Qudian Inc. (China)

The Company and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in the operation of online platforms to provide small cash credit products in the People's Republic of China.
The Company targets hundreds of millions of quality, unserved or underserved consumers in China. They are young, mobile-active consumers who need access to small credit for their discretionary spending but are underserved by traditional financial institutions due to their lack of traditional credit data and the operational inefficiency of traditional financial institutions. The Company believes its operating efficiency and big data analytics capability to understand its prospective borrowers from different behavioral and transactional perspectives, assess their credit profiles and offer them instantaneous and affordable credit products with customized terms distinguishes its business and offerings.
The Company, through its subsidiaries, variable interest entity (“VIE”) and subsidiaries of the VIE, are principally engaged in the operation of online platforms to provide small cash credit products in the People's Republic of China (the “PRC”). The Company does not conduct any substantive operations of its own. As PRC law and regulations prohibit foreign control of companies involved in internet value-added business, the Company conducts its primary business operations through its VIE and the subsidiaries of the VIE.
As PRC laws and regulations prohibit and restrict foreign ownership of internet value-added businesses, the Company operates its business, primarily through the VIE and the subsidiaries of the VIE. The Company, through Qufenqi Ganzhou entered into power of attorney and an exclusive call option agreement with the nominee shareholders of the VIE, that gave Qufenqi Ganzhou the power to direct the activities that most significantly affect the economic performance of the VIE and to acquire the equity interests in the VIE when permitted by the PRC laws, respectively. Certain exclusive agreements have been entered into with the VIE through Qufenqi Ganzhou, which obligate Qufenqi Ganzhou to absorb a majority of the risk of loss from the VIE's activities and entitles Qufenqi Ganzhou to receive a majority of their residual returns. In addition, the Company has entered into a share pledge agreement for the equity interests in the VIE held by the nominee shareholders of the VIE. On February 15, 2017, Qudian Inc. agreed to provide unlimited financial support to the VIE for its operations. In addition, pursuant to the resolution of all shareholders of the Company and the resolution of the board of directors of the Company (the “Resolutions”), the board of directors of the Company (the “Board”) or any officer authorized by the Board (the “Authorized Officer”) shall cause Qufenqi Ganzhou to exercise the rights under the power of attorney entered into among Qufenqi Ganzhou, the VIE and the nominee shareholders of the VIE and Qufenqi Ganzhou's rights under the exclusive call option agreement between Qufenqi Ganzhou and the VIE on December 9, 2016. As a result of the Resolutions and the provision of unlimited financial support from the Company to the VIE, Qudian Inc. has been determined to be most closely associated with the VIE within the group of related parties and was considered to be the Primary Beneficiary.
Despite the lack of technical majority ownership, there exists a parent-subsidiary relationship between Qufenqi Ganzhou and the VIE through the aforementioned agreements with the nominee shareholders of the VIE. The nominee shareholders of the VIE effectively assigned all of their voting rights underlying their equity interest in the VIE to Qufenzi Ganzhou. In addition, through the exclusive business operations agreement and financial support undertaking letter, Qufenzi Ganzhou demonstrates its ability and intention to continue to exercise the ability to absorb substantially all of the profits and all of the expected losses of the VIE. The VIE is subject to operating risks, which determine the variability of the Company's interest in those entities. Based on these contractual arrangements, the Company consolidates the VIE in accordance with SEC Regulation S-X Rule 3A-02 and Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) topic 810 (“ASC 810”), Consolidation, because the Company holds all the variable interests of the VIE through Qufenzi Ganzhou.
HISTORY
2016 On Nov 16, 2016, the Company was incorporated as a limited company in the Cayman Islands under the laws of the Cayman Islands.
On November 23, 2016, the Company set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Qudian BVI in the BVI.
On December 2, 2016, the Company set up another wholly-owned subsidiary, Qudian HK in Hong Kong.
On December 5, 2016, the Company transferred all of its shares of Qudian HK to Qudian BVI.
On December 9, 2016, Qudian HK acquired all the equity interests of Qufenqi Ganzhou from Qufenqi (HK) Limited (an entity controlled by the Founder, “Qufenqi HK”), for a consideration of US 100,000.

2017 Oct 18, 2017 - The Company s common stock is traded on NYSE under the symbol QD.