Benzinga - by Chris Katje, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Leading Chinese company ByteDance saw strong 2023 profits, which come as the company's TikTok unit faces a potential ban in the U.S.
What Happened: As ByteDance faces a potential ban of TikTok in the U.S. or a forced sale of the unit, the company is seeing record annual profit.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported ByteDance saw a 60% year-over-year increase in profit.
The profit growth takes the company past levels seen by Chinese rivals Tencent Holdings (OTC:TCEHY) and Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA).
Revenue was up 50% year-over-year for 2023 going from $80 billion to $120 billion, according to the report.
The report shows that ByteDance is one of the fastest-growing technology companies globally.
Related Link: Why Did Donald Trump Change His Mind About TikTok? ‘Follow The Money’ Says Rep. Nancy Pelosi
Why It's Important: According to the report this marks the first time that ByteDance has passed Tencent in revenue and profit on an annual basis.
ByteDance, which owns TikTok and Douyin, has posted strong revenue growth during a time of macroeconomic concerns and consumer struggles in China.
Douyin competes with Tencent's WeChat in China and has added features to make the app an all-in-one home for more offerings. Douyin also competes with Alibaba in the country.
TikTok, which operates in countries outside China, has grown with new products like TikTok Shop. The app has 170 million users in the U.S., according to the report. TikTok is looking to better compete with Amazon.com with ecommerce offerings aimed at consumers.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban TikTok in the country, without selling the asset to a third-party. The bill has not been passed in the Senate and the 2024 presidential election could see a potential ban as a key issue with concerns over how the forced sale or ban could complicate relations between China and the United States.
ByteDance was valued at $268 billion in December 2023 based on a price it assigned to buy back shares from investors. ByteDance's valuation was previously between $300 and $400 billion in private sales.
Tencent has a market capitalization of $372.6 billion today, which could make a potential public listing of ByteDance highly anticipated given the higher revenue and profit totals and stronger year-over-year growth.
The potential ban of TikTok in the U.S. could delay any plans for a public listing until the matter is resolved.
Read Next: Congress Moves To Ban TikTok: Could Members Benefit From Positions In Social Media Stocks Like Meta Platforms?
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