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This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended including, without limitation, statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or future strategies that are signified by the words “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. All forward-looking statements included in this annual report are based on information available to us on the date hereof and we undertake no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. We caution you that our business and repetitive financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, including the factors identified in “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors,” that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.
A. Operating Results
Overview
As a leading social media platform for people to create, discover and distribute content in China and the global Chinese communities, Weibo combines the means of public self-expression in real time with a powerful platform for social interaction, content creation and distribution. Our MAUs decreased slightly from 598 million in December 2023 to 590 million in December 2024, and 567 million in December 2025, as we have proactively adjusted our user strategy to focus on the acquisition and engagement of high quality users. Our average DAUs increased from 257 million in December 2023 to 260 million in December 2024, and decreased slightly to 252 million in December 2025. The ratio of average DAUs to MAUs increased slightly from 43% in December 2023 to 44% in December 2024, and remained stable at approximately 45% in December 2025.
We offer a wide range of advertising and marketing solutions to our customers, ranging from large brand advertisers to small medium-sized enterprises, enabling them to promote their brands, products and services to our users. Advertising and marketing services contribute the majority of our revenues, mainly including the sale of social display and promoted feeds advertisements. We have developed and are continually refining our interest-based recommendation engine, which enables our customers to perform social marketing and target audiences based on user demographics, social relationships and interests to achieve greater relevance, engagement and marketing effectiveness on Weibo.
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The value we create for our users and customers is enhanced by our platform partners, which include content creators such as key opinion leaders, media outlets and other organizations with media rights, multi-channel networks, which are professional agencies for influencers, self-medias and app developers. Our platform partners contribute a vast amount of content to Weibo, which generates user engagement and is virally distributed across the platform, enriching user experience and increasing Weibo’s monetization opportunities. We have revenue-sharing arrangements with some of our platform partners, such as live streaming agencies, influencers, multi-channel networks and game developers.
Weibo began monetization in 2012 primarily through the sale of advertising and marketing services and to a lesser extent, through value added services, mainly including membership and game related services. We place great emphasis on product innovation and our steady stream of introductions of new advertisement products has led to solid and healthy revenue growth since our IPO. In recent years, we faced macro and competitive challenges. Our revenues in 2023, 2024 and 2025 were US$1,759.8 million, US$1,754.7 million and US$1,757.2 million, respectively. We had a net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders of US$342.6 million in 2023, US$300.8 million in 2024 and US$449.0 million in 2025.
Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
Our business and operating results are affected by general factors affecting the social media industry in China, which include:
● the extent to which social media continues to grow in popularity and becomes further integrated into people’s everyday lives in China;
● the intensity of competition both for the time and attention of internet users and for the advertising and marketing spending of brands and businesses that market to consumers;
● the changes in China’s or global economies, policies, and regulatory environment; and
● continued infrastructure development.
Unfavorable changes in any of these general factors could negatively affect demand for our products and services and adversely affect the results of our operations. In addition to the general factors affecting the social media industry in China, the specific factors affecting our results of operations include the following:
Scale and Engagement of Our User Base. Our revenues are ultimately affected by the scale of our user base, and the strategies we pursue to achieve user growth may affect our costs and expenses and results of operations. We have experienced solid user growth since our inception in 2009. As the size of our user base increases to an even larger scale and as we achieve higher market penetration in China’s internet population, we have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, fluctuations and declines in our user growth rate. Due to the size and scale we have achieved, our user base experienced slight decrease, and may not continue to grow as quickly as in the past years or at all. Due to the media nature of our platform, the growth of our users may not be linear. In general, the penetration of Weibo among internet users in the more economically developed tier 1 and tier 2 cities in China who use Weibo is higher than in other parts of China. Our ability to grow our active user base will depend in part on the success of our strategies to attract additional users from lower-tier cities and towns in China while maintaining or growing our user base in tier 1 and tier 2 cities.
Changes in user engagement could affect our results of operations, especially since we began adding monetization features to our social platform. We need to motivate our users to engage actively on our platform to secure an abundant supply of user-generated content, to entice content creators to share even more content, and to ensure that we have a broad audience for our advertising and marketing services. Video, particularly in the form of short video and live streaming, is gaining more popularity in China and has become an important way for our users to engage and interact on Weibo. Our ability to provide an easy-to-use infrastructure for our users to create and share video as well as consume video will largely impact our user experience.
We plan to continue to enhance Weibo’s user experience and engagement by improving our product features, offering new products, expanding our content offerings through collaboration with platform partners, developing and integrating with applications and continuing to refine Weibo’s SIG recommendation engine to improve content relevance and advertisement targeting capabilities.
Products and Services Innovation. Social media is an innovative and fast-changing field, and we must develop innovative products and services that meet the disparate needs of users, advertising and marketing customers and platform partners and roll them out on a timely basis while controlling our product development expenses. We plan to continue to make significant investments in product development and refining the capabilities of Weibo’s SIG recommendation engine, and we may invest in or acquire businesses or assets to enhance our products, services and technical capabilities.
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Content Ecosystem. Our success depends on our ability to provide users with interesting and useful content, which in turn depends on the content contributed by our users. Content creators, especially key opinion leaders, contribute content to Weibo to grow their fan base and enhance their influence. We provide content creators with the opportunity to monetize their social assets on Weibo through advertising, e-commerce, subscription, tipping and other means. If content creators do not see significant value from their social marketing activities on Weibo and find monetization on Weibo inadequate, we may have to subsidize them through direct content cost payout, which may have an adverse and material impact on our business, financial condition and operating results. Alternatively, content creators may choose to contribute less or no content to Weibo, which may cause our user base and user engagement to decline and our customers to view our products and services as less attractive for advertising and marketing purposes. If that were to occur, our customers would reduce their spending on our platform.
Monetization. We generate revenues primarily from customers who purchase advertising and marketing services and, to a lesser extent, from value-added services. Our monetization model is evolving and sophisticated. Therefore, we are unable to gauge the period-to-period growth of our revenues based on any particular user traffic metric. Furthermore, our ability to monetize our user traffic depends to a large degree on how well the demographic profile and social interests of our users fit the audience profile that our advertising and marketing customers hope to reach at any given time. Our advertising and marketing customers may seek a full spectrum of online advertising and marketing services ranging from brand awareness to interest generation, sales conversion and loyalty marketing. We plan to increase the monetization of our platform by growing our user base and user engagement, and managing advertisement inventory and advertising load more effectively without adversely affecting user experience. Meanwhile, in order to continue to increase the efficiency of monetization, we need to stay innovative to improve the targeting capabilities of our advertising and marketing offerings and develop new advertisement products, formats and capabilities. We also plan to further diversify our monetization through growing value-added services.
We have been exploring various ways of monetization since 2012. For example, in 2017 and 2020, we initiated two rounds of comprehensive revamp on our advertisement system to drive bidding efficiency as well as diversify our advertising offerings. We generate revenues from value-added services primarily by providing membership and game-related services. We have been exploring monetization opportunities in value-added services through investment in various areas, including our acquisition of a company operating several online interactive entertainment apps in China including “Pocket Werewolves” in 2020.
Investment in Technology Infrastructure. Our technology infrastructure is critical to providing users, customers and platform partners access to our platform, particularly during major events when activities on our platform increase substantially. We must continue to upgrade and expand our technology infrastructure to keep pace with the growth of our business and to ensure that technical difficulties do not detract from user experience or deter new users, customers or platform partners from accessing our platform. For example, our users share and consume a lot of content in rich media format, such as photo, video and live streaming, which require more infrastructure capacity, and costs to support, than text feeds. To further expand our capabilities to satisfy technology infrastructure demands, especially those arising from major media events and increasing video usage, we work with third-party service providers to procure bandwidth and other infrastructure services. Our ability to derive greater cost efficiency from infrastructure demands will depend on factors including our ability to negotiate a lower unit price with third-party vendors over time and the mix of services provided by third-party vendors and SINA, our controlling shareholder.
Marketing and Brand Promotion. Our brand recognition is key to our growth in both user scale and engagement to achieve platform expansion. On top of user base expansion, we have optimized our channel investment strategy along with our product and operational efforts, to focus on enhancing user engagement, which resulted in higher user acquisition efficiency with disciplined sales and marketing spending.
Investment in Talent. Our employee headcount has decreased from 5,268 as of December 31, 2023 to 4,982 as of December 31, 2024, and increased to 5,651 as of December 31, 2025. Nevertheless, there is still heavy demand in China’s internet industry for talented technical, sales and marketing, management and other personnel with necessary experience and expertise. We must recruit, retain and motivate talented employees while controlling our personnel-related expenses, including stock-based compensation.
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Taxation
We generate the majority of our operating income from our PRC operations and have recorded income tax provisions for the periods presented.
Cayman Islands
According to Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP, our Cayman Islands counsel, the Cayman Islands currently levies no taxes on corporations based upon profits, income, gains or appreciation. There are no other taxes likely to be material to us levied by the Government of the Cayman Islands, except for stamp duties, which may be applicable on instruments executed in, or after execution brought within, the jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands is not a party to any double tax treaties that are applicable to any payments made to or by our company. There are no exchange control regulations or currency restrictions in the Cayman Islands.
Hong Kong
Our subsidiary incorporated in Hong Kong, Weibo HK, is subject to 16.5% Hong Kong profit tax on its taxable income generated from operations in Hong Kong. Commencing from the year of assessment 2018/2019, the first HK$2 million of profits earned by entities incorporated in Hong Kong will be taxed at half the current tax rate (i.e., 8.25%) while the remaining profits will be taxed at the existing 16.5% tax rate. Hong Kong does not impose a withholding tax on dividends. For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2025, Weibo HK recorded income tax expenses of US$22.1 million and US$43.6 million, respectively, including withholding taxes accrued related to earnings of the Group’s WFOE entities.
PRC
Our PRC subsidiaries, the VIEs and the VIEs’ subsidiaries are incorporated in mainland China and are subject to enterprise income tax on their taxable income in mainland China at a standard rate of 25% if they are not eligible for any preferential tax treatment. Taxable income is based on the entity’s global income as determined under PRC tax laws and accounting standards. Preferential tax treatments will be granted to companies conducting businesses in certain encouraged sectors and to entities qualified as a “software enterprise,” “key software enterprise” and/or “High and New Technology Enterprise.”
Weibo Technology is entitled to a preferential tax rate of 15% because of its qualification as a “High and New Technology Enterprise” with a certificate issued on November 30, 2023. This certificate will expire on November 30, 2026 unless renewed. The “High and New Technology Enterprise” qualification is subject to annual evaluation and a three-year review by the authorities in China. In addition, certain of our other PRC entities also qualify as a “software enterprise,” and/or “High and New Technology Enterprise,” and currently enjoy the respective preferential tax treatments.
According to the PRC laws and regulations, enterprises engaging in research and development activities were entitled to claim 150% of their research and development expenses incurred as tax deductible expenses when determining their assessable profits for that year. The PRC State Taxation Administration announced in September 2018 that enterprises engaging in research and development activities would be entitled to claim 175% of their research and development expenses from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020, which was further extended to December 31, 2023 as the PRC State Taxation Administration announced in March 2021. In March 2023, the PRC State Taxation Administration announced that enterprises engaging in research and development activities can claim 200% of their research and development expenses as R&D deduction since January 1, 2023.
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Our PRC subsidiaries, VIEs and VIEs’ subsidiaries are also subject to value-added tax and related surcharges at a combined rate of 6.7%. Our advertising and marketing revenues are also subject to cultural business construction fees at a rate of 1.5% for each of the years ended December 31, 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Dividends paid by our subsidiaries in China to our intermediary holding company in Hong Kong, Weibo HK, will be subject to PRC withholding tax at a rate of 10% unless they qualify for a reduced tax rate. If Weibo HK satisfies all the requirements under the Arrangement between the Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and receives approval from the tax authority, dividends paid by our subsidiaries in China to Weibo HK will be subject to a withholding tax rate of 5% instead. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us, or the tax implications of making payments to us, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business or our financial condition.”
If our holding company in the Cayman Islands, Weibo Corporation, were deemed to be a “PRC resident enterprise” under the Enterprise Income Tax Law, it would be subject to enterprise income tax on its global income at a rate of 25%. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—We and/or our Hong Kong subsidiary may be classified as a ‘PRC resident enterprise’ for PRC enterprise income tax purposes. Such classification would likely result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.”
If Weibo Corporation were regarded as a “PRC non-resident enterprise” and Weibo HK were deemed to be a “PRC resident enterprise” under the Enterprise Income Tax Law, dividends payable by Weibo HK to Weibo Corporation may become subject to 10% PRC dividend withholding tax. Furthermore, the dividends distributed from our subsidiaries in China to Weibo HK will not be subject to dividend withholding tax, and Weibo HK would be subject to PRC enterprise income at a rate of 25%. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us, or the tax implications of making payments to us, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business or our financial condition.”
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
A list of recently issued accounting pronouncements that are relevant to us is included in “2. Significant Accounting Policies” of our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth a summary of our consolidated results of operations for the periods presented. This information should be read together with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report on Form 20-F.
For the Year Ended December 31,
2023 2024 2025
(In US$ thousands, except for per share and per ADS data)
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:
Revenues:
Advertising and marketing revenues:
Third parties 1,344,354 1,315,055 1,289,273
Alibaba 111,608 116,785 173,834
SINA 45,319 25,022 14,311
Other related parties 32,733 41,831 24,212
Subtotal 1,534,014 1,498,693 1,501,630
Value-added services revenues 225,822 255,984 255,586
Total revenues 1,759,836 1,754,677 1,757,216
Costs and expenses:
Cost of revenues(1) 374,279 369,521 421,837
Sales and marketing(1) 461,421 480,791 490,434
Product development(1) 333,628 308,747 324,222
General and administrative(1) 117,574 101,294 55,898
Total costs and expenses 1,286,902 1,260,353 1,292,391
Income from operations 472,934 494,324 464,825
Income (loss) from equity method investments 13,392 (12,170) 76,666
Realized gain (loss) from investments (766) 261 506
Fair value changes through earnings on investments, net 43,002 18,564 21,258
Investment related impairment and provision (23,642) (93,382) (5,972)
Interest income 118,209 123,336 116,826
Interest expense (120,070) (105,397) (82,442)
Other income (loss), net (277) (4,881) 13,929
Income before income tax expenses 502,782 420,655 605,596
Less: income tax expenses 145,287 110,550 144,521
Net income 357,495 310,105 461,075
Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests 2,095 2,556 2,968
Accretion to redeemable non-controlling interests 12,802 6,748 9,087
Net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders 342,598 300,801 449,020
Shares used in computing net income per share attributable to Weibo’s shareholders:
Basic 235,560 237,324 238,787
Diluted 239,974 265,241 268,560
Income per ordinary share:
Basic 1.45 1.27 1.88
Diluted 1.43 1.16 1.70
Income per ADS(2):
Basic 1.45 1.27 1.88
Diluted 1.43 1.16 1.70
(1) Stock-based compensation was allocated in costs and expenses as follows:
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For the Year Ended December 31,
2023 2024 2025
(In US$ thousands)
Cost of revenues 8,933 5,954 3,502
Sales and marketing 16,528 13,041 7,901
Product development 51,441 33,403 18,537
General and administrative 24,229 17,316 12,127
Total 101,131 69,714 42,067
(2) Each ADS represents one Class A ordinary share.
Revenues
We generate the majority of our revenues from advertising and marketing services, such as social display advertisements, and promoted marketing. We also generate revenues from value-added services to a lesser extent, mainly including membership and game-related services.
2025 Compared to 2024
Our total net revenues were US$1,757.2 million in 2025, relatively flat compared to US$1,754.7 million in 2024.
● Advertising and Marketing Revenues. Advertising and marketing revenues were US$1,501.6 million in 2025, remaining relatively flat compared to US$1,498.7 million in 2024. The total number of advertisers was 0.4 million in 2025, compared to 0.6 million in 2024, while the average spending per advertiser (excluding Alibaba) increased by 39% from US$2,438 in 2024 to US$3,385 in 2025, both of which were primarily due to the churn of advertisers with relatively lower advertising budgets.
Revenues from advertising customers (excluding Alibaba) decreased by 4% from US$1,381.9 million in 2024 to US$1,327.8 million in 2025, mainly attributable to fierce market competition. Revenues generated from Alibaba increased by 49% from US$116.8 million in 2024 to US$173.8 million in 2025, driven by deeper collaboration between Alibaba and us during key e-commerce marketing windows. The advertising spending from Alibaba highly correlates to its own business operation, especially its marketing strategies, which fluctuates from time to time.
● Value-added Services Revenues. Value-added services revenues were US$255.6 million in 2025, remaining relatively flat compared to US$256.0 million in 2024.
2024 Compared to 2023
Our total net revenues were US$1,754.7 million in 2024, relatively flat compared to US$1,759.8 million in 2023.
● Advertising and Marketing Revenues. Advertising and marketing revenues decreased by 2% from US$1,534.0 million in 2023 to US$1,498.7 million in 2024. The total number of advertisers was 0.6 million in 2024, compared to 0.7 million in 2023, while the average spending per advertiser (excluding Alibaba) increased by 14% from US$2,142 in 2023 to US$2,438 in 2024, both of which were primarily due to the churn of advertisers with relatively lower advertising budgets.
Revenues from advertising customers (excluding Alibaba) decreased by 3% from US$1,422.4 million in 2023 to US$1,381.9 million in 2024, mainly attributable to the market competition and the unfavorable impact from the overall depreciation of RMB against the U.S. dollars in 2024 compared to 2023. Revenues generated from Alibaba increased by 5% from US$111.6 million in 2023 to US$116.8 million in 2024. The advertising spending from Alibaba highly correlates to its own business operation, especially its marketing strategies, which fluctuates from time to time.
● Value-added Services Revenues. Value-added services revenues increased by 13% from US$225.8 million in 2023 to US$256.0 million in 2024, benefiting from increasing contribution from membership and game-related services.
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Costs and Expenses
Our costs and expenses consist of cost of revenues, sales and marketing, product development, and general and administrative expenses, including costs and expenses allocated from SINA during the presented periods. Cost of revenues consists mainly of costs associated with the maintenance of our platform, such as bandwidth and other infrastructure costs, as well as personnel-related expenses, stock-based compensation, content licensing fees, revenue-share cost, advertisement production cost and turnover taxes levied on our revenues. Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of marketing and promotional expenses, personnel-related expenses, including commissions, outside services fees and stock-based compensation. Product development expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses, stock-based compensation, depreciation expense, outside services fees and infrastructure cost incurred for new product development, product enhancements and back-end systems. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses, stock-based compensation, professional services fees and provision/reversal of allowance for credit losses.
2025 Compared to 2024
Our costs and expenses increased by 3% from US$1,260.4 million in 2024 to US$1,292.4 million in 2025. We expect our costs and expenses to increase in the absolute amount in the foreseeable future.
● Cost of Revenues. Cost of revenues increased by 14% from US$369.5 million in 2024 to US$421.8 million in 2025. The increase was primarily due to an increase of US$51.9 million in advertisement production cost, an increase of US$8.6 million in revenue sharing cost, partially offset by a decrease of US$4.2 million in content cost.
● Sales and Marketing. Our sales and marketing expenses increased by 2% from US$480.8 million in 2024 to US$490.4 million in 2025. The increase mainly resulted from an increase of US$18.3 million in marketing expenses, partially offset by a decrease of US$8.7 million in outside services expenses.
● Product Development. Our product development expenses increased by 5% from US$308.7 million in 2024 to US$324.2 million in 2025. The increase was mostly attributable to an increase of US$20.5 million in infrastructure cost and an increase of US$9.7 million in staff-related expenses, partially offset by a decrease of US$14.9 million in stock-based compensation expenses.
● General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses decreased by 45% from US$101.3 million in 2024 to US$55.9 million in 2025. The decrease was mostly caused by a decrease of US$44.5 million in bad debt expense, due to the receipt of previous write-off of allowances for credit losses.
2024 Compared to 2023
Our costs and expenses decreased by 2% from US$1,286.9 million in 2023 to US$1,260.4 million in 2024. The decrease was primarily attributable to less stock-based compensation recognized in 2024 compared to that in 2023.
● Cost of Revenues. Cost of revenues decreased by 1% from US$374.3 million in 2023 to US$369.5 million in 2024. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease of US$7.9 million in bandwidth expenditure, a decrease of US$6.6 million in personnel-related expenses, and a decrease of US$3.4 million in revenue-share cost, partially offset by an increase of US$14.1 million in advertisement production cost.
● Sales and Marketing. Our sales and marketing expenses increased by 4% from US$461.4 million in 2023 to US$480.8 million in 2024. The increase mainly resulted from an increase of US$17.4 million in marketing and promotional expenses.
● Product Development. Our product development expenses decreased by 7% from US$333.6 million in 2023 to US$308.7 million in 2024. The decrease was mostly attributable to a decrease of US$18.0 million in stock-based compensation and a decrease of US$8.6 million in personnel-related expenses, partially offset by an increase of US$6.2 million in infrastructure cost.
● General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses decreased by 14% from US$117.6 million in 2023 to US$101.3 million in 2024. The decrease was mostly caused by a decrease of US$6.9 million in stock-based compensation and a decrease of US$6.7 million in provision of allowance for credit losses.
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Investment Related Impairment and Provision
We perform impairment assessments of our investments and determine if an investment is impaired due to the changes in quoted market price or other impairment indicators. For a detailed description of accounting treatment of our investment related impairment and the performance of the investments, see “Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies” in the accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements included in this annual report on Form 20-F. We recorded US$23.6 million, US$93.4 million and US$6.0 million in investment related impairment and provision charges in 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively, due to the unsatisfied financial performance of these investments with no obvious upturn or potential financing solutions in the foreseeable future or them incapable of making repayments in accordance with the respective agreements or adverse changes in their regulatory environment.
The impairment charges primarily included (i) an impairment charge of US$15.9 million on an online education company in 2023, (ii) impairment charges of US$30.0 million on a US-based company manufacturing hydrogen-powered autonomous trucks and of US$49.0 million reflecting increased valuation uncertainty that arose in 2024 associated with the extended transaction timeline of a commercial property investment in 2024, and (iii) an impairment charge of US$3.7 million write-off on a company engaging in online literature business in 2025.
Interest Income and Interest Expense
For the Year Ended December 31,
2023 2024 2025
(In US$ thousands)
Interest income 118,209 123,336 116,826
Interest expense (120,070) (105,397) (82,442)
2025 Compared to 2024
The decrease in interest expense was mainly caused by the maturity of our 3.5% unsecured senior notes due 2024.
2024 Compared to 2023
The increase in interest income in 2024 compared to 2023 was primary due to higher interest income recognized for USD-denominated bank time deposits and wealth management products. The decrease in interest expense was mainly caused by the maturity of our 3.5% unsecured senior notes due 2024.
Provision of Income Taxes
The following table sets forth the income of Weibo Corporation, its subsidiaries, the VIEs and the VIEs’ subsidiaries as a group before income taxes.
Year Ended December 31,
2023 2024 2025
(In US$ thousands, except percentage)
Loss from non-China operations (145,244) (148,862) (1,076)
Income from China operations 648,026 569,517 606,672
Total income before income tax expenses 502,782 420,655 605,596
Income tax expense applicable to non-China operations 45,441 22,671 43,867
Income tax expense applicable to China operations 99,846 87,879 100,654
Total income tax expenses 145,287 110,550 144,521
Effective tax rate for China operations 15.4 % 15.4 % 16.6 %
Effective tax rate for the Group (1) 28.9 % 26.3 % 23.9 %
Note:
(1)Weibo Corporation, its subsidiaries, the VIEs and VIEs’ subsidiaries together are referred to as “the Group.”
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We recorded income tax expenses of US$145.3 million, US$110.6 million and US$144.5 million in 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively. The provision for income taxes for China operations differs from the amounts computed by applying the statutory enterprise income tax rate mostly due to the preferential tax treatment that Weibo Technology enjoyed as a qualified “High and New Technology Enterprise” during the periods presented. Weibo Technology was entitled to a tax reduction of US$42.2 million, US$38.0 million and US$30.9 million for the “High and New Technology Enterprise” status in 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively. Furthermore, Weibo Technology and other qualified entities within our group recognized tax benefits of research and development super-deduction of US$22.2 million, US$22.3 million and US$18.2 million in 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Our loss from non-China operations primarily included stock-based compensation, fair value changes through earnings on investments, investment-related impairment and provision, and interest expenses recorded by our non-China entities. The substantial majority of these items were recognized by our non-China entities in the Cayman Islands, which is a tax free jurisdiction.
2025 Compared to 2024
In 2025, the management revisited our reinvestment plan and expanded the distribution scope from Weibo Technology to all WFOEs under Weibo HK. The increase of income tax expense in 2025 compared to 2024 was due to the US$41.9 million withholding tax accrued by Weibo HK in respect of retained earnings generated by Weibo Technology in 2025 and cumulative retained earnings from its other WFOE entities up to 2025. In 2024, we accrued a $22.1 million withholding tax related to Weibo Technology’s earnings for 2024.
2024 Compared to 2023
The decrease of income tax expense in 2024 compared to 2023 was due to the accrual of withholding tax related to the earnings of the WFOE. In 2023, we cumulatively accrued a $43.7 million withholding tax related to the WFOE’s earnings for 2023 and certain years prior to 2023. The WFOE reinvested the remaining accumulated net profits as of December 31, 2022 in its PRC operations for the development and growth of the business. In 2024, we accrued a $22.1 million withholding tax related to the WFOE’s earnings for 2024.
B.Liquidity and Capital Resources
Cash Flows and Working Capital
The following table sets forth the movements of our cash and cash equivalents for the periods presented:
For the Year Ended December 31,
2023 2024 2025
(In US$ thousands)
Net cash provided by operating activities 672,820 639,898 519,479
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (736,846) (246,900) 66,617
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities 21,690 (1,029,439) (227,293)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (63,797) (57,562) 49,506
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (106,133) (694,003) 408,309
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of year 2,690,768 2,584,635 1,890,632
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of year 2,584,635 1,890,632 2,298,941
As of December 31, 2023, 2024 and 2025, our total cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were US$3,225.7 million, US$2,350.5 million and US$2,405.1 million, respectively. Our principal sources of liquidity have been net proceeds from cash from operations and issuance of convertible senior notes.
● The increase in our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of December 31, 2025 compared to that of December 31, 2024, was primarily due to US$519.5 million in cash provided by operating activities, partially offset by net dividends paid to shareholders of US$195.6 million. As of December 31, 2025, our consolidated affiliated entities in mainland China held US$2,028.5 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, including US$836.9 million held by the VIEs and VIEs’ subsidiaries. The remaining cash and short-term investments balance of US$376.5 million was held by our entities outside mainland China.
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● The decrease in our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of December 31, 2024 compared to that of December 31, 2023, was primarily due to repayment of 2024 Senior Notes of US$800 million and net dividends paid to shareholders of US$194.4 million, partially offset by US$639.9 million in cash provided by operating activities. As of December 31, 2024, our consolidated affiliated entities in mainland China held US$1,488.2 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, including US$773.3 million held by the VIEs and VIEs’ subsidiaries. The remaining cash and short-term investments balance of US$862.3 million was held by our entities outside mainland China.
We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments balance as of December 31, 2025 is sufficient to fund our operating activities, capital expenditures and other obligations for at least the next twelve months. However, we may decide to enhance our liquidity position or increase our cash reserve for future expansions and acquisitions through additional capital and/or finance funding. The issuance and sale of additional equity would result in further dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed obligations and could result in operating covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.
In utilizing the cash that we hold offshore, we may (i) make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, (ii) establish new PRC subsidiaries and make capital contributions to these new PRC subsidiaries, (iii) make loans to our PRC subsidiaries, or (iv) acquire and/or invest in offshore entities with business operations in China in offshore transactions. However, most of these uses are subject to PRC regulations and/or approvals. For example, loans we make to our PRC subsidiaries, which are foreign-invested enterprise, to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with SAFE or its local branches. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations on Foreign Exchange.”
Substantially all of our future revenues are likely to continue to be in the form of RMB. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior SAFE approval as long as certain routine procedural requirements are fulfilled. Therefore, our PRC subsidiary is allowed to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior SAFE approval by following certain routine procedural requirements. However, approval from or registration with competent government authorities is required where the RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may at its discretion restrict access to foreign currencies for current account transactions in the future. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—Restrictions on the remittance of RMB into and out of China and governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to pay dividends and other obligations, and affect the value of your investment.”
Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities in 2025 was US$519.5 million. The difference between net cash provided by operating activities and our net income of US$461.1 million in 2025 was primarily due to a non-cash charge of US$59.1 million of depreciation and amortization, a non-cash charge of US$55.9 million deferred income taxes, a non-cash charge of US$42.1 million of stock-based compensation, an increase of US$69.9 million in accounts payable, a decrease of US$26.0 million in prepaid expenses and other current assets, partially offset by a non-cash gain of US$76.7 million from equity method investments, a non-cash reversal of US$32.1 million of allowance for credit losses, a non-cash gain of US$21.3 million from fair value change of investments, an increase of US$36.4 million in other non-current assets and a decrease of US$28.4 million in accrued and other liabilities.
Net cash provided by operating activities in 2024 was US$639.9 million. The difference between net cash provided by operating activities and our net income of US$310.1 million in 2024 was primarily due to a non-cash investment related impairment and provision of US$93.4 million, a non-cash charge of US$69.7 million of stock-based compensation, a non-cash charge of US$58.1 million of depreciation and amortization, and a decrease of US$70.8 million in accounts receivable from third parties, partially offset by a decrease of US$27.1 million in income tax payable, an increase of US$23.2 million in other non-current assets, and a non-cash gain of US$18.6 million from fair value change of investments.
Net cash provided by operating activities in 2023 was US$672.8 million. The difference between net cash provided by operating activities and our net income of US$357.5 million in 2023 was primarily due to a non-cash charge of US$101.1 million of stock-based compensation, a non-cash charge of US$58.5 million of depreciation and amortization, an increase of US$40.7 million in income taxes payable, a decrease of US$30.7 million in amount due from SINA, a non-cash charge of US$24.0 million deferred income taxes, a non-cash investment related impairment and provision of US$23.6 million, an increase of US$19.7 million in accounts payable, and a non-cash charge of US$19.1 million of provision of allowance for credit losses, partially offset by a non-cash gain of US$43.0 million from fair value change of investments.
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Investing Activities
Net cash provided by investing activities in 2025 was US$66.6 million. This was primarily attributable to maturities of bank time deposits and wealth management products of US$1,920.9 million, proceeds from the disposal and refund of prepayment on long-term investments of US$37.5 million, partially offset by purchases of bank time deposits and wealth management products of US$1,760.2 million, cash paid on long-term investments of US$110.1 million, purchase of property and equipment of US$42.4 million.
Net cash used in investing activities in 2024 was US$246.9 million. This was primarily attributable to purchases of bank time deposits and wealth management products of US$1,608.8 million, cash paid on long-term investments of US$79.8 million, purchase of property and equipment of US$61.5 million, partially offset by maturities of bank time deposits and wealth management products of US$1,410.3 million and proceeds from the disposal and refund of prepayment on long-term investments of US$93.2 million.
Net cash used in investing activities in 2023 was US$736.8 million. This was primarily attributable to cash paid on long-term investments of US$602.7 million, purchases of bank time deposits and wealth management products of US$755.3 million, net cash paid for acquisitions of US$243.4 million, partially offset by maturities of bank time deposits and wealth management products of US$585.5 million and proceeds from the disposal and refund of prepayment on long-term investments of US$347.8 million.
Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities in 2025 was US$227.3 million, which primarily consisted of net dividends paid to shareholders of US$195.6 million and purchase of a subsidiary’s shares from non-controlling shareholders of US$22.4 million.
Net cash used in financing activities in 2024 was US$1,029.4 million, which primarily consisted of repayment of 2024 Senior Notes of US$800.0 million and net dividends paid to shareholders of US$194.4 million.
Net cash provided by financing activities in 2023 was US$21.7 million, which primarily consisted of proceeds from the offering of 2030 Convertible Notes (net of issuance cost) of US$321.7 million, partially offset by dividends paid to shareholders of US$200.1 million and repayment of 2027 Loans of US$100.0 million.
The loans to SINA were presented under investing activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows. Cash payment for billings from SINA for costs and expenses allocated was presented under operating activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows.
Material cash requirements
Our material cash requirements as of December 31, 2025, primarily include our capital expenditures, operating lease obligations, purchase commitments, and obligations under our 2030 Senior Notes, 2027 Loans and 2030 Convertible Notes.
Our capital expenditures primarily consist of purchases of servers, computers, and other office equipment. Our capital expenditures were US$36.8 million in 2023, US$61.5 million in 2024 and US$42.4 million in 2025. We will continue to make capital expenditures to support the operation of our business.
Our operating lease obligations consist of the commitments under the lease agreements for our office premises and operation spaces. We lease our office facilities under non-cancelable operating leases with various expiration dates. Our leasing expense was US$19.5 million, US$18.5 million and US$18.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively. The majority of our operating lease commitments are related to lease agreements for our office and operation spaces in China.
Purchase commitments primarily consist of minimum commitments for marketing activities and internet connection. As of December 31, 2025, our purchase commitments were US$612.1 million.
2030 Senior Notes represents future maximum commitment relating to the principal amount and interests in connection with the issuance of US$750 million in aggregate principal amount of senior notes bearing an annual interest rate of 3.375%, which will mature on July 8, 2030.
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In August 2022, we signed a five-year US$1.2 billion term and revolving facilities agreement with a group of 23 arrangers. The facilities consist of a US$900 million five-year bullet maturity term loan and a US$300 million five-year revolving facility. Each loan bears a floating rate of interest per annum benchmarked against secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) plus 1.28%. We refer to these together as the 2027 Loans. We have fully withdrawn the US$900 million bullet maturity term loan as of December 31, 2025, and repaid US$100 million bullet maturity term loan in the fourth quarter of 2023. We repaid the US$5 million previously borrowed under the revolving facility in the third quarter of 2025 and subsequently cancelled the revolving facility. The proceeds from the facilities were used for refinancing of the indebtedness existing then, general corporate purposes and payment of transaction related fees and expenses.
2030 Convertible Notes represents future maximum commitment relating to the principal amount and interests in connection with the issuance of US$330 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes bearing an annual interest rate of 1.375%, which will mature on December 1, 2030. In order to facilitate the short positions by some holders of the 2030 Convertible Notes for purposes of hedging their investment in these notes, we lent 6,233,785 ADSs to an affiliate of the initial purchaser of our 2030 Convertible Notes.
We intend to fund our existing and future material cash requirements with our existing cash balance. We will continue to make cash commitments, including capital expenditures, to support the operation of our business.
We have not entered into any financial guarantees or other commitments to guarantee the payment obligations of any third parties that have or are reasonably likely to have any effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, cash requirements or capital resources. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet derivative instruments. We have not retained or contingent interests in assets transferred. We have not entered into contractual arrangements that support the credit, liquidity or market risk for transferred assets. We do not have obligations that arise or could arise from variable interests held in an unconsolidated entity, or obligations related to derivative instruments that are both indexed to and classified in our own equity, or not reflected in the statement of financial position.
Other than as discussed above, we did not have any significant capital and other commitments, long-term obligations or guarantees as of December 31, 2025.
Holding Company Structure
Weibo Corporation is a holding company that conducts its operations primarily through PRC subsidiaries (WFOE entities), the VIEs and their subsidiaries, all of which are incorporated in China. As a result, our ability to pay dividends depends upon dividends paid to us by Weibo Technology and the Company’s other WFOE entities. If Weibo Technology or any newly formed subsidiaries of our company incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, PRC subsidiaries are permitted to pay dividends to us only out of their retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Under the PRC law, each of our PRC subsidiaries, the VIEs and their subsidiaries is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds until such reserve funds reach 50% of its registered capital. In addition, each of our PRC subsidiaries, the VIEs and their subsidiaries may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to staff welfare and bonus funds, a discretionary surplus fund and an enterprise expansion fund at its discretion or in accordance with its articles of association. These reserve funds and staff welfare and bonus funds are not distributable as cash dividends. As of December 31, 2025, the amount restricted, including paid-in capital, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations, was US$728.3 million. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Weibo Technology distributed cash dividend of US$406.1 million (in equivalent of RMB2.97 billion) to Weibo Hong Kong Limited, including withholding tax of US$20.5 million paid directly to the PRC tax authorities, based on partial of the accumulated net profits of the WFOE related to the years before 2023. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the WFOE distributed cash dividend of US$401.6 million (in equivalent of RMB2.93 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2024 to Weibo Hong Kong Limited, including withholding tax of US$20.1 million paid directly to the PRC tax authorities, based on the net profits of the WFOE related to the year of 2023. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the management revisited the reinvestment plan and expanded the distribution scope from Weibo Technology to all WFOEs under Weibo HK. Weibo HK accrued withholding tax of US$41.9 million in respect of retained earnings generated by Weibo Technology in 2025 and cumulative retained earnings from its other WFOE entities up to 2025. Earnings from these WFOE entities have been and are expected to continue to be remitted to Weibo HK to satisfy its US dollar requirements for business operations and potential investments. Distributions made by the WFOE to Weibo Hong Kong Limited is subject to a 5% withholding tax under the Enterprise Income Tax Law, due to the tax treaty arrangement between Mainland China and Hong Kong.
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C.Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, etc.
Our success has benefited from our continuous efforts in protecting our intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Intellectual Property” for a description on the protection of our intellectual property.
D.Trend Information
Other than as disclosed elsewhere in this annual report, we are not aware of any trends, uncertainties, demands, commitments or events for the period since January 1, 2026 that are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our revenues, income, profitability, liquidity or capital resources, or that would cause the disclosed financial information to be not necessarily indicative of future operating results or financial conditions.
E.Critical Accounting Estimates
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, which requires our management to make estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the balance sheet dates, as well as the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. To the extent that there are material differences between these estimates and actual results, our financial condition or results of operations would be affected. We base our estimates on our own historical experience and other assumptions that we believe are reasonable after taking account of our circumstances and expectations for the future based on available information. We evaluate these estimates on an ongoing basis.
We consider an accounting estimate to be critical if: (i) the accounting estimate requires us to make assumptions about matters that were highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimate was made, and (ii) changes in the estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period or use of different estimates that we reasonably could have used in the current period, would have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations. There are other items within our financial statements that require estimation but are not deemed critical, as defined above. Changes in estimates used in these and other items could have a material impact on our financial statements.
For a detailed discussion of our significant accounting policies and related judgments, see “Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies” in the accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements included in this annual report on Form 20-F.
Allowance for credit losses–Loans to and interest receivable from a related party
Nature of the estimates required. Effective January 1, 2020, we adopted ASC 326: Financial instruments - Credit losses which requires us to record the full amount of expected credit losses for the life of a financial asset at the time it is originated or acquired, and adjusted for changes in expected lifetime credit losses subsequently, which requires earlier recognition of credit losses.
Assumptions and Approach Used. We make periodic collective assessments as well as individual assessment on the recoverability based on historical settlement records and past experiences incorporating forward-looking information. Our management estimates the allowance for credit losses on loans and interest receivable not sharing similar risk characteristics on an individual basis. The key assumptions used in the process of estimating the provision for credit losses include portfolio composition, probability of default, loss given default, and application of macroeconomic forecasts. The key factors considered when determining the above allowances for credit losses related to the fair values of the assets of the borrowers.
Sensitivity Analysis. The estimate of expected credit losses is sensitive to our assumptions in these factors. When one of our estimates of probability of default and loss given default and application of macroeconomic forecasts decreased or increased by 2% while holding all other estimates constant, there would be no significant impact to our consolidated results of operations.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, the credit losses on loans to and interest receivable from a related party was nil. For more information regarding expected credit losses and for additional information regarding the allowance for credit losses for loans to and interest receivable from a related party, see “Note 10. Related Party Transactions” and “Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies” in the accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements included in this annual report on Form 20-F.
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Goodwill Impairment Assessments
Nature of Estimates Required. Goodwill is subject to periodic assessments of impairment. We test goodwill for impairment at least annually, or when an event occurs or circumstances change that indicate the asset may be impaired. We assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test, by taking into consideration of macroeconomics, overall financial performance, industry and market conditions and our share price. If determined to be necessary, the quantitative impairment test shall be used to identify goodwill impairment and measure the amount of a goodwill impairment loss to be recognized, if any.
We have two reporting units, namely, the advertising and marketing reporting unit and the value-added services reporting unit. As of December 31, 2025, goodwill balance associated with the advertising and marketing reporting unit was US$76.1 million and goodwill balance associated with the value-added services reporting unit was US$93.2 million.
Assumptions and Approach Used. The application of a goodwill impairment assessment involves significant management judgment, particularly in assessing the fair value of the reporting units. We utilize a discounted cash flow model to ascertain the fair value of these reporting units. Key assumptions utilized in estimating the fair value of the reporting units include revenue growth rates and discount rates. Changes in these assumptions could materially affect the determination of the fair value for each reporting unit.
Sensitivity Analysis. The estimate of fair value of the reporting units are currently not overly sensitive to our assumptions in these factors. When one of our estimates of revenue growth rates and discount rates decreased or increased by 200 or more basis points while holding all other estimates constant, there would be no impairment.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, a sustained relatively low stock price was deemed as an impairment indicator, and we performed quantitative analyses as of December 31, 2025. A third-party valuation firm was engaged to help management determine the fair value of the two reporting units by applying a discounted cash flow model. We concluded that there was no impairment of goodwill as of December 31, 2025.