TikTok IPO: revenue, users, valuation & how to invest

TikTok overview

TikTok grew out of two apps. ByteDance launched Douyin in China in 2016 and the international version, TikTok, in 2017. In 2018 it acquired Musical.ly, a lip-syncing video app popular in the US, and merged it into TikTok.

Today, TikTok lets users create, watch and share short videos, with an algorithm that builds a feed around each user’s interests. That recommendation engine is the core of the product, and it’s exactly what made the company so valuable, and so politically sensitive.

The app has also been the starting point for countless viral trends and has reshaped how brands advertise online.

TikTok key company facts

Who owns TikTok now? The 2026 joint venture

This is the biggest change since we first published this article.

Under the US divest-or-ban law, which took effect in January 2025, an app more than 20% owned by a company from a “foreign adversary” country can’t be distributed in the US. After several deadline extensions, ByteDance signed binding agreements in December 2025 and the deal closed on 22 January 2026.

TikTok’s US business now sits in a new company, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which controls US user data, content moderation and the security of the recommendation algorithm, with a seven-member, majority-American board.

This is how the ownership breaks down:

Two things follow from this for investors. First, ByteDance still owns the rest of TikTok outside the US, and remains a private Chinese company. Second, the US business is now a separate entity with American investors, which makes a future listing of that business more plausible than it was, although nothing has been announced.

TikTok company statistics

How does TikTok make money?

Most of TikTok’s revenue comes from advertising, followed by in-app purchases (the coins users buy to tip creators during live streams) and, increasingly, from TikTok Shop, its e-commerce business, which takes a commission on sales made through the app.

The logic of the advertising business is the same as Meta’s or Alphabet’s: the more time users spend in the app and the more the platform knows about them, the more precisely advertisers can target their campaigns, and the more they’re willing to pay.

TikTok’s particular advantage is engagement. Its users spend a lot of time in the app, and its algorithm surfaces content from accounts you don’t follow, which gives small brands and creators reach that’s harder to get elsewhere.

Who are TikTok’s biggest investors?

Since TikTok’s US business is now held in the joint venture, there are two sets of investors to look at.

In TikTok US, the main shareholders are Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, each with 15%, alongside affiliates of ByteDance’s existing investors and other US and global investors.

In ByteDance, which owns TikTok everywhere else, the best-known shareholders include:

• Coatue;
• General Atlantic;
• KKR;
• Sequoia Capital;
• Susquehanna International Group (SIG);
• SoftBank;
• Source Code Capital.

Note that Oracle is publicly listed, so buying Oracle shares gives you a small, indirect exposure to TikTok’s US business, although Oracle’s value depends overwhelmingly on its cloud and software businesses, not on TikTok.

When is the TikTok IPO?

There is no announced date for a TikTok IPO, and no confirmation that one will happen.

An IPO was first floated in 2020, but it was shelved as tensions between the US and China escalated. The US government’s concern was that data from American users could be accessed by the Chinese government, and that the algorithm could be used to shape what Americans see. ByteDance always denied it, but the divest-or-ban law forced the issue.

With the joint venture closed, the main regulatory obstacle in the US is out of the way, which is why speculation about a listing has picked up again. Two paths are possible: a listing of the US joint venture, or an eventual IPO of ByteDance itself. Neither has been announced, and ByteDance has consistently avoided going public, partly because Chinese rules on overseas listings of tech companies are strict.

In the meantime, ByteDance has remained one of the most valuable private companies in the world, with valuations reported in the hundreds of billions of dollars in secondary share transactions.

Be wary of anyone promising you TikTok shares. Since there’s no listed stock, offers of “pre-IPO TikTok shares” circulating on social media are a common scam.

How to invest and buy shares after the TikTok IPO

If and when TikTok, or its US joint venture, lists on a stock exchange, you’ll be able to buy the shares like any other stock. Interactive Brokers and eToro are two brokers where you’d be able to access the shares with low fees.

Founded in 1978, the IBKR platform gives you access to more than 160 markets worldwide and almost any asset class: stocks, bonds, ETFs, forex, funds, commodities, options and futures.

If you want to buy TikTok stock after an IPO, this is how it would work with Interactive Brokers:

1. Open an account with Interactive Brokers;
2. Deposit funds into your account;
3. Once it’s listed, search for the stock (there is no confirmed ticker yet);
4. Choose your order type (market, limit, stop and so on);
5. Place the order and monitor your position.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our full Interactive Brokers review.

Founded in 2007 and listed on Nasdaq since May 2025, eToro has around 40 million registered users worldwide and is best known for its social and copy trading features. You can invest in stocks and ETFs, buy crypto and trade CFDs on commodities, forex and indices.

If you’re planning to buy TikTok stock after an IPO, this is how it would work with eToro:

1. Open an account with eToro;
2. Go to the “Markets” page and select “Stocks”;
3. Search for the stock and select “Trade”;
4. Choose how much you want to invest, or the number of shares;
5. Make sure leverage is set to X1 if you want to own the shares rather than trade a CFD;
6. Set a take-profit or stop-loss level if you want to, and open the trade.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our in-depth eToro review.

Bottom line on investing in TikTok

TikTok is not publicly traded, and no IPO has been announced. What has changed is the political context: with the US joint venture completed in January 2026, the threat of a ban in the US is gone, and the business now has a structure that makes a future listing easier.

That doesn’t make an IPO certain. ByteDance has avoided going public for years, and a listing of the US joint venture alone would only cover part of the business.

Meanwhile, the competition hasn’t stood still: Meta, Alphabet and Snap have all copied the short-video format, and TikTok’s growth is harder to sustain than it was five years ago.

If you want to follow the story, keep an eye on the announcements. And in the meantime, be sceptical of anyone offering to sell you TikTok shares.