ByteDance's revenue exceeds Meta for the first time

Peter Lynch, a legendary investor, once said that there are two types of companies worth buying: those that change the world and those that are not changed by the world. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, belongs to the former.

In 2012, ByteDance was founded in a four-bedroom apartment in Haidian District, Beijing. At that time, Meta (formerly Facebook) had its initial public offering, with a market value exceeding $100 billion. However, who could have predicted that this newcomer, though late to the scene, would be unstoppable. In just 13 years, this "latecomer" in the Chinese internet industry has now stood shoulder to shoulder with global social media giants.

Recently, sources said that ByteDance has quietly surpassed Meta, becoming the top social media company in terms of revenue in the first quarter of this year. This is the first time that ByteDance's revenue has exceeded that of Meta. In the first three months of this year, ByteDance's revenue exceeded $43 billion (about 308.7 billion yuan), higher than Meta's $42.31 billion (about 303.7 billion yuan) during the same period.

ByteDance's Q1 Revenue Exceeds Meta Source: Tech News Hub

In fact, when it comes to growth rate, ByteDance has always been faster than Meta, especially TikTok, the overseas version of Douyin, which has delivered a heavy blow to Meta in the social media field.

Data from investigative media The Information shows that although ByteDance's overall net profit growth and profit margin slowed down in 2024, the overseas business centered around TikTok still achieved a year-on-year growth of 63%, accounting for a quarter of total revenue, reaching a historical high. This indicates that TikTok's commercial value still has significant room for growth.

Before that, when TikTok was in its explosive growth phase, executives from Meta, including CEO Zuckerberg, also stated that TikTok's growing momentum successfully threatened the dominance of Facebook and Instagram. This trend is not only unprecedented but also unstoppable.

According to the current development situation, TikTok is indeed the strongest competitor of Meta. According to the "TikTok App Annual Report 2025" published by mobile application information platform Business of Apps, TikTok achieved $23 billion in revenue in 2024, a 43% year-on-year increase, ranking fourth in the global social app revenue list, behind Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

TikTok's annual revenue growth changes Source: Business of Apps

Beyond that, TikTok's success is reflected in multiple businesses. Whether it's short videos, live streaming, or e-commerce, TikTok has impressive achievements. According to reports from real-time data statistics website Streams Charts, the global live streaming app landscape has undergone significant changes this quarter, with TikTok surpassing video game streaming platform Twitch to become the second-largest online live streaming platform globally.

TikTok becomes the second-largest live streaming platform globally Source: Streams Charts

In terms of e-commerce, TikTok Shop's total transaction volume (GMV) broke through $30 billion. Among them, the US and Southeast Asian markets became key revenue areas. On this basis, TikTok Shop accelerated its expansion this year, opening new sites in Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and other countries. It is expected that with the support of e-commerce business, TikTok's revenue will continue to rise.

Social media business drives e-commerce growth

As the core overseas business of ByteDance and the overseas version of Douyin, TikTok's development path has already been clear. That is to leverage social media influence to build an e-commerce ecosystem and form a self-sustaining monetization model.

Data from the mobile application analysis platform Sensor Tower shows that in May this year, TikTok's overseas monthly active users (MAU) on mobile devices exceeded 1 billion for the first time, continuing to lead the short video social media race. Market research company eMarketer predicts that TikTok is expected to surpass Facebook and Instagram this year, becoming the social media app with the highest daily usage time globally.

TikTok is expected to become the social media app with the highest daily usage time Source: eMarketer

These data clearly indicate that as a social media application, TikTok has achieved great success. And this future success will serve as the foundation for TikTok's other businesses, continuing to build a larger commercial empire.

Among these, e-commerce is the new core. Especially this year, with the turbulent global trade environment and poor performance in regional markets, TikTok has made a series of major adjustments to its global operations.

In April, TikTok began laying off staff in its US e-commerce department, and by July, it had completed three rounds of layoffs; in June, it announced that it would expand investment in the UK, including setting up new offices, expanding business scale, and adding new jobs. At the same time, Indonesia conditionally approved TikTok's acquisition of controlling shares in the local e-commerce platform Tokopedia. Once this acquisition is completed, TikTok will achieve deeper integration with Tokopedia, developing e-commerce business comprehensively. Before that, Indonesia had restricted TikTok's social media and e-commerce businesses from operating simultaneously.

Indonesia approves TikTok's conditional acquisition of shares in a local e-commerce platform Source: kompas.id

During this period, TikTok Shop opened new sites in Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, showing that TikTok's global expansion is accelerating, and a new commercial map is quietly forming. Obviously, if these key markets can gradually explode and achieve considerable profits, then TikTok will become a truly global Douyin.

Certainly, throughout this process, there are also formidable market challenges. For example, the unresolved ban in the US market, additional news fees that Australia may implement, and youth social media restriction laws. These events may have a significant impact on TikTok's future development.

But then again, most of the challenges come from external environments. As long as the root problems exist, challenges will continue. Therefore, for TikTok, the most important thing is to maintain strategic composure, focus on market feedback and self-improvement, win market reputation with innovation and creativity, and build irreplaceable hard power in global competition.

Author | Hua Shao

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7533129607214629419/

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