ByteDance vs Meta: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
ByteDance had $200B (unaudited) of annual revenue in FY2025 and $42B of net income. Meta had $201B of annual revenue in FY2025 and $60.5B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
ByteDance
ByteDance does not publish financial statements, so its figures come from internal numbers reported by the press. Bloomberg reported revenue of about $80 billion in 2022, nearly $120 billion in 2023 and $155 billion in 2024, when net profit was about $33 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2026 that 2025 revenue rose 29% to about $200 billion and net profit rose 27% to about $42 billion. Earlier, in April 2026, Chinese outlets including 36Kr and Jiemian had reported that 2025 net profit fell more than 70% because of AI spending; ByteDance has not confirmed either account. For the first half of 2026, revenue reportedly rose more than 30% to about $120 billion while net profit eased to about $20 billion. Overseas revenue rose above 30% of the total in 2025, from about 25% in 2024, according to 36Kr. In September 2026 ByteDance signed a three-year, $29.6 billion loan with nearly 30 banks, coordinated by Citigroup and JPMorgan, to help fund AI chips and data centers. ByteDance is widely considered the most valuable startup in the world, holding a staggering private market valuation estimated well over $200 billion.
Meta
Meta's revenue grew from $116.609B in 2022 to $200.966B in 2025, and net income rose from $23.2B to $60.458B. FY2025 income from operations was $83.276B. In 2026 the story is spending: Q2 2026 costs rose 55% to $42.03B, the operating margin fell to 31% from 43%, and quarterly capex of $31.08B left free cash flow at $784M. Meta had $90.26B of cash and marketable securities and $83.66B of long-term debt at June 30, 2026. It expects 2026 total expenses of $165-169B and still expects 2026 operating income to exceed 2025. Meta (formerly Facebook) maintains a trillion-dollar valuation, deriving the vast majority of its revenue from digital advertising.
Revenue and profit by year
ByteDance
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 (unaudited) | $200B | $42B | 21.0% | — | Source |
| FY2024 (unaudited) | $155B | $33B | 21.3% | — | Source |
| FY2023 (unaudited) | $120B | — | — | — | Source |
| FY2022 (unaudited) | $80B | — | — | — | Source |
Meta
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $201B | $60.5B | 30.1% | +22.2% | Source |
| FY2024 | $164.5B | $62.4B | 37.9% | +21.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $134.9B | $39.1B | 29.0% | +15.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $116.6B | $23.2B | 19.9% | -1.1% | Source |
| FY2021 | $117.9B | $39.4B | 33.4% | +37.2% | Source |
| FY2020 | $86B | $29.1B | 33.9% | +21.6% | Source |
| FY2019 | $70.7B | $18.5B | 26.1% | +26.6% | Source |
| FY2018 | $55.8B | $22.1B | 39.6% | +37.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $40.7B | $15.9B | 39.2% | +47.1% | Source |
| FY2016 | $27.6B | $10.2B | 37.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
ByteDance
- Advertising
Not formally reported
In-feed, search and brand ads on TikTok, Douyin, Toutiao and other apps, sold through TikTok for Business outside China and Ocean Engine in China. ByteDance's largest revenue source; its exact share is not disclosed.
- E-commerce
Not formally reported
Commissions and merchant advertising on Douyin E-commerce and TikTok Shop. 36Kr reported TikTok Shop's gross merchandise value grew nearly 70% in 2025.
- Livestreaming and virtual gifts
Not formally reported
Viewers buy virtual coins to send gifts to creators during livestreams, and the platform keeps part of the value. The WSJ named livestreaming among the drivers of first-half 2026 growth.
- Enterprise, cloud and AI services
Not formally reported
Volcano Engine cloud and AI model services, Lark/Feishu subscriptions, CapCut subscriptions and Doubao's paid tiers.
Meta
- Advertising
~97.6% (FY2025)
Ads across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and WhatsApp; $196.175B in FY2025.
- Other revenue and Reality Labs
~2.4% (FY2025)
WhatsApp Business messaging, Meta Verified subscriptions, Quest headsets and Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Business model and strategy
ByteDance
How it makes money
ByteDance makes money by selling attention and transactions on recommendation-driven apps. Advertising on TikTok, Douyin and Toutiao, sold through TikTok for Business outside China and Ocean Engine in China, is the largest source of revenue. E-commerce adds commissions and merchant advertising from Douyin E-commerce and TikTok Shop. Livestream viewers buy virtual gifts whose value is split with creators.
Growth strategy
ByteDance is growing in three directions. First, international commerce: TikTok Shop had about 400 million active consumers and gross merchandise value approaching $100 billion in 2025, according to Jiemian, and entered Japan and Latin America that year.
Competitive advantage
ByteDance's advantage is a recommendation system that ranks content by predicted interest rather than by who a user follows, so a new account gets an engaging feed almost immediately and a new creator can reach a large audience. The same infrastructure serves video, ads, shopping and search across TikTok, Douyin and Toutiao, spreading the cost of models and data centers across very large audiences.
Meta
How it makes money
Meta makes money by selling ads. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads are free to use, and advertisers pay to reach people in feeds, Stories, Reels and click-to-message formats. Advertising produced $196.175B of Meta's $200.966B FY2025 revenue, about 97.6%. Q2 2026 growth came from 14% more ad impressions and a 12% higher average price per ad.
Growth strategy
Meta's growth plan runs through AI. Better ranking and ad-delivery models raise engagement on Reels and feeds and lift ad prices, which drove the 28% revenue growth in Q2 2026. Meta Superintelligence Labs, led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, released the first Muse Spark model in April 2026, followed by a paid API and the Muse consumer AI agent in September 2026.
Competitive advantage
Meta's moat is distribution plus data. Its apps reach 3.60 billion people every day, so new products such as Threads, Meta AI and Muse can launch to a huge audience at once. Advertisers stay because Meta's AI ad tools such as Advantage+ convert across that audience at a scale only Google matches. Meta also owns its compute, custom MTIA chips and frontier models, which reduces its dependence on outside AI suppliers.
Questions about ByteDance vs Meta
Which company has higher revenue — ByteDance Ltd. or Meta Platforms, Inc.?
ByteDance Ltd. had $200.0B (unaudited) (FY2025), while Meta Platforms, Inc. had $201.0B (FY2025). By latest annual revenue, Meta Platforms, Inc. is the larger business, with ByteDance Ltd. showing a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of ByteDance Ltd. vs Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Meta Platforms, Inc. has a market capitalisation of $1.90T. A public market cap figure for ByteDance Ltd. was not available (it may be privately held).
How does revenue per employee compare for ByteDance Ltd. and Meta Platforms, Inc.?
ByteDance Ltd. has $1.33M / employee in revenue per employee, while Meta Platforms, Inc. has $2.66M / employee. Headcounts may use different dates, so the ratio alone does not establish which business operates more efficiently.
How do ByteDance Ltd. and Meta Platforms, Inc. make money?
ByteDance Ltd. and Meta Platforms, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. ByteDance Ltd.: ByteDance makes money by selling attention and transactions on recommendation-driven apps. Meta Platforms, Inc.: Meta makes money by selling ads.
Is ByteDance Ltd. bigger than Meta Platforms, Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Meta Platforms, Inc. ($201.0B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to ByteDance Ltd. ($200.0B (unaudited) (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the ByteDance vs Meta overview