Company: ZHIHF
Filing Date: 2025-04-15
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001410578-25-000729
Chunk: 34

Company: Zhihu Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-15
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 3
Chunk 34
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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, particularly in the content-related internet and technology industries. Our future success depends on our ability to attract a large 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 prices of our Class A ordinary shares and the 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 stock-based compensation.

We have granted, and may continue to grant, options and other types of awards under our share incentive plan, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.

We adopted an equity incentive plan in 2012 and a share incentive plan in 2022. The equity incentive plan adopted in 2012 expired in 2022. For the years ended December 31, 2022, 2023, and 2024, we recorded RMB373.9 million, RMB164.7 million, and RMB59.3 million (US$8.1 million), respectively, in share-based compensation expenses. Competition for highly skilled personnel is often intense and we may incur significant costs or may not be successful in attracting, integrating, or retaining qualified personnel to fulfill our current or future needs. We believe the granting of share-based awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based awards in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Furthermore, perspective candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the equity awards they receive in connection with their employment. Thus, our ability to attract or retain highly skilled employees may be adversely affected by declines in the perceived value of our equity or equity awards. Furthermore, there are no assurances that the number of shares reserved for issuance under our share incentive plan will be sufficient to grant equity awards adequate to recruit new employees and to compensate existing employees

We are subject to risks associated with cash management activities.

We invest our cash reserved for future deployment in wealth management products for cash management purposes from time to time, which generates investment income. Our investments in wealth management products are associated with various risks. Under