ByteDance's Profits in 2023 Equivalent to the Sum of Alibaba and Tencent

Recent reports suggest that ByteDance's pre-tax profit for 2023 soared to $40 billion, marking a 60% increase and surpassing the growth rates of Tencent and Alibaba. If these figures hold true, ByteDance's net profit for 2023 nearly matches the combined net profits of Alibaba and Tencent for the same year. ByteDance has denied these claims, labeling them as unfounded rumors.

Publicly available data indicates that Tencent recorded a revenue of 609.015 billion yuan in 2023, a 10% year-on-year increase, while Alibaba's revenue grew by 2%, reaching 868.687 billion yuan. In contrast, ByteDance has not disclosed its performance for the previous year. However, prior reports suggest that ByteDance's revenue surpassed $80 billion in 2022, with an operating profit of around $20 billion. In just the first quarter of 2023, its operating profit reached nearly $6 billion, doubling year-on-year, with a total revenue of $54 billion in the first half of the year. Calculating the average quarterly operating profit since 2023 based on disclosed financial reports, ByteDance has evidently surpassed other companies, claiming the top spot among Chinese internet companies.

ByteDance's remarkable performance can largely be attributed to its extensive user base overseas and the continuously improving monetization rate in the domestic market. Relevant data reveals that TikTok has surpassed 1.2 billion users overseas, with over 600 million daily active users, excluding domestic users. By linking its short video platform with international e-commerce, ByteDance not only maintains its global prominence but also exhibits extraordinary profitability. Today, ByteDance is more than just a new internet giant in China; with its global operational model, the company has also secured a place in the fiercely competitive overseas market, emerging as one of the fastest-growing tech companies globally.

However, behind this immense commercial success lie challenges. Take advertising monetization, for example; if e-commerce advertisements are excessively integrated, they may jeopardize the entertainment effect the platform has strived to cultivate, thereby affecting user experience. Hence, striking a balance between profitability and user experience, while creating a new growth trajectory, is likely to be a test for ByteDance's future development.