Prior to the US stock market on March 12th, BOSS Zhipin (NASDAQ: BZ, HK: 2076) released its financial reports for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023.
In the fourth quarter, BOSS achieved a revenue of 1.58 billion yuan through direct recruitment, a year-on-year increase of 46.0%; After calculation, cash receipts amounted to 1.78 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 61.2% and a month on month increase of 8.8%. In the fourth quarter, the company achieved a net profit of 331 million yuan, which turned from loss to profit compared to the same period last year.
As of December 31, 2023, the number of paid corporate clients of the company was 5.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 44.4%.
In the challenging year of 2023, key indicators such as BOSS direct hiring revenue, cash receipts, and profits have achieved steady growth, and product value has been continuously validated. In 2023, BOSS achieved a revenue of 5.952 billion yuan through direct recruitment, a year-on-year increase of 31.9%; After calculation, cash receipts amounted to 6.685 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.9%; Obtained a net profit of 1.099 billion yuan, a significant increase compared to the same period last year of 107 million yuan in 2022.
Entering 2024, with the peak season of job seeking and recruitment approaching, the scale of active BOSS direct recruitment users and paid enterprise customers continues to expand. The expected revenue for the first quarter of 2024 is between 1.64 billion yuan and 1.67 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 28.3% -30.7%.
The company's board of directors has approved a new stock repurchase plan, with an expected maximum repurchase value of $200 million in the next 12 months. This is also the third stock repurchase plan released by BOSS since its direct listing. In November 2023, BOSS Zhipin also made its first dividend payout after going public, with the dividend funds coming from the company's surplus of approximately $80 million. These measures demonstrate that the management is confident in the market and the future of the company.
Zhao Peng, founder, chairman, and CEO of BOSS, said, "Over the past year, we have continuously invested resources in understanding the refined needs of our user base. We have increased our investment in scientific research and technology. We have selected colleagues who are more adaptable to challenges and curious to take on important responsibilities. These efforts have all been effective."
The steady recovery of recruitment demand drives revenue growth
BOSS's direct recruitment revenue mainly comes from providing online recruitment services to enterprises. By conducting practical research on user needs and long-term investment in production and research, BOSS has established a rapid and efficient service capability to meet the recruitment needs of different tier cities, industries, and enterprises of different scales. This also enables the company to have stronger risk resistance and easier to seize opportunities when the market environment fluctuates.
Over the past year, the user base for BOSS direct recruitment has been continuously expanding. The recruitment demand for blue collar jobs, represented by the service industry, is steadily increasing in second tier and below cities, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. In the past, these user groups did not enjoy the benefits of online recruitment services very well.
In 2023, BOSS's direct employment revenue increased to 5.952 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.9%; After calculation, cash receipts amounted to 6.685 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.9%. As of December 31, 2023, the number of paid corporate clients of the company was 5.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 44.4%.
After the Spring Festival in 2024, the scale of platform users continues to expand. From a city perspective, the growth rate of active recruiters in second tier and below cities is considerable. From the perspective of job categories, blue collar positions such as service industry, supply chain/logistics, and manufacturing have shown good performance in both incremental and incremental growth. From the perspective of enterprise scale, while the demand for small and medium-sized enterprises continues to rise, the recruitment demand for large enterprises is also recovering.
Low tier cities and blue collar occupations drive the expansion of user base
In 2023, the average monthly active users (MAUs) directly hired by BOSS reached 42.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 47.4%.
In the past year, there has also been a trend of penetration into second tier and lower tier cities, as well as blue collar jobs. In the spring of 2024, this trend is still ongoing.
Candidates for positions in product, technology, and other categories that were previously considered exclusive to first tier cities are increasingly appearing in second tier and lower tier cities. On the platform, programmers from Beijing have returned to Alshan City, a small border town bordering Mongolia, in search of part-time jobs in the field of technology. Some female programmers from Shanghai have returned to Hulunbuir and joined a network security company, starting operations and maintenance work.
Recruiters who have previously worked as job seekers in first tier cities and transformed into bosses in lower tier cities have also seen significant growth in 2023. They offer positions ranging from one or two to dozens. Some game special effects experts started a home service company in Heyuan from Guangzhou, while others graduated from prestigious schools and worked in state-owned enterprises and mobile phone companies. Eventually, they came from Shenzhen to sell tea in Lincang, Yunnan and recruited "e-commerce sales anchors".
New users try to stay and become old users, and old users continue to choose when switching jobs/starting businesses, jointly bringing BOSS direct recruitment to various industries across the country. It is worth mentioning that in 2023, while the number of active users continues to increase, the proportion of BOSS direct sales and marketing expenses to revenue hit a new low in previous years, and the company's operational efficiency continues to improve.
Self developed recruitment industry vertical language model completed filing
In the fourth quarter of 2023, BOSS's direct R&D investment reached 430 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.3%.
The recruitment industry vertical language model "Nanbeige" independently developed by the company has been filed with the "Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services" and has begun to actively explore landing scenarios in the field of job seeking and recruitment.
In February 2024, "Nanbeige" participated in the compliance verification of the trusted AI big model standard organized by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, successfully completing the special verification of the big language model and ultimately obtaining a 4+rating. BOSS direct recruitment has also become one of the first domestic recruitment industry oriented enterprises to pass this verification.
On the other hand, the Career Science Lab (CSL) directly hired by BOSS has made progress in understanding graph structured data and job recommendations based on large models, career path planning, and cognitive diagnostic enhancement. The related achievements have been published in top international academic conferences and journals on artificial intelligence, such as AAAI-2024 and IEEE TKDE. In December 2023, CSL collaborated with multiple universities to hold the first AI Empowered Vocational Science International Symposium on ICDM-2023, which is the world's first international seminar aimed at the field of "vocational science".
Vocational science laboratories are also actively promoting industry university research cooperation. As of the end of 2023, academic exchanges and cooperation have been carried out with top universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Renmin University of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Beihang University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), or joint construction of professional degree practice bases/intelligent talent service technology research centers, or establishment of graduate school enterprise joint training/visiting scholar exchange mechanisms.
Improve security level
In 2023, the security team will continue to improve the level of job security through iterations in technology, product functions, and other aspects. The accuracy and efficiency of identifying verification materials on the recruitment end are constantly improving, and the user interaction experience is also improving.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the blue collar job security service "Conch Optimal Selection" saw a 65.44% increase in the number of companies settled, with "Conch Optimal Selection" covering over 17 million job seekers in a single quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2023, BOSS directly provided 45 illegal and criminal clues to public security organs across the country. We successfully cracked down on 4 illegal criminal gangs, cracked 10 cases and captured 41 illegal suspect.