Feng Huang Wang Cai Jing·2025-10-17 05:54Core Insights - The recent outage of Zhihu, which affected both web and mobile platforms, unexpectedly brought the company back into public attention [1][4] - This incident occurred during a challenging period for Zhihu, as the company is experiencing significant declines in its core business performance [12][14] Summary by Sections Incident Overview - On October 17, Zhihu faced a widespread outage, causing users to experience loading issues and account logouts [2] - Users reacted with confusion, initially blaming their devices or internet connections for the problems [5][6][7] - The outage particularly impacted users who rely on the platform for leisure during work or study [8][10] Business Performance - Zhihu reported a total revenue of 1.447 billion yuan for the first half of 2025, a significant decline of 23.7% year-over-year [12][13] - The three main business segments—marketing services, paid memberships, and vocational training—saw substantial revenue drops, with marketing services down 37.8% to 420 million yuan and paid memberships down 7.1% [13][14] - The number of paid subscribers decreased from 14.7 million to 13.7 million, indicating a loss of 1 million users [13] Profitability and Cost Management - Despite the revenue decline, Zhihu achieved a net profit of 62.37 million yuan in the first half of 2025, largely due to significant cost-cutting measures [14][15] - Total operating expenses decreased by 30.9%, with notable reductions in sales, research and development, and management costs [14][15] - The strategy of prioritizing profit over growth raises concerns about long-term sustainability and competitiveness, particularly in terms of innovation and technical stability [15] Leadership Changes - The recent resignation of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) adds to the uncertainty surrounding Zhihu's strategic direction, especially as the company focuses on AI initiatives [15] - The timing of the CTO's departure, close to the outage incident, raises questions about the impact of leadership instability on technical maintenance and infrastructure [15]