ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the popular social network TikTok among young people, suffered a significant loss in 2021. Reports indicate that operating losses amounted to $ 7.2 billion (€ 7.4 billion) The Wall Street Journal Based on the company’s internal report.

The Chinese tech group behind the popular movie app has grown rapidly, but has also spent a lot of money on marketing and developing new features.

Operating losses in 2021 amounted to approximately $7.2 billion (€7.3 billion). This is the result before interest, taxes and depreciation are deducted.

TikTok is currently one of the most popular apps among young people and it is making it difficult for Facebook to grow. The turnover would have increased by 80% in 2021 to $61.7 billion (€63 billion). But costs have increased almost at the same speed.

This year could see a turnaround in ByteDance’s results. In the first three months of 2022, the company reported operating profit.

Besides TikTok, ByteDance runs several apps for the Chinese market. For example, the company owns the video platform Douyin, which is very similar to TikTok, and the news app Toutiao. Like TikTok, this news app uses algorithms to recommend users messages based on their perceived preferences.