Cheetah Mobile

Cheetah Mobile Inc (猎豹移动公司) is a Chinese mobile Internet company headquartered in Beijing, China.

Being the creator to some of the most popular global mobile apps, it has more than 634 million monthly active users as of Jan 2017.

History

Formation

The company was established in 2010 as a merger of Kingsoft Security and Conew Image, and grew to be the second-largest internet security software provider in China, according to iResearch. 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. The IPO was managed by Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Credit Suisse Group. Kingsoft and Tencent are major investors in Cheetah Mobile, holding 54% and 18% respectively.

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.

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

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.

Products

Cheetah Mobile's ad supported products include:

Computer applications

• Clean Master (PC) â€" For personal computers, it claims to improve performance by erasing junk files and optimizing device memory. The app is available for PC and other smartphone platforms for free.

Games

• Big Bang 2048 â€" Similar to the game 2048, but with numbers replaced by animals.
• Just Get 10 â€" 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.
• Don't Tap The White Tile â€" Players must avoid white tiles.
• Piano Tiles 2: Don't Tap The White Tile 2â€" The sequel of Don't Tap The White Tile, including new gameplay and songs.
• Rolling Sky - A fast-paced game where players must roll a ball through different levels.
• Tap Tap Dash - A fast-paced game where players must tap to keep their character from falling off the platform throughout different levels.
• Dancing Line - A rhythm game.
• Arrow.io- an archery game that ranges in 4 arenas.
• Tap Tap Fish: AbyssRium - A marine aquarium game which the goal is to collect all the hidden fishes.

Mobile applications

• Armorfly - A browser which claims to have high privacy and security.
• Battery Doctor â€" Claims to extend smartphone battery standby time.
• Clean Master â€" Claims to improve smartphone performance and free storage space by erasing junk files, optimizing memory, and providing full protection from viruses, trojans, and other malware. There is significant controversy online to whether the application is actually effective or not.
• Cloud Space of CM Security - A cloud backup tool to back up user's photos, call logs, contact information and SMS messages.
• CM Backup â€" A cloud backup service.
• CM Browser â€" A mobile web browser with antivirus security functions.
• CM Flashlight â€" An ad supported flashlight app with a built-in compass.
• CM Keyboard - A keyboard application that allows you to customize your keyboard.
• CM Launcher 3D â€" Launcher only compatible with Android devices.
• CM Locker - An Android lockscreen app.
• Security Master â€" An antivirus application for Android phones.
• CM Security VPN - A free VPN application.
• CM Speed Booster - An Android optimizer.
• CM Swipe - A quick access tool for easy access to apps and tools with just one hand.
• CM TouchMe - An assistive tool to quickly access system operations or your apps, inspired by the assistive touch tool in iOS.
• CM Transfer - A file transfer tool to exchange photos, videos, music & apps offline.
• CM QR Code & Bar Code Scanner - An ad supported QR code scanner tool hidden in QR & Bar Codes.
• File Manager â€" Popular for Android, bought in early 2014 from Rhythm Software, which is based in Haidian, Beijing, PRC .
• GoTap! - A data management tool that claims to help users manage or reduce your mobile data usage and battery.
• Heartbleed Scanner - A heartbleed virus scanner application that scans the Android operating system to see if the device is vulnerable to the 2014 Heartbleed exploit.
• Notification Cleaner - A notification manager tool.
• Photo Grid â€" Photo collage-making application. Users can create unique effects with any combination of photographs.
• QuickPic Gallery â€" A photo gallery application.
• Ransomware Killer - A ransomware virus killer application that claims to kill malware on a infected Android phone.
• Simplelocker Cleaner - A locker cleaner application that performs a full scan of an Android device, and whether the Cryptolocker virus is present. Claims to use a "special anti-hijack solution" to remove the virus.
• Speed Test - A WiFi speed test tool that helps scan your WiFi connections, check the security and the speed of the connection, and then "optimize" the speed.
• Struts 2 Web Server Scanner - A web server scanner application that scans your browser history and detect whether your recently visited websites are affected by the Struts 2 flaw.
• Stubborn Trojan Killer - A mobile antivirus application that claims to get rid of stubborn trojans that can’t be deleted by other common antivirus apps.
• WhatsCall - A caller application with free global and secure calls.
• 2Face - An account management application for instant simultaneous access to two exact copies of applications such as social, gaming and messaging apps on a single device.

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.

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.

References

External links

• Cheetah Mobile