Asia is ByteDance’s bread and butter, but TikTok earnings are growing in the West

ByteDance‘s financial results from the first half of 2024 revealed some interesting data about the tech firm’s trans-Pacific media empire. Between January and June, the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok reportedly took in 23% of its overall revenue from international markets.

Since ByteDance is a privately held company, it is not required to release the quarterly earnings reports put out by tech giants like Alphabet. The Information shared some details from ByteDance’s financials after speaking to two people with knowledge of the company’s first-half results. The share of ByteDance revenue stemming from its international business is up about 4% compared to the first half of last year.

The lion’s share of ByteDance’s revenue still comes from domestic Chinese apps like Douyin and Toutiao, which are major players in the spheres of ecommerce and social shopping. ByteDance’s ability to turn users into buyers (particularly in East Asian markets) helped it turn a $25 billion profit in 2022, and its Co-Founder Zhang Yiming was recently named the richest person in China.

Despite those massive earnings, an overall economic downturn in China affected ByteDance’s domestic business. Its first-half revenue jumped 35% to reach $73 billion, but its rate of revenue growth was 5% slower than it was during the same period a year ago.

In our coverage of Zhang’s increasing wealth, we speculated that ByteDance’s continued dominance in China could allow it to weather the storm if the U.S. government succeeds in its plan to divest TikTok. After all, ByteDance survived TikTok’s banning in India, so it has experience pulling out of massive markets.

But the company’s first-half results paint a different picture. If revenue from domestic apps slows, that makes ByteDance’s increasing international revenue that much more valuable. No wonder the TikTok parent is fighting tooth and nail to retain control of its American operations.

TikTok Shop, the ecommerce venture that arrived in the U.S. in 2022, could be both a source of ByteDance’s Western revenue bump and a talisman for future growth. The critical importance of the social shopping hub explains why TikTok is training U.S. sellers on Asian ecommerce tactics and opening studios where Americans can shoot their shoppable streams.

ByteDance’s results from the current half-year will be telling. TikTok is making a big holiday shopping push among Gen Z — but will that push be reflected in the app’s financial returns?