Cheer Holding Reports Full Year 2024 Financial Results

Rhea-AI Summary

Cheer Holding (NASDAQ: CHR) reported its full year 2024 financial results, showing mixed performance. Revenue declined 3.37% to $147.2 million from $152.3 million in 2023, primarily due to reduced advertising orders. Net income decreased to $26.0 million from $30.5 million in 2023.

The company's apps showed growth in user base: CHEERS Video reached 436 million downloads (+6.3% YoY) with 52.3 million monthly active users. CHEERS e-Mall saw 60.7 million downloads (+13.5% YoY) with 6.9 million monthly users. Notable growth came from CHEERS Telepathy, with downloads up 830.8% to 12.1 million.

Operating expenses showed varied trends: cost of revenues slightly decreased to $39.4 million, while R&D expenses more than doubled to $3.4 million. The company maintained strong liquidity with cash and equivalents of $197.7 million and working capital of $265.7 million.

Positive

• Strong user growth across apps, particularly CHEERS Telepathy (+830.8% downloads)
• Healthy cash position with $197.7 million in cash and equivalents
• Significant investment in R&D, more than doubling to $3.4 million
• Positive net income of $26 million
• Operating cash flow of $22.9 million

Negative

• Revenue declined 3.37% to $147.2 million
• Net income decreased from $30.5 million to $26 million
• Advertising revenue dropped by $4.8 million
• Gross margin deterioration due to reduced service fees

Insights

Financial Analyst

Cheer Holding's 2024 financial results present a mixed picture with concerning revenue trends but positive user growth metrics across platforms. Revenue declined by 3.37% to $147.2 million, while net income fell more substantially by about 14.8% to $26 million compared to 2023.

The revenue decline was primarily attributed to a $4.8 million drop in advertising revenue as customers implemented cost-saving measures amid macroeconomic challenges. While this external factor may be temporary, the company's vulnerability to advertising market fluctuations remains a concern.

On the positive side, user metrics showed growth across all platforms: CHEERS Video MAUs increased 4.4%, e-Mall MAUs grew 6.2%, and newer offerings like CHEERS Telepathy saw dramatic user growth of 733.3%. The company maintained strong liquidity with cash and equivalents of $197.7 million (up from $194.2 million) and working capital of $265.7 million.

Expense management showed discipline with reductions in selling, marketing, and administrative costs, though R&D expenses more than doubled from $1.6 million to $3.4 million, reflecting continued platform investments. The e-Mall's 39.7% repurchase rate indicates reasonable customer retention.

The growing user base without corresponding revenue growth signals monetization challenges, while the increased R&D spend suggests the company is investing in future growth opportunities despite current revenue headwinds.

BEIJING, March 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cheer Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHR) (“Cheer Holding,” or the “Company”), a leading provider of advanced mobile internet infrastructure and platform services, today announced its financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2024.

Operating Highlights For The Year Ended December 31, 2024

Total downloads of CHEERS Apps were approximately 523.3 million as of December 31, 2024, representing a growth of 10.4% from December 31, 2023. Specifically:

CHEERS Video

• Accumulated downloads of CHEERS Video grew by 6.3% YoY to approximately 436 million as of December 31, 2024.
• Monthly Active Users of CHEERS Video increased by 4.4% to approximately 52.3 million.
• Daily Time Spent for using CHEERS Video during 2024 was approximately 60 minutes.
  

CHEERS e-Mall

• Accumulated downloads of CHEERS e-Mall grew by 13.5% YoY to approximately 60.7 million as of December 31, 2024.
• Monthly Active Users of the CHEERS e-Mall increased by 6.2% YoY to approximately 6.9 million.
• Repurchase Rate on CHEERS e-Mall for the 360 days period during 2024 was 39.7%.
  

Cheer Real

• Accumulated downloads of CheerReal grew by 57.6% YoY to approximately 14.5 million as of December 31, 2024.
• Monthly Active Users of CheerReal increased by 7.7% to approximately 1.4 million.
• Digital Art Collections listed on CheerReal during 2024 were 25,856 units.
  

CHEERS Telepathy

• Accumulated downloads of CHEERS Telepathy grew by 830.8% YoY to approximately 12.1 million as of December 31, 2024.
• Monthly Active Users of CHEERS Telepathy platform increased by 733.3% to approximately 2.5 million.
• Average Monthly Visits during 2024 were approximately 3.4 million.
  

Financial Highlights For The Year Ended December 31, 2024

• Revenues reached $147.2 million.
• Net Income reached $26 million.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was approximately $22.9 million.
  

Selected Financial Results

Revenues

Our revenues were about $147.2 million for the year ending December 31, 2024, down approximately $5.1 million or 3.37% from $152.3 million in 2023. This decline was primarily driven by a $4.8 million drop in advertising revenue, as customers reduced their advertising orders in response to cost-saving measures amid a challenging macroeconomic environment.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses consist of cost of revenues, selling and marketing, general and administrative and research and development expense.

• Our cost of revenues decreased slightly by about $0.1 million or 0.41%, from approximately $39.5 million in 2023 to approximately $39.4 million in 2024, aligning with revenue trends. However, our gross margin fell due to reduced service fees charged to advertising customers. We anticipate increased advertising revenues from continuous investments in advertising business, though it may take time to see results.
  
• Sales and marketing expenses mainly include salaries and benefits for the sales team, user acquisition costs, advertising fees, travel expenses, and CHEERS e-Mall marketing costs. These expenses fell by about $0.9 million, from approximately $76.2 million in 2023 to around $75.3 million in 2024. This decrease was primarily due to the depreciation of the RMB, which reduced the USD value of revenues when converted. Excluding foreign exchange effects, these expenses rose by about 0.41%.
  
• General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and benefits for members of our management and bad debt provision expense for accounts receivable and professional service fees. Our general and administrative expenses decreased by approximately $2.2 million, to approximately $3.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from approximately $5.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The change was primarily caused by provision of expected credit losses against accounts receivable of approximately $2.1 million in the year of 2023, while we reversed the provision of $19,516 in the year of 2024.
• Research and development expenses rose significantly from $1.6 million in 2023 to approximately $3.4 million in 2024, driven by continued investment in IT infrastructure, user-friendliness upgrades, and continual implementation on content driven strategies.
  

Net income

As a result of the foregoing, we had a net income of approximately $26.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to a net income of approximately $30.5 million in the year ended December 31, 2023.

Cash, cash equivalents and working capital

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our principal sources of liquidity were cash and cash equivalents of approximately $197.7 million and $194.2 million, respectively. Working capital at December 31, 2024 was approximately $265.7 million.

About Cheer Holding, Inc.

As a preeminent provider of next-generation mobile internet infrastructure and platform services in China, Cheer Holding is dedicated to building a digital ecosystem that integrates “platforms, applications, technology, and industry” into a cohesive system, thereby creating a new, open business environment for web3.0 that leverages AI technology. The Company is developing a 5G+VR+AR+AI shared universe space that builds on cutting-edge technologies including blockchain, cloud computing, extended reality, and digital twin.

Cheer Holding’s portfolio includes a wide range of products and services, such as Polaris Intelligent Cloud, CHEERS Telepathy, CHEERS Open Data Platform, CHEERS Video, CHEERS e-Mall, CheerReal, CheerCar, CheerChat, CHEERS Fresh Group-Buying E-commerce Platform, Digital Innovation Research Institute, CHEERS Livestreaming, variety show series, IP short video matrix, and more. These offerings provide diverse application scenarios that seamlessly blend “online/offline” and “virtual/reality” elements.

With “CHEERS+” at the core of Cheer Holding’s ecosystem, the Company is committed to consolidating and strengthening its core competitiveness, and achieving long-term sustainable and scalable growth.

For more information, please visit http://ir.gsmg.co/.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements made in this release are “forward looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words “estimates,” “projected,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “forecasts,” “plans,” “intends,” “believes,” “seeks,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “future,” “propose” and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside the Company’s control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others, are: the ability to manage growth; ability to identify and integrate other future acquisitions; ability to obtain additional financing in the future to fund capital expenditures; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions; costs or other factors adversely affecting our profitability; litigation involving patents, intellectual property, and other matters; potential changes in the legislative and regulatory environment; a pandemic or epidemic; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could affect the Company’s ability to continue successful development and launch of its metaverse experience centers, AI initiatives and technology infrastructure; the possibility that the Company may not succeed in developing its new lines of businesses due to, among other things, changes in the business environment and technological developments, competition, changes in regulation, or other economic and policy factors; disruptions or other business interruptions that may affect the operations of our products and services, the possibility that the Company’s new lines of business may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; other factors, risks and uncertainties set forth in documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the Company’s latest Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 10, 2025. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Such information speaks only as of the date of this release.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Wealth Financial Services LLC

Connie Kang, Partner

Email: ckang@wealthfsllc.com

Tel: +86 1381 185 7742 (CN)

CHEER HOLDING, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share data)

	December 31, 2024				December 31, 2023
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	197,660			$	194,227
Restricted cash		-				298
Accounts receivable, net		77,074				81,170
Prepayment and other current assets, net		30,834				31,179
Total current assets		305,568				306,874
Property, plant and equipment, net		33				85
Intangible assets, net		40,531				20,255
Deferred tax assets		72				41
Unamortized produced content, net		16				-
Right-of-use assets		371				377
Total non-current assets		41,023				20,758
TOTAL ASSETS	$	346,591			$	327,632
Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity
Current liabilities:
Short-term bank loans	$	9,590			$	4,216
Accounts payable		2,039				9,599
Contract liabilities		27				130
Accrued liabilities and other payables		1,941				3,764
Due to related parties		1,100				-
Other taxes payable		25,095				28,178
Lease liabilities current		109				330
Total current liabilities		39,901				46,217
Long-term bank loan		1,370				1,408
Lease liabilities non-current		250				-
Total non-current liabilities		1,620				1,408
TOTAL LIABILITIES	$	41,521			$	47,625
Shareholders’ Equity
Preferred shares (par value of $0.0001 per share; 2,000,000 shares authorized as of December 31, 2024 and 2023; nil and nil shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively)	$	-			$	-
Class A Ordinary shares (par value of $0.001 per share; 200,000,000 shares authorized as of December 31, 2024 and 2023; 10,285,568 and 10,070,012 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively)*		10				10
Class B Ordinary shares (par value of $0.001 per share; 500,000 shares and nil shares authorized as of December 31, 2024 and 2023; 500,000 and nil shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively)		-				-
Additional paid-in capital		113,485				106,215
Statutory reserve		1,411				1,411
Retained earnings		207,128				181,162
Accumulated other comprehensive loss		(17,041	)			(8,869	)
TOTAL CHEER HOLDING, INC SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY		304,993				279,929
Non-controlling interest		77				78
TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY		305,070				280,007
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY	$	346,591			$	327,632

CHEER HOLDING, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME AND
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
(In U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share data)

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024				2023				2022
Revenues	$	147,196			$	152,327			$	157,079
Operating expenses:
Cost of revenues		(39,388	)			(39,549	)			(40,580	)
Selling and marketing		(75,289	)			(76,200	)			(82,534	)
General and administrative		(3,499	)			(5,658	)			(5,908	)
Research and development		(3,428	)			(1,635	)			(1,331	)
Total operating expenses		(121,604	)			(123,042	)			(130,353	)
Income from operations		25,592				29,285				26,726
Other income (expenses):
Interest income (expense), net		262				3				(93	)
Change in fair value of warrant liability		-				86				(62	)
Other income, net		80				1,215				282
Total other income		342				1,304				127
Income before income tax		25,934				30,589				26,853
Income tax benefit (expense)		34				(61	)			(413	)
Net income		25,968				30,528				26,440
Less: net gain (loss) attributable to non-controlling interest		2				51				(450	)
Net income attributable to Cheer Holding, Inc.’s shareholders	$	25,966			$	30,477			$	26,890
Other comprehensive loss
Unrealized foreign currency translation loss		(8,175	)			(2,233	)			(13,357	)
Comprehensive income		17,793				28,295				13,083
Less: comprehensive (loss) gain attributable to non-controlling interests		(1	)			3				(478	)
Comprehensive income attributable to Cheer Holding, Inc.’s shareholders	$	17,794			$	28,292			$	13,561
Earnings per ordinary share
Basic and dilutive	$	2.51			$	3.53			$	3.95
Weighted average shares used in calculating earnings per ordinary share
Basic and dilutive		10,327,198				8,637,504				6,812,387

CHEER HOLDING, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In U.S. dollars in thousands)

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024				2023				2022
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net income	$	25,968			$	30,528			$	26,440
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
(Reversal of provision) provision for doubtful accounts		(20	)			2,096				440
Provision for unamortized produced content		-				112				770
Depreciation and amortization		3,781				3,385				2,884
Amortization of right-of-use assets		41				394				454
Loss from early termination of right-of-use assets		15				-				-
Deferred income tax (benefits) expense		(33	)			63				(53	)
Share based compensation for employees		1,745				-				-
Share based compensation for non-employees		-				-				391
Written off of property and equipment		2				2				-
Amortization of loan origination fees		10				16				76
Change in fair value of warrant liability		-				(86	)			62
Income from waive of other payables		(156	)			-				-
Changes in assets and liabilities
Accounts receivable		1,924				15,205				(42,105	)
Prepayment and other current assets		(514	)			(22,270	)			16,872
Unamortized produced content		(16	)			682				170
Accounts payable		(7,402	)			3,325				(5,576	)
Contract liabilities		(101	)			(14	)			(356	)
Accrued liabilities and other payables		-				(370	)			565
Other taxes payable		(2,347	)			9,477				7,346
Lease liabilities		(22	)			(371	)			(641	)
Net cash provided by operating activities		22,875				42,174				7,739
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Purchase of property, plant and equipment		(1	)			(3	)			(25	)
Purchase of intangible assets		(24,861	)			-				-
Prepayments for acquisition of intangible assets		-				-				(7,964	)
Net cash used in investing activities		(24,862	)			(3	)			(7,989	)
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from short-term bank loans		12,507				4,660				6,096
Repayments of short-term bank loans		(6,949	)			(4,802	)			(6,244	)
Proceeds from long-term bank loans		-				1,412				-
Payment of loan origination fees		(32	)			(58	)			(87	)
Contribution (withdrawal of) from shareholders		5,525				(791	)			743
Borrowings from related parties		-				1,600				-
Repayments to related parties		(500	)			-				-
Proceeds from issuance of ordinary shares in connection with a private placement		-				80,000				-
Net cash provided by financing activities		10,551				82,021				508
Effect of exchange rate changes		(5,429	)			(149	)			(7,078	)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		3,135				124,043				(6,820	)
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, at beginning of year		194,525				70,482				77,302
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, at end of year	$	197,660			$	194,525			$	70,482
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF CASH FLOW INFORMATION:
Interests paid	$	325			$	271			$	247
Income tax paid	$	-			$	-			$	-
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF NON-CASH FLOW INFORMATION:
Acquisition of intangible assets from prepayments	$	4,464			$	4,464			$	-
Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for operating lease liabilities	$	385			$	-			$	-

FAQ

What caused Cheer Holding (CHR) revenue decline in 2024?

CHR's revenue declined 3.37% due to a $4.8 million drop in advertising revenue, as customers reduced advertising orders amid challenging macroeconomic conditions.

How much did Cheer Holding (CHR) spend on R&D in 2024?

CHR's R&D expenses increased from $1.6 million in 2023 to $3.4 million in 2024, focused on IT infrastructure and content strategy improvements.

What is the user growth of CHEERS Telepathy platform in 2024?

CHEERS Telepathy saw dramatic growth with downloads up 830.8% to 12.1 million and monthly active users increasing 733.3% to 2.5 million.

What is Cheer Holding's (CHR) cash position as of December 2024?

CHR had cash and cash equivalents of $197.7 million and working capital of approximately $265.7 million as of December 31, 2024.