ByteDance denies report of profit surge as it prepares to launch two new apps
ByteDance, the owner of shortvideo app TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin, has denied a news report saying the company’s profit jumped by 60 per cent last year, as it plans to launch two new apps – one to rival Instagram and another targeting European users – amid political headwinds against TikTok in the United States.
Bloomberg News reported ByteDance’s profit surged to more than US$40 billion in 2023, prompting the Beijing-based company to issue an official post on its news aggregation platform, Jinri Toutiao, saying the financial figures “were untrue”.
As a private company, ByteDance is not obliged to disclose its financial conditions, but such data is closely sought after by investors, who regard the fiscal health of China’s largest unicorn as a bellwether of the performance of the country’s internet industry.
ByteDance’s revenue in the first three quarters of last year rose by 40 per cent to more than US$84 billion, according to a report in March by tech news site The Information. The firm did not comment on those numbers.
Meanwhile, the online entertainment giant is readying at least two new apps for the overseas market, as pressure on TikTok builds in the US. The House of Representatives last month approved a bill demanding ByteDance divest TikTok or face a ban. That bill is now headed to the Senate.
TikTok’s official website has launched a preliminary page for the “TikTok Notes” app, which posted three photos and had an “open app” button, which did not work as of yesterday. Although the web page did not provide much information, TikTok had been sending pop-up notifications to users about “a new app for photo posts”, according to screenshots on social media.
ByteDance is also working on a “coin app” project targeting some European countries including Spain and France, according to a report by The Information.
The new app would follow the business model of Douyin Lite, a version of the main Douyin app that takes up less memory and rewards users for watching videos or bringing in new registered users.
While TikTok has not said which markets TikTok Notes will operate in, one of the influencers who shared a screenshot of the alert is based in the US.
The launch of TikTok Notes in the US would mark another head-to-head match-up between ByteDance and Meta Platforms’ Instagram, which rolled out its TikTok-like feature, Reels, in 2020.
Google and Meta would be poised to seize advertiser demand for short-form video placements
ABRAHAM YOUSEF, ANALYST
Despite its popularity, TikTok is facing intense competition. Nearly 94 per cent of its users in the US also opened YouTube in the past 90 days, while 80 per cent used Instagram and 68 per cent browsed Facebook, according to a report by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower last month.
“Google and Meta would be poised to seize advertiser demand for short-form video placements, given each has a viable short-form video alternative in Shorts and Reels, respectively,” said Abraham Yousef, a senior analyst at Sensor Tower.
To boost its competitiveness, ByteDance has stepped up efforts to promote other products, such as paying influencers to promote its photo- and videosharing social app, Lemon8, which was launched in 2020.