Tech Brief (April 21): ByteDance’s Profit Plunges 70% on Aggressive AI Spending

ByteDance’s profit plunges 70% on aggressive AI spending

ByteDance Ltd.’s net profit plunged more than 70% in 2025 as the company aggressively scaled up its artificial intelligence investments, even as the booming TikTok e-commerce business drove a nearly 50% surge in overseas revenue. The Chinese technology giant disclosed the operational data for 2025 on Monday, revealing that domestic revenue grew nearly 20% in 2025 year-on-year. Douyin Vice President Li Liang said that the profit drop stemmed mainly from changes in preferred stock and option costs, which did not reflect actual operations. Excluding these non-operational factors, ByteDance’s full-year revenue and profit actually grew, though the operating profit margin dipped slightly in the second half of the year due to slowing domestic e-commerce growth and increasing investment in emerging businesses, Li said.