TikTok parent ByteDance has boosted its sales to $120 billion in 2023 from $80 billion the previous year, with a profitable business in China despite challenges in the United States.
Zhang Yiming , co-founder of TikTok -owner ByteDance , has surpassed beverage giant Nongfu Spring’s chairman Zhong Shanshan as China’s richest man, according to Forbes ‘ real-time billionaires list .
Zhang, 40, holds the title for the first time with a fortune of $45.6 billion , slightly ahead of Zhong’s $43.3 billion.
After stepping down as CEO in early 2021, Zhang stepped down as chairman of the web giant later that year. However, he still derives his net worth from a stake in the privately held company, which has a valuation of $217 billion . Forbes’ estimates are based on interviews with analysts and data from trading platforms where investors can buy and sell stakes in unlisted companies.
China’s top companies
While ByteDance’s valuation has fallen from a peak of more than $400 billion in 2021 due to geopolitical tensions and a broad tech downturn, Zhang’s wealth once surpassed that of Nongfu Spring’s Zhong . The 69-year-old beverage tycoon, who was China’s richest person for three consecutive years, is struggling to grow his brand’s core bottled water business.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed Nongfu Spring have lost another 7.5% since it announced interim 2024 results in late August, a day when Zhong saw his wealth plummet by $4.4 billion as investors reacted to an 18.5% year-on-year contraction in bottled water sales amid stiff competition and public relations blunders.
Nongfu Spring is trading at its lowest price since its initial public offering in 2020. Earlier in August, Zhong lost the crown of China’s richest person to the founder of e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, Colin Huang . But PDD’s Nasdaq-listed shares plunged 30% overnight on Aug. 26, when a forecast of much slower earnings growth snatched the crown from it.
ByteDance’s challenges and opportunities
ByteDance is also facing significant problems. Zhang, who keeps a low profile and described himself as “unsociable” in a letter announcing his resignation in 2021, gave the address to his university classmate Liang Rubo , a longtime employee at the company and previously head of human resources. Zhang now resides in Singapore, according to court documents.
ByteDance is fighting in the US Supreme Court against a ban or divestment order signed by US President Joe Biden in April. The ruling gives the Chinese company until January to sell the popular TikTok platform or face a ban, as US lawmakers argue its Chinese ownership poses national security risks.
Amid these uncertainties and dim prospects for an IPO, some ByteDance investors (such as billionaire Philippe Laffont ‘s private equity firm Coatue Management ) are considering selling part of their stakes on private markets. Laffont has stepped down from ByteDance’s board and has been replaced by billionaire Xavier Neil, owner of French telecoms giant Iliad .
According to a Bloomberg report , ByteDance has seen its sales increase to $120 billion in 2023 from $80 billion in the previous year, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization soared to more than $40 billion from around $25 billion in 2022.
The company generates revenue from digital advertising placed on TikTok’s sister app in China, Douyin , which has more than 700 million daily active users in the country.
