Cheetah Mobile

Cheetah Mobile Inc.

Native name	猎豹移动公司
Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: CMCM
Industry	Mobile apps, Mobile gaming, Internet security
Founded	2009
Headquarters	Beijing, China
Key people	Sheng Fu (CEO)
Revenue	568.8 million (2015)[1]
Operating income	US$80.6 million (2015)
Net income	US$76.0 million (2015 )
Total assets	US$483.7 Million (2014)
Number of employees	1,178
Parent	Kingsoft
Website	www.cmcm.com

Cheetah Mobile Inc (猎豹移动公司) is a Chinese mobile Internet company headquartered in Beijing, China. It is best known as the developer of the Battery Doctor, Clean Master, Duba Anti-virus, and for purchasing QuickPic Gallery from the original developer. It has more than 568 million monthly active users as of November 2015.^[2]

History

Formation

The company was established in 2010 as a merger of Kingsoft Security and Conew Image,^[3] and grew to be the second largest internet security software provider in China, according to iResearch.^[4] The company is located at 1st Yaojiayuan South Rd, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China.

Initial public offering

In 2014, Cheetah Mobile launched an IPO selling 12 million American Depositary Shares at US$14 per share, and thereby raised US$168 million.^[5] The IPO was managed by Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Credit Suisse Group.^[6] Kingsoft and Tencent are major investors in Cheetah Mobile holding 54% and 18% respectively.^[7]

Post IPO

In the late 2015, Cheetah Mobile announced that it had entered into a global strategic partnership with Yahoo. The company incorporated Yahoo’s search and native advertising platforms within its own apps. As a result of this, Cheetah Mobile stated that its revenue generated from Yahoo increased by 30 percent daily within the first two weeks.^[8]

In February 2016, Cheetah Mobile and Cubot launched the CheetahPhone,^[9] an Android 6.0 Marshmallow based smartphone, at MWC in Barcelona, Spain.^[10]

Acquisition

On August 2, 2016, Cheetah Mobile announced its acquisition of a French startup News Republic for $57 million. News Republic is a news aggregator.^[11][12]

Products

Cheetah Mobile's products include:

Computer applications

• Clean Master (PC) – For personal computers, claims to improve performance by erasing junk files and optimizing device memory. The app is available for PC and other smartphone platforms for free.^[13]

Games

• Big Bang 2048 – Similar to the game 2048, but with numbers replaced by animals.^[14]
• Just Get 10 – A puzzle where players tap adjacent tiles with the same number, which will then pop up. Tapping again merges the position to where it was tapped.^[15]
• Don't Tap The White Tile – Players must avoid white tiles.^[16]
• Piano Tiles 2: Halloween/Ghost Tiles – Halloween version of Don't Tap The White Tile.^[17]
• Rolling Sky - a fast paced game where players must roll a ball through different levels.

Mobile applications

• Live.me - Interact in real-time with content creator broadcasters.^[18]
• Battery Doctor – Extends smartphone battery standby time.^[19]
• Clean Master – Improves smartphone performance and frees storage space by erasing junk files, optimizing memory, and providing full protection from viruses, trojans, and other malware.^{[20][21][22][23][24]}
• CM Backup – A cloud backup service.^[25][26]
• CM Browser – A smartphone Web browser with added security.^[27]
• CM Flashlight – A flashlight with built-in compass.^[28]
• CM Launcher – An Android launcher only compatible with phones.^[29]
• CM Locker - An Android lockscreen app.^[30]
• CM Security – Antivirus software for Android mobile devices.^[31]
• File Manager – Popular for Android, bought in early 2014 from Rhythm Software, which is based in Haidian, Beijing, PRC.^[32]
• Photo Grid – For photo-editing, built to foster creativity. Users can create unique effects with any combination of photographs.^[33]
• QuickPic Gallery – A photo gallery application.^[34]

Controversies

Despite the popularity of its Clean Master Android App, it was reported in 2014 that ads promoting Clean Master manipulate Android users with deceptive tactics when browsing websites within the app's advertising framework. In April 2014, Ferenc László Nagy from Sophos Labs captured some pop-up ads that led to Clean Master, warning the device had been infected with a virus.^[35]

In July 2014, Cheetah Mobile encouraged users to uninstall Google Chrome and replace it with Cheetah Mobile's own browser during Clean Master's "clean-up" and "optimization" process. This rogue practice allowed Cheetah Mobile to gain unfair position in the marketplace and led to a Google crackdown.^[36]

References

External links

• Official website