TikTok’s Australian operation has surged towards $1 billion in revenue, jumping 30 per cent on the prior year as the social media giant’s local advertising machine continues to accelerate despite mounting regulatory pressure.
But the company sent $458 million to another company in the TikTok group, which is legally based in the low tax, high secrecy Cayman Islands, for space on its app to display ads and transferred $169 million in a “cash pooling arrangement”.
Along with Google and Meta, TikTok is facing pressure from the government to pay media companies for the value of Australian news material that is distributed on its platform amid a broader debate about how much tech giants are contributing to national economies as they roll out AI tools.
The financial figures, contained in the company’s annual report lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, reveal the company generated $883.7 million in revenue in 2025, leading to a net profit after tax of $41.8 million, up from $31.2 million in 2024.
The number are a snapshot of TikTok’s business in Australia, but do not represent a full picture of the platform’s performance because they are designed to comply with narrow accounting laws.
Advertising revenue from external customers – the money flowing in from brands and agencies buying ad placements on the platform – hit $604.7 million, up 27 per cent from $474.3 million the previous year. The company also earned $278.9 million from intra-group services rendered to fellow subsidiaries of its parent company, ByteDance, up from $204.6 million, which included services like content moderation and computer server infrastructure.
The results land as TikTok faces a collision of regulatory threats in Australia. The Albanese government’s historic under-16 social media ban – which the prime minister called “one of the biggest social and cultural changes our nation has faced” – is now being enforced, while a proposed News Bargaining Incentive could force the platform to compensate publishers, including Nine, the owner of this masthead, for news content shared on its feeds.
Albanese said he was hopeful the laws would lead to deals being struck between tech giants and the media totalling around $250 million, adding that Australian journalism shouldn’t “be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits”.
Companies that don’t negotiate to pay the media will be hit with a government charge based on their revenue. TikTok has pushed back hard on the idea, arguing it is not a news destination. “News publishers’ content in Australia generates less than half of one per cent of total engagement on TikTok,” the company has said.
The company’s short-form video app is still wildly popular with younger users in particular, and generates the lion’s share of its revenue through digital advertising.
The figures show TikTok is now a commercial juggernaut generating close to $900 million from a workforce of just 756 people. Amy Bradshaw, general manager for global business solutions at TikTok Australia, has said the company helps more than 350,000 local businesses grow here and abroad.
TikTok Australia was contacted for comment.
The filing also reveals the scale of TikTok Australia’s financial entanglement with its parent empire, amid growing debate about how tech giants should contribute to the country when artificial intelligence is on the rise.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is based in China but officially incorporated in the Cayman Islands. In January, ByteDance finalised a deal to divest its US TikTok operations to avoid a nationwide ban. ByteDance retains a 19.9 per cent ownership with US firms Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX managing the platform to address national security concerns.
TikTok’s Australian arm owed $271.5 million to ByteDance and fellow subsidiaries at year-end, nearly double the $143.7 million owed 12 months earlier. It purchased $458.5 million worth of online advertising space from an offshore subsidiary during the year, up from $341.7 million.
This masthead previously reported that Google, Meta and Amazon’s cloud arm collectively sent more than $14 billion from Australian customers offshore last year.
Tiktok Australia’s share-based compensation expenses totalled $41.9 million, with ByteDance shares used to attract and retain Australian staff. The company also disclosed $206.5 million in research and development expenditure, along with the $169 million cash-pooling arrangement. Such schemes are commonly used by multinationals to consolidate their money in a single account.
TikTok Australia’s total assets stood at $471.1 million at year-end, with trade and other receivables of $379.6 million making up the bulk of the balance sheet. The company held $16.7 million in cash.
The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.
David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
