Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM), a Chinese tech company specializing in utility apps for smartphones, announced on Wednesday a special cash dividend of USD 1.44 per American Depositary Share (ADS) to shareholders, and the agreement to sell all its remaining equity ownership in TikTok’s owner ByteDance.
The cash dividend is set to be paid on July 9, said the firm, to shareholders of record as of June 23. The aggregate amount of cash dividends equal to about USD 200 million, and will be founded by cash on the firm’s balance sheet.
The sale of its remaining stake in ByteDance will bring a disposal gain of investment of around USD 66 million in the second quarter and will result in a cash injection of approximately USD 130 million, said Cheetah Mobile.
By the end of 2019, the company had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments of USD 338.2 million. The company reported total revenues of USD 87.9 million in the last quarter of 2019, down 55.7% year over year on a gross profit of USD 61.7 million.
Cheetah’s applications have been disabled from the Play store since February 20, as part of a massive crackdown by Google on ad fraud and “disruptive” mobile ads that targetted over 600 apps, 45 of them from Cheetah. The firm announced that it is in continuous communication with Google to appeal the decision, but results are yet to be seen.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.