Secoo Holding (SECOY) Risk Analysis

Currently, Mr. Richard Rixue Li, our founder, director and chief executive officer beneficially owns 18.6% of our outstanding shares. As a result of his significant shareholding, Mr. Li has significant influence over our business, including decisions regarding mergers, consolidations and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. He may take actions that are not in the best interests of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and might reduce the price of our ADSs. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders, including those who hold ADSs. For more information regarding our principal shareholders and their affiliated entities, see "Item 7.A. Major Shareholders." Our ordinary shares are divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote per share in respect of matters requiring the votes of shareholders, while holders of Class B ordinary shares are entitled to twenty votes per share, subject to certain exceptions. We issued Class A ordinary shares represented by our ADSs in our initial public offering. Our founder, director and chief executive officer, Mr. Richard Rixue Li, who acquired our shares prior to our initial public offering, beneficially holds our Class B ordinary shares. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Each Class B ordinary share shall automatically be converted into one Class A ordinary share without any action being required by the holders of Class B ordinary shares and whether or not the certificates representing such shares are surrendered to our company or our transfer agent, if at any time Mr. Li and his affiliates collectively hold less than 50% of the issued Class B ordinary shares in the capital of our company, and no Class B ordinary shares shall be issued by our company thereafter. Due to the disparate voting powers associated with our two classes of ordinary shares, as of the date of this annual report, Mr. Li beneficially owns 82.0% of the aggregate voting power of our company through Siku Holding Limited. As a result, Mr. Li will have control over matters such as electing directors and approving material mergers, acquisitions or other business combination transactions. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could also discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions, which could have the effect of depriving the holders of our Class A ordinary shares and our ADSs of the opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over the prevailing market price.

If our VIEs or their shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure you will be effective. For example, if the shareholders of our VIEs were to refuse to transfer their equity interest in Beijing Auction and Beijing Secoo to us or our designee when we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their contractual obligations. All the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC law and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. See "Item 3.D. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Doing Business in China-Uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us." Meanwhile, there are very few precedents and little formal guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a variable interest entity should be interpreted or enforced under PRC law, and as a result it may be difficult to predict how an arbitration panel would view such contractual arrangements. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. Additionally, under PRC law, rulings by arbitrators are final, parties cannot appeal the arbitration results in courts, and if the losing parties fail to carry out the arbitration awards within a prescribed time limit, the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would require additional expenses and delay. Furthermore, if Beijing Secoo, Beijing Auction or the shareholders of Beijing Secoo and Beijing Auction fail to perform their obligations under these contractual arrangements, which allow us to maintain effective control over Beijing Secoo and Beijing Auction, we may not be able to continue to consolidate the financial results and assets and liabilities of Beijing Secoo and Beijing Auction and their subsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Furthermore, our inability to exert effective control may negatively affect our ability to conduct our business, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. Our VIEs hold our ICP license, EDI license and auction business license and conduct our online sales and auctions businesses. In the event we are unable to enforce our contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our VIEs, and our ability to conduct these businesses may be negatively affected. We generate the majority of our revenues from products and services that are offered to customers through our website and mobile applications and any interruption in our ability to use our website and mobile applications may have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Mr. Richard Rixue Li and Ms. Zhaohui Huang are the shareholders of each of our VIEs, Beijing Auction and Beijing Secoo. Mr. Richard Rixue Li is our founder, director and chief executive officer, while Ms. Zhaohui Huang is our founder. Mr. Richard Rixue Li and Ms. Zhaohui Huang holds 82.0% and 0.2% of the total voting rights of our company as of December 31, 2021, respectively, assuming the exercise of all outstanding options held by Mr. Richard Rixue Li and Ms. Zhaohui Huang as of such date. The equity interests of VIEs are legally held by Mr. Richard Rixue Li and Ms. Zhaohui Huang as nominee equity holders on behalf of us. The shareholders of Beijing Auction and Beijing Secoo may have potential conflicts of interest with us. We cannot assure that when conflicts of interest arise, either of the nominee equity holders will act in the best interests of the company or such conflicts will be resolved in the company's favor. These shareholders may breach, or cause our VIEs to breach, or refuse to renew, the existing contractual arrangements we have with them and our VIEs, which would have a material and adverse effect on our ability to effectively control our VIEs and receive substantially all the economic benefits from them. For example, the shareholders may be able to cause our agreements with Beijing Auction and Beijing Secoo to be performed in a manner adverse to us by, among other things, failing to remit payments due under the contractual arrangements to us on a timely basis. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor. Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these shareholders and our company, except that we could exercise the purchase option under the exclusive option agreement with the nominee equity holders to request them to transfer all of their equity ownership in VIEs to a PRC entity or individual designated by us. Mr. Richard Rixue Li is also a director and executive officer of our company. We rely on Mr. Li to abide by the laws of the Cayman Islands and the PRC, which provide that directors owe fiduciary duties to the company that require them to act in good faith and in what they believe to be the best interests of the company and not to use their position for personal gains. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or dispute between us and the shareholders of Beijing Auction and Beijing Secoo, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in disruption of our business and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

The market prices of our ADSs and common shares have been and are likely to continue to be volatile and could fluctuate widely in response to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, like the performance and fluctuation in the market prices or the underperformance or deteriorating financial results of other listed companies based in China. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in the trading prices of their securities. The trading performances of other Chinese companies' securities after their offerings, including internet and e-commerce companies, may affect the attitudes of investors toward Chinese companies listed in the United States, which consequently may impact the trading performance of our ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or matters of other Chinese companies may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards Chinese companies in general, including us, regardless of whether we have conducted any inappropriate activities. In addition, securities markets may from time to time experience significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to our operating performance, such as the large decline in share prices in the United States, China and other jurisdictions in late 2008, early 2009 and the second half of 2011, which may have a material and adverse effect on the trading price of our ADSs. In addition to the above factors, the price and trading volume of our ADSs may be highly volatile due to multiple factors, including the following: - regulatory developments affecting us or our industry, customers, suppliers or third-party sellers;- announcements of studies and reports relating to the quality of our product and service offerings or those of our competitors;- changes in the economic performance or market valuations of other online retail or e-commerce companies;- actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and changes or revisions of our expected results;- changes in financial estimates by securities research analysts;- conditions in the online and offline upscale retail market;- announcements by us or our competitors of new product and service offerings, acquisitions, strategic relationships, joint ventures, capital raisings or capital commitments;- additions to or departures of our senior management;- fluctuations of exchange rates between the RI B and the U.S. dollar;- release or expiry of lock-up or other transfer restrictions on our outstanding shares or ADSs; and - sales or perceived potential sales of additional Class A ordinary shares or ADSs.

The trading market for our ADSs will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our ADSs or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs to decline.

Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our registered shareholders. As a holder of our ADSs, you do not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. You are only able to exercise the voting rights which attach to the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try, as far as it is practicable, to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs in accordance with your instructions. You will not be able to exercise directly any right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares unless you withdraw the shares and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. Under our current memorandum and articles of association, the minimum notice period required to be given by our company to our registered shareholders to convene a general meeting will be ten calendar days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient notice of the meeting to enable you to withdraw the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares to allow you to attend the general meeting or to cast your vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our current memorandum and articles of association, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. Where any matter is to be put to a vote at a general meeting, we will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to notify you of the upcoming vote and to deliver our voting materials to you in a timely manner, but there can be no assurance that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs are voted, and you may lack recourse if the underlying Class A ordinary shares are not voted as you requested. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders' meeting.

Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, if you do not give voting instructions to the depositary to direct how the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs are voted, the depositary will give us a discretionary proxy to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs at shareholders' meetings unless: - we have instructed the depositary that we do not wish a discretionary proxy to be given;- we have informed the depositary that there is substantial opposition as to a matter to be voted on at the meeting;- a matter to be voted on at the meeting would have a material adverse impact on shareholders; or - the voting at the meeting is to be made on a show of hands. The effect of this discretionary proxy is that you cannot prevent our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs from being voted, except under the circumstances described above. This may make it more difficult for shareholders to influence the management of our company. Holders of our Class A ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.

We are a company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Substantially all of our operations and assets are located in China and Hong Kong. In addition, our directors and executive officers, and some of the experts named in this annual report, reside within China, and most of the assets of these persons are located within China. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of the PRC may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers.

Under the laws of some jurisdictions in the United States, majority and controlling shareholders generally have certain fiduciary responsibilities to the minority shareholders. Shareholder action must be taken in good faith, and actions by controlling shareholders which are obviously unreasonable may be declared null and void. Cayman Islands law protecting the interests of minority shareholders may not be as protective in all circumstances as the law protecting minority shareholders in some U.S. jurisdictions. In addition, the circumstances in which a shareholder of a Cayman Islands company may sue the company derivatively, and the procedures and defenses that may be available to the company, may result in the rights of shareholders of a Cayman Islands company being more limited than those of shareholders of a company organized in the United States. Furthermore, our directors have the power to take certain actions without shareholder approval which would require shareholder approval under the laws of most U.S. jurisdictions. For example, the directors of a Cayman Islands company may, subject to its memorandum and articles of association, without shareholder approval implement a sale of any assets, property, part of the business, or securities of the company. Our ability to create and issue new classes or series of shares without shareholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a change in control without any further action by our shareholders, including a tender offer to purchase our ordinary shares at a premium over then current market prices.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including: - the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K;- the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act;- the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and - the selective disclosure rules by issuers of material nonpublic information under Regulation FD. We are required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Nasdaq Global Market. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.