TikTok’s Parent Company Sees 60% Revenue Growth in 2023, Exceeding Competitors

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, saw a 60% spike in revenue last year, as reported by Bloomberg. The social media platform’s earnings shot up from $25 billion in 2022 to over $40 billion in 2023.

This increase has been led by “TikTok Shop,” which paved the way for the Chinese company to enter the global e-commerce market in the U.S. and Southeast Asia.

As the race for TikTok to achieve record revenues carries on, Congress has taken notice of the company’s success. American lawmakers are attempting to pass a bill requiring ByteDance or any company labeled as a “foreign adversary” to close TikTok’s operations in the U.S. unless it is sold to an American company. The House of Representatives has already voted to pass the bill, moving it along to the Senate. ByteDance is anticipated to challenge any obligatory sale through legal avenues.

According to experts, a TikTok ban could sabotage Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, as Biden is “already struggling to win over younger voters,” so it may not be a wise move to openly back the ban of one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.

Former President Donald Trump initially advocated for banning TikTok during his time in office. However, he changed his position last month, expressing concerns that the ban would only serve to power up Facebook’s position in the market. He said, “I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people.”

According to The Verge, ByteDance’s recent growth comes after reports that the company utilized OpenAI’s technology to develop its AI chatbot. This revelation was met with disapproval from the AI community and also constituted a breach of OpenAI’s terms of service.

In 2017, ByteDance introduced TikTok across the globe, and within four years, the app shot to fame, bringing in over a billion users worldwide. The app entered the market as a global adaptation of Douyin, which initially launched in China in 2016 and has since attracted hundreds of millions of users.

Much of ByteDance’s success was due to the significant growth of these apps. In addition to launching a video editing app, the company has branched out its offerings into e-commerce and travel bookings, too. The Chinese firm reports a workforce exceeding 150,000 employees spread across nearly 120 cities globally.