%, 15%, 20% and 20% equity interest in Shanghai Jifen, respectively.

 

    

Both Tianjin Shanshi Technology L.P. and Shanghai Xihu Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. are controlled by Mr. Eric Siliang Tan.

 

    

Upon the completion of The Paper’s subscription of the newly issued equity interests in Shanghai Jifen, Mr. Eric Siliang Tan, Mr. Lei Li, Tianjin Shanshi Technology L.P. and Shanghai Xihu Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd. will hold 44.55%, 14.85%, 19.80% and 19.80% equity interest in Shanghai Jifen, respectively.

 

(2)

We acquired Shanghai Dianguan in February 2018.

 

(3)

Include Anhui Zhangduan, Beijing Qukandian, Shanghai Xike, Shanghai Tuile Information Technology Service Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Quwen Internet Technology Co., Ltd.

Contractual Arrangements among Shanghai Quyun and Shanghai Jifen and its Shareholders

PRC laws and regulations place certain restrictions on foreign investment in and ownership of internet-based businesses. Accordingly, we conduct our operations mainly through Shanghai Jifen, or the consolidated

 

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VIE, and its subsidiaries. We effectively control the consolidated VIE through a series of contractual arrangements with the consolidated VIE, its shareholders and Shanghai Quyun, as described in more detail below, which collectively enables us to:

 

   

exercise effective control over our consolidated VIE and its subsidiaries;

 

   

receive substantially all the economic benefits of our consolidated VIE; and

 

   

have an exclusive option to purchase all or part of the equity interests in the equity interest in or all or part of the assets of Shanghai Jifen when and to the extent permitted by PRC law.

As a result of these contractual arrangements, we are the primary beneficiary of Shanghai Jifen and its subsidiaries. We have consolidated their financial results in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

In the opinion of King & Wood Mallesons, our PRC legal counsel:

 

   

the ownership structures of Shanghai Quyun and our consolidated VIE in China, both currently and immediately after giving effect to this offering, do not and will not violate any applicable PRC law, regulation, or rule currently in effect; and

 

   

the contractual arrangements among Shanghai Quyun, Shanghai Jifen and its shareholders governed by PRC laws are valid, binding and enforceable in accordance with their terms and applicable PRC laws, rules, and regulations currently in effect, and will not violate any applicable PRC law, regulation, or rule currently in effect.

However, we have been further advised by our PRC legal counsel, King & Wood Mallesons, that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, rules and regulations. In particular, in January 2015, the MOFCOM published a discussion draft of the proposed Foreign Investment Law for public review and comments. Among other things, the draft Foreign Investment Law expands the definition of foreign investment and introduces the principle of “actual control” in determining whether a company is considered a foreign-invested enterprise, or an FIE. Under the draft Foreign Investment Law, VIEs would also be deemed as FIEs, if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors, and be subject to restrictions on foreign investments. However, the draft law has not arrived at a position on what actions will be taken with respect to the existing companies with the “variable interest entity” structure, whether or not these companies are controlled by Chinese parties. It is uncertain when the draft may be signed into law, if at all, and whether any final version would have substantial changes from the draft. Accordingly, the PRC regulatory authorities may in the future take a view that is contrary to the opinion of our PRC legal counsel. We have been further advised by our PRC legal counsel that if the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our business do not comply with PRC government restrictions on foreign investment in the aforesaid business we engage in, we could be subject to severe penalties including being prohibited from continuing operations. See “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure.”

All the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC laws and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. For additional information, see “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure — Any failure by our consolidated VIE or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material adverse effect on our business.” Such arbitration provisions have no effect on the rights of our shareholders to pursue claims against us under United States federal securities laws.

The following is a summary of the currently effective contractual arrangements by and among our wholly-owned subsidiary, Shanghai Quyun, our consolidated VIE, Shanghai Jifen, and its subsidiaries, and the shareholders of Shanghai Jifen.

 

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Agreements that Provide Us with Effective Control over Our Consolidated VIE and Its Subsidiaries

Equity Interest Pledge Agreement . Pursuant to the equity interest pledge agreement, each shareholder of Shanghai Jifen has pledged all of such shareholder’s equity interest in Shanghai Jifen as a security interest to respectively guarantee Shanghai Jifen and its shareholders’ performance of their obligations under the relevant contractual arrangement, which include the voting rights proxy agreement, loan agreement, exclusive technology and consulting service agreement and exclusive option agreement. If Shanghai Jifen or any of its shareholders breaches their contractual obligations under these agreements, Shanghai Quyun, as pledgee, will be entitled to certain rights regarding the pledged equity interests. In the event of such breaches, Shanghai Quyun’s rights include being paid in priority with the equity interest of Shanghai Jifen based on the monetary valuation that such equity interest is converted into or from the proceeds from auction or sale of the equity interest. Each of the shareholders of Shanghai Jifen agrees that, during the term of the equity interest pledge agreements, such shareholder shall not transfer the equity interest, place or permit the existence of any security interest or other encumbrance on the equity interest or any portion thereof, without the prior written consent of Shanghai Quyun, except for the performance of the relevant contractual agreement. Shanghai Quyun is entitled to receive dividends distributed on the equity interest of Shanghai Jifen, and Shanghai Jifen’s shareholders may receive dividends distributed on the equity interest only with prior written consent of Shanghai Quyun. The equity interest pledge agreement remains effective until all obligations under the relevant contractual agreements have been fully performed and all secured indebtedness have been fully paid.

Voting Rights Proxy Agreement . Pursuant to the voting rights proxy agreement, each shareholder of Shanghai Jifen has irrevocably authorized Shanghai Quyun to exercise the following rights relating to all equity interests held by such shareholder in Shanghai Jifen during the term of the voting rights proxy agreement: to act on behalf of such shareholder as its exclusive agent and attorney with respect to all matters concerning its shareholding in Shanghai Jifen, including without limitation: (1) proposing and attending shareholders’ meetings of Shanghai Jifen; (2) exercising all the shareholder’s voting rights such shareholder is entitled to under the laws of China and Shanghai Jifen’s articles of association, including but not limited to designate and appoint on behalf of such shareholder the directors and other senior management members of Shanghai Jifen. During the period that each of Shanghai Quyun and Shanghai Jifen remains in operation, the voting rights proxy agreement shall be irrevocable and continuously effective and valid for ten years from the execution date unless otherwise agreed to by all parties. Upon the expiration of the original term or any renewal term of the voting rights proxy agreement, the agreement shall be automatically renewed for an additional one year period unless, at least 30 days prior to the expiration date, Shanghai Quyun provides notice to the other parties to the voting rights proxy agreement not to renew the agreement.

Agreement that Allow Us to Receive Economic Benefits from our Consolidated VIE and Its Subsidiaries

Exclusive Technology and Consulting Service Agreement . Under the exclusive technology and consulting service agreement, Shanghai Jifen appoints Shanghai Quyun as its exclusive services provider to provide Shanghai Jifen with comprehensive technical support, business support and relevant consulting services during the term of the exclusive technology and consulting service agreement. In return, Shanghai Quyun is entitled to receive a monthly service fee from Shanghai Jifen at an amount to be determined at the sole discretion of Shanghai Quyun. Shanghai Quyun shall have exclusive and proprietary ownership, rights and interests in any and all intellectual properties arising out of or created during the performance of the exclusive technology and consulting service agreement. Unless terminated in accordance with the provisions of the exclusive technology and consulting service agreement or in accordance with other agreements between the parties, the exclusive cooperation agreement shall remain effective for ten years from the execution date of the exclusive technology and consulting service agreement. Upon the expiration of the exclusive technology and consulting cooperation agreement, Shanghai Quyun has the sole discretion to extend the term of the agreement to any date by written notice to Shanghai Jifen. Shanghai Quyun may terminate the agreement at any time by providing 30 days’ prior written notice to Shanghai Jifen.

 

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Agreements that Provides Us with the Option to Purchase the Equity Interest in Shanghai Jifen

Loan Agreemen t. Shanghai Quyun entered into a loan agreement with each shareholder of Shanghai Jifen in October 2017. Pursuant to the loan agreement, Shanghai Quyun has granted an interest-free loan to each shareholder of Shanghai Jifen, the amount of which are to be separately agreed to between Shanghai Quyun and Shanghai Jifen in writing, which may only be used by such shareholder for the purpose of capital contribution to Shanghai Jifen as to its business development. Shanghai Quyun also has agreed to provide Shanghai Jifen with unconditional financial support pursuant to the loan agreement. The shareholders of Shanghai Jifen pledge all of its share equity in Shanghai Jifen as security for the outstanding loans. Unless other agreed by all the parties of the loan agreement, the term of the loan is the earlier of ten years, the end of Shanghai Quyun’s operation or the end of Shanghai Jifen’s operation. Shanghai Quyun also has the right to accelerate the date of maturity of such loans at its sole discretion. Upon maturity, Shanghai Quyun or its designated third party may purchase the equity interests in Shanghai Jifen held by the shareholders of Shanghai Jifen at a price equal to the lowest allowable amount for a similar transaction pursuant to relevant PRC laws, rules and regulations instead of cash repayment. The loan agreement also prohibits the shareholders of Shanghai Jifen from entering into any transactions that could materially affect the assets, liabilities, interests or operations of Shanghai Jifen or its subsidiaries without prior written consent from Shanghai Quyun.

Exclusive Option Agreement. Pursuant to the exclusive option agreement, each of Shanghai Jifen’s shareholders has irrevocably granted Shanghai Quyun an unconditional and exclusive right to purchase, or designate one or more persons agreed by the board of directors of Shanghai Quyun to purchase the equity interests in Shanghai Jifen then held by its shareholders once or at multiple times at any time in part or in whole at Shanghai Quyun’s sole and absolute discretion to the extent permitted by PRC laws. The purchase price of the optioned interests shall be the minimum price permitted under PRC laws when Shanghai Quyun exercises equity interest purchase option. The shareholders of Shanghai Jifen have agreed the consideration received from the exercise of such equity interest purchase option shall be used to settle the outstanding loans under the loan agreement as described above and/or transferred back to Shanghai Quyun as permitted under relevant PRC laws. Shanghai Jifen and its shareholders have agreed that, without Shanghai Quyun’s prior written consent, Shanghai Jifen shall not, among others, in any manner supplement, change or amend the articles of association of Shanghai Jifen; increase or decrease its registered capital, change its structure of registered capital in other manners; sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of in any other manner any legal or beneficial interest in the equity interests in Shanghai Jifen held by such shareholders, or allow the encumbrance thereon; entry into, inherit, or tolerant any existence of any loan or other debtor-creditor relationship with any third party; enter into any material contract outside the ordinary course of business; merge with any other persons or make any investments; or distribute dividends. The initial term of this agreement is ten years, which will be renewed at the sole discretion of Shanghai Quyun. Shanghai Quyun may terminate the agreement at any time by providing 30 days’ prior written notice to Shanghai Jifen.

Supplemental Agreement to the Contractual Arrangements in Connection with The Paper

In August 2018, Shanghai Quyun and Shanghai Jifen and its shareholders entered into a supplemental agreement as to the contractual arrangements as described above. The parties acknowledge and confirm, through the supplemental agreement, that the total equity interests held by existing shareholders in Shanghai Jifen would be 99% of Shanghai Jifen’s enlarged share capital upon completion of The Paper’s subscription of the newly issued equity interests.

As The Paper will not be a party to the existing contractual arrangements, it will not be bound by such arrangements nor will have any obligation to perform or assume any liability under the contractual arrangements. In contrast to what we have been granted by other shareholders of Shanghai Jifen under the contractual arrangements, the voting rights over these 1% equity interests will be exercised by The Paper itself and we will not be granted the authorization of the voting rights over such 1% equity interests. Accordingly, we will not be able to request The Paper to sell or pledge such 1% equity interests in the way agreed under existing contractual arrangements.

 

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Despite the above, as agreed by The Paper, Shanghai Jifen and its shareholders, (i) The Paper will not have any economic interest such as dividend over these 1% equity interests of Shanghai Jifen; and (ii) unless otherwise instructed and approved by the competent governmental authority, The Paper may not transfer its equity interests in Shanghai Jifen to any third party. Based on the foregoing, we believe Shanghai Quyun, our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, still controls and is the primary beneficiary of Shanghai Jifen as it continues to have a controlling financial interest in Shanghai Jifen pursuant to ASC 810-10-25-38A after the issuance of such 1% equity interests.

 

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SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA

The following selected consolidated statements of comprehensive loss data and selected consolidated statements of cash flows data for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017 and selected consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2016 and 2017 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The following selected consolidated statements of comprehensive loss data and summary consolidated of cash flow data for the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2018 have been derived from our unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any future period. The following selected consolidated financial data for the periods and as of the dates indicated are qualified by reference to, and should be read in conjunction with, our consolidated financial statements and related notes and the information under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” both of which are included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Selected Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss Data

 

    Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
    2016     2017     2017     2018  
    RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
    (in thousands, except for percentages, share and per share data)  

Revenues (1) :

               

Advertising revenue

    57,880       8,747       512,883       77,509       106,348       16,072       669,871       101,233  

Other revenue

    74       11       4,170       630       925       140       47,964       7,249  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net revenues

    57,954       8,758       517,053       78,139       107,273       16,212       717,835       108,482  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cost of revenues (2)

    7,178       1,085       76,481       11,558       10,322       1,560       145,993       22,063  

Gross profit

    50,776       7,673       440,572       66,581       96,951       14,652       571,842       86,419  

Operating expenses (2) :

               

Research and development expenses

    2,627       397       15,317       2,315       2,974       450       62,912       9,508  

Sales and marketing expenses

    54,633       8,256       494,724       74,765       114,069       17,238       836,941       126,481  

General and administrative expenses

    4,427       669       25,947       3,921       8,885       1,343       193,886       29,301  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

    61,687       9,322       535,988       81,001       125,928       19,031       1,093,739       165,290  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss from operations (3)

    (10,911     (1,649     (95,416     (14,420     (28,977     (4,379     (521,897     (78,871
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Interest income

    51       8       673       103       307       46       5,389       815  

Foreign exchange related gains, net

    —         —         —         —         —         —         2,098       317  

Others, net

    (2     (1     (17     (3     (5     (1     (26     (4
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss before income tax expenses

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743

Income tax expenses

    —         —         —         —         —         —         —         —    
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Accretion to convertible redeemable preferred shares redemption value

    —         —         (6,012     (909     —         —         (58,964     (8,911

 

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    Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended
June 30,
 
    2016     2017     2017     2018  
    RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
    (in thousands, except for percentages, share and per share data)  

Deemed dividend to preferred shareholders

    —         —         —         —         —         —         (1,916     (290

Net loss attributable to Qutoutiao Inc.’s ordinary shareholders

    (10,862     (1,642     (100,772     (15,229     (28,675     (4,334     (575,316     (86,944
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743

Other comprehensive income/(loss)

               

Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of nil tax

    —         —         25       3       —         —         (12,562     (1,899
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Comprehensive loss attributable to Qutoutiao Inc.

    (10,862     (1,642     (94,735     (14,317     (28,675     (4,334     (526,998     (79,642
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss per share attributable to Qutoutiao Inc.

               

– Basic and diluted

    (0.45     (0.07     (4.19     (0.63     (1.19     (0.18     (23.74     (3.59

Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in per share calculation:

               

– Basic and diluted

    24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,062,500       24,238,324       24,238,324  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)

Revenue from transactions with related parties are set forth below for the periods indicated:

 

     Year Ended December 31,      Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016      2017      2017      2018  
     RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Advertising revenue

     —          —          —          —          —          —          1,183        179  

Other revenue

     —          —          —          —          —          —          5,293        800  

 

(2)

Cost of revenues and operating expenses from transactions with related parties are set forth below for the periods indicated:

 

     Year Ended December 31,      Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016      2017      2017      2018  
     RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Cost of revenues

     120        18        484        73        145        22        3,368        509  

Research and development expenses

     166        25        220        33        66        10        —          —    

Sales and marketing expenses

     74        11        950        144        284        43        4,918        743  

General and administrative expenses

     2,664        403        15,134        2,287        6,401        967        —          —    

 

(3)

We recognized share-based compensation expenses of RMB0.4 million (US$60.0 thousand), RMB3.4 million (US$0.5 million), RMB0.4 million (US$53.9 thousand) and RMB185.4 million (US$28.0 million) in 2016, 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Share-based compensation expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2018 included RMB158.6 million (US$24.8 million) that relates to certain ordinary shares beneficially owned by certain of our co-founders

 

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  that became restricted pursuant to share restriction deeds entered into by them in January 2018 and vested in the six months ended June 30, 2018.

Selected Consolidated Balance Sheets Data

 

     As of December 31,     As of June 30,  
     2016     2017     2018  
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Cash and cash equivalents

     269       41       278,458       42,082       1,766,299       266,929  

Short-term investments

     12,370       1,869       129,770       19,611       10,300       1,557  

Total current assets

     29,758       4,497       466,208       70,455       1,873,051       283,062  

Total assets

     29,896       4,518       476,581       72,023       1,942,816       293,605  

Registered users’ loyalty payable

     1,023       155       20,977       3,170       137,038       20,710  

Accrued liabilities related to user loyalty programs

     24,509       3,704       187,003       28,261       149,011       22,519  

Total liabilities

     41,087       6,209       311,246       47,037       545,027       82,366  

Mezzanine equity

     —         —         273,895       41,392       1,906,926       288,182  

Total shareholders’ deficits

     (11,191     (1,691     (108,560     (16,406     (509,137     (76,943

Selected Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Data

 

     Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016     2017     2017     2018  
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Selected Consolidated Cash Flows Data:

              

Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities

     12,719       1,923       132,226       19,983       2,037       (141,738     (21,420

Net cash (used in)/provided by investing activities

     (12,523     (1,893     (121,919     (18,425     (1,700     70,043       10,585  

Net cash provided by financing activities

     —         —         272,121       41,124       —         1,501,333       226,887  

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

     196       30       282,428       42,682       337       1,429,638       216,052  

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

     —         —         (4,239     (641     —         58,203       8,796  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the period

     73       11       269       41       269       278,458       42,082  

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period

     269       41       278,458       42,082       606       1,766,299       266,930  

Non-GAAP Financial Measure

We use adjusted net loss, which is an non-GAAP financial measure, in evaluating our operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. Adjusted net loss represents net loss before share-based compensation expenses. We believe that such non-GAAP financial measure help identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of such share-based compensation expenses that we include in cost of revenues, total operating expenses and net loss. In particular, share-based compensation expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2018 included RMB158.6 million (US$24.8 million) that relates to certain ordinary shares beneficially owned by certain of our co-founders that became restricted pursuant to share

 

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restriction deeds entered into by them in January 2018 and vested in the six months ended June 30, 2018. We believe that such non-GAAP financial measure also provides useful information about our operating results, enhance the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by our management in its financial and operational decision-making.

The non-GAAP financial measure is not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. It should not be considered in isolation or construed as alternatives to net loss or any other measure of performance or as an indicator of our operating performance. Investors are encouraged to review the historical non-GAAP financial measure in light of the most directly comparable GAAP measures, as shown below. The non-GAAP financial measure presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measure differently, limiting its 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 the non-GAAP financial measure for the periods indicated:

 

     Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended June 30,  
     2016     2017     2017     2018  
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Net loss

     (10,862     (1,642     (94,760     (14,320     (28,675     (4,334     (514,436     (77,743

Add: share-based compensation expenses:

                

Cost of revenues

     1       0       942       142       99       15       1,429       216  

Research and development

     149       23       1,317       200       140       21       6,720       1,016  

Sales and marketing

     35       5       939       142       99       15       3,394       513  

General and administrative

     209       32       181       27       19       3       173,840       26,271  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Adjusted net loss

     (10,468     (1,582     (91,381     (13,809     (28,318     (4,280     (329,053     (49,727
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Key Operating Metrics

We regularly review a number of key operating metrics to evaluate our business and measure our performance. The table below sets forth key operating metrics relating to the Qutoutiao mobile application.

 

    For the Three Months Ended  
    September 30,     December 31,     March 31,     June 30,     September 30,     December 31,     March 31,     June 30,  
    2016     2017     2018  
    (in millions, except for daily time spent data)  

Installed users as of the end of the period

    3.7       9.7       16.3       26.4       46.3       73.1       97.9       133.0  

Average MAUs during the period

    1.7       3.9       5.7       8.8       16.0       24.2       27.8       32.1  

Average DAUs during the period

    0.5       1.5       2.5       3.9       6.4       9.5       11.3       12.3  

Average daily time spent per DAU during the period (minutes)

    27.2       29.0       31.3       33.7       34.0       32.3       32.5       47.3  

In June 2018, our MAUs were approximately 39.3 million, average DAUs were approximately 14.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 56.0 minutes. In July 2018, our MAUs were

 

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approximately 48.8 million, average DAUs were approximately 17.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 55.6 minutes. In August 2018, our MAUs were approximately 62.0 million, average DAUs were approximately 21.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 55.4 minutes. As of August 31, 2018, the total installed users was approximately 181.1 million.

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes that appear in this prospectus. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and in this prospectus, particularly in the section titled “Risk Factors.”

Overview

Our flagship mobile application, Qutoutiao , meaning “fun headlines” in Chinese, aggregates articles and short videos from professional media and freelancers and presents customized feeds to users. These feeds are optimized in real time based on each user’s profile, behavior and social relationships through our proprietary AI-powered content recommendation engine. Since its launch in June 2016, Qutoutiao has rapidly gained popularity, reaching MAUs of approximately 62.0 million, average DAUs of approximately 21.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU of approximately 55.4 minutes in August 2018.

Our rapidly increasing and engaged user base has provided us with strong monetization potentials. We currently generate revenue primarily by providing advertising services. We place advertisements on the main pages, topic pages as well as content pages of our mobile applications. When we first commenced our business, we collaborated with various third-party advertising platforms to place advertisements on our mobile applications. We later engaged an advertising agent who operates a programmatic advertising system to serve as our sales agent in selling our advertising solutions to other advertising agents and end advertisers. To enhance our platform’s monetization capabilities, we acquired such advertising agent in February 2018. We will utilize the programmatic advertising system of such advertising agent to power our advertising solutions. We will also begin to sell our advertising solutions to advertising agents or advertising customers directly. We believe that our differentiated user base represents an attractive demographic target for businesses.

We also generate revenue by providing agent and platform service between the advertising customers and third-party advertising platforms and through the marketplace on Qutoutiao . We plan to capture additional monetization opportunities by continuing to expand our existing content formats and introducing new content formats. These opportunities include paid content such as literature, casual games, animation and comics, as well as content-driven e-commerce and live streaming products.

Our net revenues have increased rapidly from RMB58.0 million (US$8.8 million) in 2016 to RMB517.1 million (US$78.1 million) in 2017, and further from RMB107.3 million (US$16.2 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 to RMB717.8 million (US$108.5 million) in the same period in 2018. As we focused on growing our user base and enhancing our services, we have incurred net losses of RMB10.9 million (US$1.6 million) in 2016, RMB94.8 million (US$14.3 million) in 2017, RMB28.7 million (US$4.3 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 and RMB514.4 million (US$77.7 million) in the same period in 2018. Adjusted net losses, which represented net losses before share-based compensation expenses, were RMB10.5 million (US$1.6 million) in 2016, RMB91.4 million (US$13.8 million) in 2017, RMB28.3 million (US$4.3 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 and RMB329.1 million (US$49.7 million) in the same period in 2018. Share-based compensation expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2018 included RMB158.6 million (US$24.8 million) that relates to certain ordinary shares beneficially owned by certain of our co-founders that became restricted pursuant to share restriction deeds entered into by them in January 2018 and vested in the six months ended June 30, 2018.

 

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Key Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

We believe the most significant drivers affecting our revenues are user engagement and our ability to monetize. On the other hand, we believe the most significant drivers affecting our costs and expenses are those related to our user acquisition and engagement efforts and content procurement.

User Base and Level of Engagement

Our fast growing and engaged user base has contributed to our ability to attract advertising customers to our advertising services and the significant growth in our revenue. Our average MAUs increased from approximately 3.9 million in the three months ended December 31, 2016 to approximately 24.2 million in the three months ended December 31, 2017 and further to approximately 32.1 million in the three months ended June 30, 2018. Our average DAUs increased from approximately 1.5 million in the three months ended December 31, 2016 to approximately 9.5 million in the three months ended December 31, 2017 and further to approximately 12.3 million in the three months ended June 30, 2018. A continued increase in the number of DAUs and the amount of time they spent on our platform will lead to increase in the number of advertisements served and potential clicks and impressions from users. User engagement in turn will depend on the quality and attractiveness of content on our platform and our continued ability to fine tune our understanding of users to deliver content that is most likely to interest them. Our ability to maintain high user engagement will also be affected by our planned introduction of new content formats, users’ reception to them and the growth in the volume of such content. Users’ engagement to these new content formats will help not only in driving demand for our advertising services but creating further monetization opportunities.

Our Ability to Monetize

Our current financial condition and results of operations depend substantially on the demand for our advertising solutions. Demand for our advertising solutions will be affected by the size of our user base and their continued engagement. Such demand will also be dependent on our ability to enhance the efficacy of our advertising solutions through technology and an even deeper understanding of our user base. In addition, we have started to operate our programmatic advertising system and focus on the direct sale of our advertising solutions in February 2018. Our ability to successfully expand the number of advertising agents or advertising customers and increase their advertising spending on our programmatic advertising system will affect our revenue growth.

We also intend to further monetize our user base by introducing paid content and other products and services in the future. The number of users that will pay for such future paid content and other products and services, and the average spending by such users, are affected by various factors, including the volume and diversity of the content that we offer, or the interest among our users in paying for such content, products or services. Changes to any of the above or other factors, many of which are beyond our control, will affect our revenues.

Cost of User Acquisition and Engagement

Our user loyalty programs have contributed to the significant growth in the number of our installed users and high user engagement. The cost of users’ loyalty points associated with our user loyalty programs is recognized as sales and marketing expenses. A majority of such cost of users’ loyalty points is currently associated with engagement-based loyalty points to promote user engagement and retention, with the remainder related to referral-based loyalty points to acquire new installed users. We design our user loyalty programs to ensure the cost of the loyalty points provided is appropriate in relation to the growth of our business. Our ability to ensure that our user loyalty programs will continue to advance strong growth in user base and keep user engaged at a manageable cost level will affect our results of operations. Furthermore, we have started to and will continue to explore other online and offline marketing channels to acquire users and promote brand awareness and supplement our user loyalty programs. Such efforts may affect our overall user acquisition and engagement costs in the future.

 

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Content Procurement

We encourage our content providers to actively contribute quality content that will resonate with our users by implementing a system in which fees paid to them are related to the number of views of the content they contribute. These fees are accounted for as part of our cost of revenues. Our ability to balance our content procurement cost while ensuring content providers continue to contribute content that is attractive to users will affect our results of operations going forward. We will also need to manage the relevant content cost while taking into account its revenue potential to ensure value are realized. Furthermore, as additional content formats are introduced, we may enter into different content procurement arrangements with content providers, affecting our content procurement cost structure.

Seasonality

We generate most of our revenues from providing advertising services. The advertising industry in China experiences seasonality. Historically, advertising spending and user activities on our platform tend to be the lowest in the first quarter of each calendar year due to long holidays around the Lunar New Year, during which users tend to spend more time with family and celebrations offline and less time online, including on our mobile applications. In addition, advertising customers, such as those in the e-commerce industry, may also reduce its advertising spending during the holidays around the Lunar New Year due to reduced consumer spending or reduced or suspended production and logistics activities by manufacturers or other service providers. We believe this seasonality affects our quarterly results especially our results of operations in the first quarter of each year. For example, our net revenues in the first quarter may be lower than those of other quarters, and may experience a slower rate of growth or even decline from the last quarter in the prior year. On the other hand, our cost of revenues and operating expenses as a percentage of our net revenues may be higher in the first quarter as compared to other quarters, which may lead to lower profit margin.

Key Operating Metrics

We regularly review a number of key operating metrics to evaluate our business and measure our performance. The table below sets forth key operating metrics relating to the Qutoutiao mobile application.

 

    For the Three Months Ended  
    September 30,     December 31,     March 31,     June 30,     September 30,     December 31,     March 31,     June 30,  
    2016     2017     2018  
    (in millions, except for daily time spent data)  

Installed users as of the end of the period

    3.7       9.7       16.3       26.4       46.3       73.1       97.9       133.0  

Average MAUs during the period

    1.7       3.9       5.7       8.8       16.0       24.2       27.8       32.1  

Average DAUs during the period

    0.5       1.5       2.5       3.9       6.4       9.5       11.3       12.3  

Average daily time spent per DAU during the period (minutes)

    27.2       29.0       31.3       33.7       34.0       32.3       32.5       47.3  

In June 2018, our MAUs were approximately 39.3 million, average DAUs were approximately 14.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 56.0 minutes. In July 2018, our MAUs were approximately 48.8 million, average DAUs were approximately 17.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 55.6 minutes. In August 2018, our MAUs were approximately 62.0 million, average DAUs were approximately 21.1 million and average daily time spent per DAU was approximately 55.4 minutes. As of August 31, 2018, the total installed users was approximately 181.1 million.

We view installed users as a measure of the size of our user base, and we view average MAUs and average DAUs as measures of the size of active user base and user engagement. Installed users, average MAUs and

 

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average DAUs rapidly increased during the periods presented. Increases in these measures were mainly driven by our user loyalty programs, light entertainment-oriented content and content recommendation technology.

We monitor average daily time spent per DAU to measure the level of user engagement on our platform. Average daily time spent per DAU increased from approximately 29 minutes in the three months ended December 31, 2016 to approximately 32 minutes in the three months ended December 31, 2017 and further to approximately 47 minutes in the three months ended June 30, 2018, which reflects an increase in user stickiness.

Key Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenues

We generate most of our revenues from advertising services. The following table sets forth a breakdown of our revenues, both in absolute amount and as a percentage of our net revenues, for the periods indicated.

 

    Year Ended December 31,     Six Months Ended June 30,  
    2016     2017     2017     2018  
    RMB     US$     %     RMB     US$     %     RMB     US$     %     RMB     US$     %  
    (in thousands, except for percentages)  

Revenues:

                       

Advertising revenue

    57,880       8,747       99.9       512,883       77,509       99.2       106,348       16,072       99.1       669,871       101,233       93.3  

Other revenue

    74       11       0.1       4,170       630       0.8       925       140       0.9       47,964       7,249       6.7  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net revenues

    57,954    

 

8,758

 

    100.0       517,053       78,139       100.0       107,273       16,212       100.0       717,835       108,482       100.0  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

We charge our advertising services mainly on a cost-per-click, or CPC, basis, and in certain circumstances, on a cost-per-thousand-impressions, or CPM, basis.

Baidu, which is our largest customer and operates a third-party advertising platform, contributed 69.9%, 43.7%, 75.8% and 12.1% of our net revenues in 2016 and 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Baidu also accounted for 92.6%, 59.8% and 30.5% of our accounts receivable as of December 31, 2016 and 2017 and June 30, 2018, respectively. To enhance our platform’s monetization capabilities, we acquired an advertising agent in February 2018 that operates a programmatic advertising system. We expect this system will allow us to reduce our reliance on third-party advertising platforms such as Baidu. Prior to our acquisition of this advertising agent in February 2018, we engaged such advertising agent to serve as our sales agent in selling our advertising solutions to other second-tier advertising agents and end advertisers. In 2017 and the six months ended June 30, 2018, 26.2% and 78.2% of our net revenues, respectively, were generated through this advertising agent. These second-tier advertising agents and end advertisers are our customers as they select our mobile applications to place their advertisement and our performance obligation is to provide the underlying advertising display services to them. We recognize advertising revenue from this advertising agent on a gross basis as clicks are delivered on a CPC basis. We also engage certain other advertising agents in selling our advertising solutions to our advertising customers.

In addition, we collaborate with various third-party advertising platforms to place advertisements on our platform. Under our arrangements with these advertising platforms, these advertising platforms are our customers and our performance obligation is to provide traffic to these advertising platforms. As such, we recognize advertising revenue on the net amount as impressions or clicks are delivered on a CPC or CPM basis. We have started to reduce the utilization of third-party advertising platforms in 2017 and we expect such collaboration to continue to decrease in the future as we further increase direct sales of our advertising solutions. However, certain of these third-party advertising platforms were historically our largest customers and may continue to contribute a significant portion of our net revenues in the near future.

 

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Other revenue primarily represents revenues from providing agent and platform service between the advertising customers and third-party advertising platforms by facilitating the advertising customers to select third-party advertising platforms to display their advertisements. We recognize revenue from the advertising customers based on the net amount equal to certain agreed percentage of the gross revenue earned by the third-party advertising platforms when impressions or clicks are successfully delivered. Other revenue also includes revenues from the sale of merchandise by suppliers through the marketplace on Qutoutiao . A user pays the purchase price for a merchandise to us. We deduct our commission related to the merchandise and remit the remainder to the relevant merchandise supplier.

Cost of Revenues

The following table sets forth the components of our cost of revenues, both in absolute amount and as a percentage of our net revenues, for the periods indicated.