The Chinese startup behind TikTok and other popular social networking apps reportedly generated $5.6 billion in revenue in the first three months of 2020.
ByteDance’s first-quarter figure represents a 130% growth in revenue year-over-year, according to Reuters. The China-based company was most recently valued at $100 billion, Bloomberg reported, increasing its lead as the most valuable private startup in the world.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, ByteDance was able to buck slowdowns across industries in digital advertising. Instead, ByteDance’s apps — including hits outside of the US like Jinri Toutiao, Douyin, and Vigo Video — have benefited from a global uptick in use of social platforms, as millions were placed under lockdown and spent more time indoors. According to app performance tracker App Annie, six of the 10 most popular apps on China’s iOS App Store in January 2020 were owned by ByteDance.
Meanwhile, TikTok accrued 315 million installs in Q1 2020, setting a record for the most downloads any app has ever had in a single quarter. The app has continued its success as the go-to launchpad for Generation Z memes and internet culture, and recently surpassed 2 billion all-time global downloads across iOS and Android devices.
Looking ahead, ByteDance has reportedly set a 2020 revenue goal of about 200 billion yuan, around $28.2 billion. That revenue figure is $11.2 billion more than ByteDance generated in 2019, when the company saw $17 billion in revenue and $3 billion in net profit. The company generated at least $7 billion in revenue in just the first-half of last year, meaning ByteDance could be on the trajectory for robust growth through the rest of 2020.
The positive outlook for revenue could be helpful if ByteDance is still considering plans to go public on the Hong Kong stock exchange, as outlets have previously reported. An analyst told Bloomberg in May the company could IPO at a valuation between $150 billion and $180 billion.
