Kanzhun(BZ 6.61%) reported second-quarter 2025 earnings on August 20, 2025, delivering net income of 711 million renminbi (RMB), up 70% year over year, and adjusted operating profit of RMB880 million, a 33% increase. The company announced new shareholder return initiatives, highlighted expanding artificial intelligence (AI) commercialization, and reported verified monthly active users up 16.5% year over year to 63.56 million. Key developments included record adjusted operating margins of 41.9%, a sharper focus on small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market expansion, and enhanced AI-driven recruitment solutions.
Record profitability drives Kanzhun margin expansion
Adjusted operating margin reached a record 41.9%, up 7.5 percentage points year over year, as cost of revenue decreased 3% to RMB307 million and sales and marketing expense fell 23% to RMB420 million. Operating cash flow exceeded RMB1 billion in both the first and second quarters of 2025, supporting ongoing investment and capital returns.
"Excluding share-based compensation expenses, adjusted income from operations grew by 33% to RMB881 million, and our adjusted operating margin in the quarter reached 41.9%, up by 7.5 percentage points year on year, hitting a record high. Cost of revenues decreased by 3% year on year to RMB307 million in this quarter, mainly due to the decrease in operational employee-related expenses as a result of improved operational efficiency as we continue to engage AI in our daily operations. Gross margin went up by 1.9 percentage points year on year to 85.4%."
-- Phil Yu Zhang, CFO
Heightened profitability supports both reinvestment in AI and the institution of recurring shareholder payouts, strengthening the company’s capital allocation flexibility and market appeal for long-term investors.
Kanzhun broadens SME and lower-tier city recruitment footprint
The SME segment, particularly companies with fewer than 20 employees, contributed approximately 20% of revenue, marking the highest growth rate across all customer cohorts. Total paid enterprise customers rose 10% year over year to 6.5 million over the trailing twelve months ended June 30, reflecting robust new client acquisition in emerging regions and industry verticals.
"One data to share with you is that with the company with employees less than 20 in the second quarter, its revenue contribution goes up to almost 20%, which is the highest representing our highest growth rate among all different sizes of companies. Let's expand the size a little bit to companies with less than 100 employees. The year on year growth rate of new job postings by those companies has also significantly exceeded the platform's overall level."
-- Jonathan Peng Zhao, CEO
Diversifying revenue streams beyond established, urban clients fortifies growth resiliency and positions the platform to capitalize on underpenetrated market segments as China's labor market digitalizes further.
AI deployment accelerates innovation and operational efficiency
Within the Beijing headquarters’ technology department, 30% of code is now AI-generated, while a recently established research and development outpost achieves 70% AI-generated code, resulting in faster product iteration. AI also automates customer service training, quality inspection, and emotion recognition, with additional product innovations such as the HAMR AI agent and AI-powered interview systems attracting large state-owned enterprise adoption and user endorsement in pilot programs.
"In a certain technical department at the Beijing headquarters, 30% of the coding is now AI-generated. In another city, a newly established R&D department, 70% of the code is AI-generated. As a result, the speed of product R&D iteration and launch has significantly increased, allowing us to explore more possibilities within the same timeframe."
-- Jonathan Peng Zhao, CEO
Comprehensive integration of AI across operations and product development enhances scalability and competitiveness, reducing time-to-market for new features and sustaining a cost advantage over emerging and incumbent rivals.
Looking Ahead
Management guided 2025 revenue to a range of RMB2.13 billion to RMB2.16 billion, representing 11.4% to 13% year-over-year growth. The board approved a new annual dividend policy with an $80 million payout for fiscal 2025 and authorized a $250 million share repurchase program for the next 12 months, starting Aug. 29. No additional granular revenue or user growth targets were provided beyond these figures.
