A senior executive at ByteDance, which is the owner of TikTok stated that the company plans to invest a 'huge amount' of capital into its latest education technology business but warned that the unit will be unlikely to get any profits in the next three years.
Beijing-based ByteDance has taken education technology as one of its top priorities along with short video app TikTok, which is currently facing scrutiny in Washington due to suspicions China can force the company to turn over user data.
ByteDance to Invest Big in Education Technology Business
Chen Lin, senior vice president at ByteDance, said in an internal speech that the company entered the education technology sector in 2016 via investments and trying out various projects, according to a transcript published by the company on social media. ByteDance operates one-on-one English tutoring app GoGoKid and online course live streaming app Qingbei.
Eight-year-old ByteDance's revenue mainly comes from its Chinese short video app Douyin and news aggregator Jinri Toutiao. The company is a late entrant to China's education technology market, as industry leader Yuanfudao was founded in 2012 and rival Zuoyebang started up in 2013. The industry was one of a few sectors that saw its fortunes shine during the coronavirus pandemic as widespread lockdowns in China and school closures forced students to take online classes from home for many months.
(With agency inputs)
