TikTok owner ByteDance is ??? ??threatening the long-established positions of China’s traditional “big three” tech firms – Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent – with $29 billion in revenue and 40% year-on-year revenue growth in the second quarter this year. The Douyin operator’s earnings reached $54 billion in the first half of 2023, close to Meta’s $60.6 billion for the same period, according to tech outlet The Information. ByteDance overtook rival Tencent in terms of total sales in the quarter, but failed to overtake e-commerce giant Alibaba. ByteDance’s revenue growth came mainly from advertising and e-commerce business, the report stated, with most of the firm’s earnings coming from its domestic market; overseas markets accounted for about 20% of its revenue during the period. [The Information]