TikTok parent ByteDance — the privately-held Chinese company behind the wildly popular short-form video app — saw its revenue growth slow last 12 months, in line with internal financial documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
Beijing-based ByteDance’s funds showed that the corporate’s revenue advanced 38% in 2022, to $85.2 billion — an enormous increase that was nevertheless well wanting the year-earlier jump of nearly 80%, in line with The Journal.
ByteDance’s cost of sales in 2022 was also up nearly 40% 12 months over 12 months, to $37.7 billion.
Nevertheless, the corporate generated greater than $20 billion in operating profit last 12 months, per the outlet, a turnaround from the $7 billion operating loss it experienced in 2021.
ByteDance also offered to purchase back shares from current employees at $160 per share, people accustomed to the matter told The Journal.
ByteDance’s revenue only advanced 38% in 2022 — down from the nearly 80% jump the TikTok parent enjoyed in 2021.REUTERS
It also has 1.4 billion shares outstanding, which might value ByteDance at $223.5 billion — down about 26% from the $300 billion valuation it enjoyed a 12 months ago, The Journal reported.
A ByteDance spokesperson told The Post: “As a non-public company, we don’t provide a valuation or other related information, rendering it unattainable for this calculation to be accurate.”
ByteDance has historically guarded its funds in a move that’s only heightened US lawmakers’ push to ban the app over national security risks.
The reports The Journal reviewed, which were sent to employees Monday and disclosed full-year financials for 2021 and 2022, in addition to the primary quarter of 2023, was one of the detailed looks into the corporate’s performance yet.
The documents also showed that despite a rise in revenue, TikTok has been slashing its marketing, administrative, and research expenses, per The Journal.
Amongst its declining expenses were $14.8 billion in selling and marketing expenses — down from the $19.2 billion it spent the 12 months prior.
Research and development spending also decreased by $5.9 billion from 2021 to 2022, to $8.7 billion, in line with The Journal, while administrative expenses fell from $8.3 billion in 2021 to $4.5 billion in 2022.
Nevertheless, the corporate doesn’t appear to be strapped for money, with revenue reaching $24.5 billion for the primary quarter of 2023 — already a 34% jump from the 12 months prior.
Total assets were also up in March, soaring to $95.5 billion from $64.3 billion in 2021, The Journal reported.
TikTok has long been under fire for allegedly breaching US users’ private data. There are over 150 million users in America on the video-sharing app alone.AP
It’s unclear what TikTok’s cost-cutting efforts entail, or if the favored video-sharing app — which boasts over 150 million users within the US alone — has conducted any layoffs since The Post last reported it slashed jobs from its 2,000-person workforce in India back in 2021.
It has, nonetheless, pushed for US staffers to report back to one in all 13 office locations across the US, including its headquarters in Culver City, Calif., and NYC hub in Times Square by downloading an internal app called “MyRTO” to trace office attendance.
Each employee’s office badge data shall be viewable by their supervisor and HR staffers.
Staffers were reportedly told that they’ll face consequences in the event that they fall wanting the three-day-per-week minimum attendance requirement, which took effect this month.
ByteDance’s TikTok unit launched an e-commerce initiative in August, called TikTok Shop, which insiders told The Journal the corporate hopes will bolster revenue growth.
The corporate has touted TikTok Shop as a feature that “empowers brands and creators to attach with highly engaged customers based on their interests,” and ensures its consumers that users are vetted before having the ability to take part in selling products on TikTok Shop.
The transaction is accomplished using third-party payment services PayPal and Stripe, that are known to have encryption to guard user data.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in March.
AP
The corporate, nonetheless, still has a protracted option to go in convincing US authorities that TikTok is secure and that ByteDance isn’t trying to access data tied to US users.
Nevertheless, TikTok staffers have claimed that China-based employees of ByteDance can, in actual fact, access American users’ nonpublic data from a minimum of September 2021 through January 2023.
Activist groups have also warned that the app promotes harmful content to impressionable users aged 18 to 34 — over 70% of TikTok’s user base.
Most recently, the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate released a study claiming that the app has turn out to be a key marketing channel for promoting steroids and other bodybuilding drugs.
