Cover Story: TikTok Is The World's Most Popular App. Can It Make Money?

On Sept. 16, ByteDance announced it would buy back as much as $3 billion of its own shares from investors at a valuation of about $300 billion

Having captured the gaze of hundreds of millions of people with its short-video platform TikTok, parent company ByteDance Ltd. is now the focus of attention as it struggles to commercialize the app and finally turn a profit amid tightened regulations and rising U.S.-China tensions.

The company’s growth, bolstered by advertising revenue in China that last year surpassed 200 billion yuan ($28 billion) - more than double that of Tencent Holdings Ltd. and second only to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s 316.4 billion yuan - is now facing headwinds both at home and abroad.

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