Company: ZHIHF
Filing Date: 2025-04-15
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001410578-25-000729
Chunk: 1

Company: Zhihu Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-15
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 3
Chunk 1
---
Item 3. KEY INFORMATION

Our Holding Company Structure and Contractual Arrangements with the VIEs and Their Shareholders

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure, including our principal subsidiaries and the VIEs, as of the date of this annual report.

Notes:

  (1)      Yuan Zhou and Dahai Li, our director, each holds 98.941% and 0.059% of the equity interests in Zhizhe Tianxia, respectively, and Beijing Radio and Television Station, a third-party minority sha...  

  (2)      Yuan Zhou and Rongle Zhang, our employee, each holds 99.0% and 1.0% of the equity interests in Wuhan Xinyue, one of the VIEs. Wuhan Xinyue and its shareholders entered into a series of contract...  

Table of Contents

Zhihu Inc. is a Cayman Islands holding company with no equity ownership in its VIEs and their subsidiaries and not a Chinese operating company. We conduct our operations in China through (i) our PRC subsidiaries and (ii) the VIEs, with which we have maintained contractual arrangements, and their subsidiaries. PRC laws and regulations restrict and impose conditions on foreign investment in value-added telecommunication services and certain other businesses. Accordingly, we operate these businesses in China through the VIEs and their subsidiaries, and rely on contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiaries, the VIEs, and their nominee shareholders to direct the business operations of the VIEs. Such structure enables investors to share economic interests in China-based companies in sectors where foreign direct investment is prohibited or restricted under PRC laws and regulations. Revenues contributed by the VIEs accounted for 43.0%, 58.3%, and 63.8% of our total revenues in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively. As used in this annual report, “we,” “our company,” or “ Zhihu” refers to Zhihu Inc., its subsidiaries, and, in the context of describing our operations and consolidated financial information, the VIEs in China, including Zhizhe Tianxia, Shanghai Pinzhi, and Wuhan Xinyue. Investors in the ADSs are not purchasing any equity interest in the VIEs in China but instead are purchasing equity interest in a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and may never directly hold equity interests in the VIEs in China.

A series