TikTok Owner ByteDance Sees Revenues Soar 30 Pct

TikTok owner ByteDance saw its revenues rise more than 30 percent from about $60 billion (£49bn) in 2021 to more than $80bn in 2022, according to reports.

While the figures reported by The Information and Bloomberg represents a slowdown from the previous year’s 80 percent growth from 2020 to 2021, they remains significant at a time that comparable social media companies are seeing slower revenue growth or a decline in income.

The figure would put ByteDance on par with Chinese tech giant Tencent, operator of the WeChat all-in-one chat app, which made 554.6bn yuan ($80bn) last year.

The Information cited unnamed sources, while Bloomberg said the figures were relayed to ByteDance investors in a recent memo.

Ad growth

The Information said most of ByteDance’s revenue growth came from its core advertising business in mainland China, where it operates Douyin, a TikTok equivalent that has expanded to include features ranging from built-in purchases to online meal and grocery delivery.

The feature expansion follows in the footsteps of WeChat, which includes widely used messaging and payment features, among others.

Outside of China TikTok is also seeing quick growth, with 150 million users in the US.

But the company faces growing hostility in Western countries over concerns about the data it collects on users.

Data security

TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi last month testified before a hostile US Congress panel, as the US government works on a bill that could lead to an outright ban on the app.

Meanwhile US federal government employees have been banned from having TikTok installed on government-issued phones, a move followed by the UK and the European Commission.