Zhihu's 2025 Revenue Declines 23.6% CEO Zhou Yuan: Accelerating Commercialization Exploration of AI-Related Businesses

AI Q&A · Zhihu’s revenue declines but achieves first-time profitability, what are the key factors?

Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, March 25th (Reporter: Huang Xinyi) Zhihu recently released its Q4 2025 and full-year financial reports. The report shows Zhihu’s revenue for Q4 2025 was 644 million yuan; full-year 2025 revenue was 2.75 billion yuan, a 23.6% decrease compared to 2024; full-year 2025 adjusted net profit was 37.9 million yuan. This is Zhihu’s first time achieving full-year non-GAAP profitability.

In specific business areas, marketing services revenue in 2025 was 844 million yuan, down 32.29% from 2024; paid membership revenue was 1.539 billion yuan, down 12.66% year-over-year; other income was 366 million yuan, down 37.93% year-over-year.

Zhihu’s gross profit in 2025 was 1.648 billion yuan, compared to 2.181 billion yuan in 2024, a 24.4% decline; gross margin was 60.6% in 2024 and 59.9% in 2025. Investment income in 2025 was 231.9 million yuan, up from 65.4 million yuan in 2024. The growth was mainly due to revaluation of the fair value of Zhihu’s investment in a private company, resulting in unrealized gains.

As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, Zhihu’s cash and cash equivalents, current and non-current fixed deposits, restricted funds, and short-term investments were 4.4512 billion yuan and 4.859 billion yuan, respectively.

Specifically, in Q4 2025, Zhihu’s paid reading business contributed 334 million yuan, accounting for 51.8%; marketing services revenue was 235 million yuan, accounting for 36.5%, including education, consumer goods, and copyright-related businesses contributing 75.2 million yuan, or 11.7%.

In the paid reading sector, Zhihu’s IP copyright revenue in Q4 grew over five times year-over-year, and the annual copyright revenue from authors increased sixfold.

In marketing services, Zhihu’s Q4 revenue was 235 million yuan, a 24% quarter-over-quarter increase. The financial report attributes this to continuous investment and steadfast execution in optimizing customer structure and upgrading commercial products, which has strengthened Zhihu’s business IP and services, attracting more clients and increasing revenue contribution.

Zhihu’s founder, Chairman, and CEO Zhou Yuan said, “Looking ahead to 2026, while consolidating our core business foundation, we will accelerate commercialization related to AI, focusing on businesses that do not burn cash wildly and can generate healthy cash flow.”

During the conference call, Zhou Yuan revealed that Zhihu will mainly focus on AI short dramas, animated series, and AI data services. “The AI short drama and animated series tracks have already validated users’ willingness to pay. AI has a significant demand for high-quality data, and Zhihu can produce exclusive high-quality data for AI, as well as explore professional skills, new cognition, and new capabilities that models have not yet covered.”

Zhou Yuan also stated that Zhihu is promoting the accelerated integration of AI and community. “In the past quarter, user interaction frequency increased. Users began calling on AI capabilities in comment sections to verify facts, such as explaining professional information through Zhihu direct answers. The MAU for Zhihu direct answers increased over 260% year-over-year in Q4, with an 83% increase in month-to-month retention.”

Regarding profitability goals for 2026, Zhihu CFO Wang Han said that this year they will not solely pursue profit growth but will continue investing in AI. “We will carefully consider new businesses, choose directions that can see ROI and are suitable for Zhihu, and ensure that AI revenue growth is accompanied by healthy net profit.”