According to media reports on the afternoon of April 20, citing people familiar with the matter, ByteDance’s net profit in 2025 will fall by more than 70% year-on-year, and its net profit margin will also decline sharply. The background is that the company significantly increased its investment in AI business in the third and fourth quarters of last year.
The report also mentioned that at the same time, ByteDance's overseas revenue will grow by nearly 50% in 2025, far exceeding the domestic growth rate of about 20%, and the proportion of overseas business revenue will also increase from 25% in 2024 to more than 30%, setting a new record high. TikTok Shop's GMV growth rate in 2025 is close to 70% year-on-year, which is the main driving force for ByteDance's increase in overseas revenue.
In response, Li Liang, vice president of Douyin Group, wrote, "It needs to be clarified that the 70% drop in Byte's net profit in relevant reports is a figure based on international accounting standards. In addition to the increase in investment in emerging businesses, there are also factors such as changes in preferred stock and option costs (which do not reflect the essence of operations). In fact, because Douyin Electronics Due to the slowdown in business growth and the increase in investment in emerging businesses, operating profit margins declined slightly in the second half of the year, but not as much as reported. Excluding changes in preferred stock and option costs, overall revenue and profits still increased, and TikTok’s e-commerce business and emerging businesses have good development trends.”