(Yicai Global) March 15 -- Zhihu’s shares plunged after China’s largest question-and-answer website operator reported a fourfold increase in its fourth-quarter net loss from a year earlier, and despite revenue almost doubling.

Zhihu [NYSE: ZH] fell 28 percent to close at USD1.53 in New York yesterday amid a wider selloff in US-listed Chinese stocks. In pre-market trading, Zhihu was down a further 5.2 percent at USD1.45 as of 5 a.m. local time.

The net loss widened 325 percent to CNY383.3 million (USD60.1 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, according to the Beijing-based company’s earnings report released yesterday. It was the firm’s first annual report since going public last March.

Fourth-quarter revenue soared 96 percent to CNY1 billion (USD159.9 million), in line with expectations. Zhihu said it expects revenue to fall to between CNY720 million and CNY740 million this quarter.

Chief Financial Officer Wei Sun described the performance as “another strong set of quarterly results” and pointed to strong growth in content-commerce solutions and paid membership and gains at its advertising business.

For the full year, Zhihu’s net loss widened 151 percent to CNY1.3 billion, while revenue jumped 119 percent to nearly CNY3 billion, buoyed by an expanding user base and average revenue per active user.

“2021 was a remarkable year for Zhihua,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Zhou Yuan. “In March, we successfully completed our initial public offering amidst a challenging market environment and went on to complete the year with sustained, robust financial growth.”

China’s answer to online Q&A service Quora raised almost USD523 million in its New York IPO, after pricing the shares at USD9.50 each, the bottom of the marketed range.

Advertising and paid membership revenue rose 37.7 percent and 109 percent to CNY1.2 billion and CNY668.5 million, respectively, in 2021 from the previous year.

Cost of revenue was CNY1.4 billion, up 136 percent, mainly due to higher execution costs for advertising services, content-related costs, and increased outlay on cloud services and bandwidth, following rapid growth in user traffic.

Average monthly active users soared 40 percent to 95.9 million last year, with average monthly paying members more than doubling to 5.1 million.

Editor: Futura Costaglione