TikTok owner ByteDance’s first-half revenue said to reach more than US$7 billion
- The Beijing-based unicorn is said to have raised this year’s total revenue target to US$16.8 billion, up from its previous goal of US$14 billion
China’s ByteDance, operator of popular video-sharing app TikTok and one of the world’s most valuable unicorns, booked better-than-expected revenue of between 50 billion to 60 billion yuan (US$7 billion to US$8.4 billion) in the first half of this year, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Beijing-based start-up, which recorded a loss in the first half, posted a profit in June and was confident of making a profit in the second half of this year, according to one of the people, who declined to be identified because the firm has not made a public announcement.
Robust growth has led ByteDance to revise its revenue target for this year to 120 billion yuan from an earlier goal of 100 billion yuan set late last year, a second person said.
Earnings figures for last year were not immediately available. ByteDance revenue for the whole of last year was US$7.2 billion, according to a report by online tech news outlet The Information.
ByteDance declined to comment.
The seven-year-old start-up – which was valued at US$78 billion late last year, according to separate sources – also owns Chinese news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, which means “Today’s Headlines”, as well as the domestic version of TikTok, known as Douyin.
Most of ByteDance’s revenue is generated in mainland China, according to the second person familiar with the matter. While Douyin generates revenue from advertising fees, TikTok is still in the early stages of making money, the same person said.
Analysts have called ByteDance a strong threat to major Chinese hi-tech companies, including video games and social media giant Tencent Holdings and online search market leader Baidu. Globally, ByteDance’s apps have recorded 1.5 billion monthly active users and 700 million daily active users, the company said in July.
TikTok creator ByteDance moves into search business to rival Baidu
Last month, the company launched a search engine that sits within Jinri Toutiao, putting it in direct competition with Baidu. It has also acquired a Chinese-language, Wikipedia-like website called Baike.com to further boost content.
Aiming to expand in markets outside China, ByteDance recently launched work efficiency app Lark and plans to launch a paid music-streaming app.
Its aggressive push into new areas has helped lift global headcount to around 50,000, compared with 40,000 last year.
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