Toutiao’s success validated Zhang’s vision and laid the foundation for ByteDance’s future growth. ByteDance’s journey started in 2012, when entrepreneur Zhang Yiming envisioned an AI-powered content discovery platform that would personalize content for users based on their interests. This vision materialized in Toutiao (今日头条), ByteDance’s first product—a news aggregation app that quickly became popular in China by offering users tailored news feeds. ByteDance has also been accused of using apps like TikTok to employ intrusive data-gathering techniques. In 2022 Forbes technology reporter Emily Baker-White claimed that she had been spied on and tracked by ByteDance after writing an article critical of TikTok. Company officials initially rebuffed these claims but later admitted that their employees had obtained data from American TikTok users, including journalists and those connected to them.
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While TikTok remains ByteDance’s flagship product, the company has diversified its offerings to include a range of other apps and services. These include Xigua Video, a long-form video platform; Resso, a music streaming service; and Lark, a productivity suite. Douyin’s popularity exploded, and it soon became one of the most downloaded apps in China. Founded by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo, and a team of others in 2012, ByteDance developed the video-sharing apps TikTok and Douyin. The company is also the developer of the news platform Toutiao and the video-editing app CapCut.
ByteDance’s Success Story—World’s Most Valued Startup
ByteDance’s founders have a 20 percent stake, and the remainder is held by employees, according to TikTok. A privately held firm, ByteDance does not release revenue and profit figures, but media estimates of its earnings put it on par with some of the biggest firms in the world. The Chinese company says it has more than 150,000 employees in almost 120 cities around the world.
It has Backtesting also said that Douyin employees do not have access to TikTok’s US user data. TikTok’s CEO has told Congress that the firm has never been asked by the Chinese government for US user data nor has it provided it. That 1 percent stake also came with a board seat in ByteDance’s Chinese entity, tech news website The Information reported in 2021. As The Verge reports, the game developers are working to bring “almost all operational and publishing responsibilities in-house,” working Skytone Games, a U.S.-based publisher. It’s the first of the ByteDance apps to return to app stores since the ban.
When is TikTok getting banned in 2025? Will it go through?
Some platforms charge large fees for AI courses that provide outdated, low-quality, or surface-level information. With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives. A privately held company, ByteDance does not release revenue and profit figures, but media estimates of its earnings put it on par with some of the biggest firms in the world.
The app has over a billion downloads on Android alone, and is also available on iOS, Mac, and Windows—assuming you downloaded it before the ban. (It’s also available on the web.) Like other video editors, CapCut offers tools for chopping up your clips into content to post on your socials, but there are a number of extra features available as well. That includes templates to get a part of your video started, video effects, AI features, music integration, stock videos, and more. Similarly, there’s TikTok Shop Seller Center, an app for users who sell products on TikTok to manage their digital shops. The bipartisan law requires China-based TikTok owner ByteDance to divest itself of the company by Sunday, the day before President-elect Donald Trump is to take office. If no sale takes place, the platform used by millions of Americans will in theory be banned.
ByteDance—Founder & Team
In 2012, Zhang founded ByteDance, a Beijing-based company with a mission to revolutionize the way people consume information. At the time, China’s mobile internet landscape was dominated by search engines and traditional news portals. Zhang saw an opportunity to create a platform that would deliver personalized content recommendations using artificial intelligence. It also has others like TopBuzz, a platform that recommends trending videos and articles to users, and BaBe, a news aggregation app in Indonesia. ByteDance also launched Toutiao, a news aggregation app which uses algorithms to suggest articles and videos to users, in 2012.
- New platforms and technologies are emerging all the time, and ByteDance will need to stay ahead of the curve to maintain its competitive edge.
- The company is operating on a range of platforms allowing people to connect across languages, cultures and geographies to create, discover and connect.
- TikTok will appear before the Supreme Court on Friday in a final attempt to prevent a national ban of the app.
- The Financial Times also reported that ByteDance was looking to launch its own smartphone pre-loaded with apps that the company makes.
- Douyin’s popularity exploded, and it soon became one of the most downloaded apps in China.
- Despite these challenges, the creator economy is poised for continued growth.
- That 1 percent stake also came with a board seat in ByteDance’s Chinese entity, tech news website The Information reported in 2021.
- In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, TikTok has emerged as a dominant force, captivating the hearts and minds of millions across the globe.
- Even after stepping down as CEO, Zhang’s legacy continues to shape ByteDance’s culture and strategic direction.
- When asked during a US congressional hearing in March last year if a Chinese official was on the Beijing ByteDance Technology board, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said “I believe so”.
- It has also launched initiatives to support creators and promote diversity and inclusion.
- House Committee on Energy and Commerce to address accusations that the app is a threat to American national security.
- US lawmakers warned Google and Apple last month that they must prepare to remove TikTok from their app stores by January 19, 2025, if its China-headquartered parent company ByteDance hasn’t sold the platform by that date.
In March, its subsidiary Lark Technologies launched a product called Lark, a productivity and workplace collaboration tool. It’s looking to expand beyond those services to potentially new areas like smartphones, as it looks for further growth areas — but analysts said that could be a tough task. In 2020, TikTok was among hundreds of Chinese apps barred in India after deadly clashes on the country’s border with China. These concerns have been echoed by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies — including by the FBI director this week — as well as regulators elsewhere. AFP, along with more than 100 fact-checking organisations, is paid by TikTok and Facebook parent Meta to verify videos that potentially contain false information.
A US trading firm reportedly owns 15% of TikTok-owner ByteDance, a stake potentially worth more than $15 billion. US trading firm Susquehanna reportedly owns 15% of TikTok-owner ByteDance, a stake that is potentially worth more than $15 billion. Amidst the coronavirus crisis, while many companies are busy cutting down their workforce, ByteDance in April 2020, announced that it is hiring staff to fill 10,000 vacant posts in different domains. In 2020, ByteDance is planning to hire 40,000 employees, in a bid to match Alibaba’s power trend headcount. Besides, ByteDance is looking forward to strengthening its position in areas such as e-commerce and gaming.
As such, Marvel Snap was snapped out of existence (or, at least, from app stores) following the ban. Like other “lite” apps, this one is designed https://www.forex-world.net/ for phones with limited RAM, data, or unstable connections. TikTok has become a world-wide phenomenon, capturing the attentions of one billion users. 170 million of those users happen to be in the U.S., which makes you wonder how a looming ban of the app will affect TikTok’s bottom line.