TikTok owner ByteDance increased profits by almost two-thirds to over $40 billion last year to overtake Chinese tech peer Tencent.
Underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the privately owned technology giant surged above $40 billion, according to a Bloomberg report, up from close to $25 billion the year before.
This was on the back of sales jumping 50% to almost $120 billion, sources told the newswire, citing internal figures that have not yet been independently audited nor confirmed officially by the company.
The figures are higher than previously leaked numbers and come less than seven years after TikTok was formally launched, in May 2017, with the app now used by 170 million Americans and an estimated 1.2 billion people worldwide.
Twelve-year-old ByteDance, which is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and based in Beijing, has now overtaken Tencent in revenue and profit terms.
One major cloud on the horizon for the company is that its TikTok is facing a comprehensive ban in the US, with a bill calling for it to be divested.
The House of Representatives passed the bill but it still needs approval from the Senate, where yesterday the Republican leader verbally backed the legislation.