Since it was founded in 2012 ByteDance has grown to become the world's premier application factory.
The Chinese giant, which began as a news aggregator,
is these days best known as the company behind TikTok and its domestic equivalent,
Douyin, which together are used monthly by close to 3 bn people around the world.
The company churns out so many other mobile apps that its employees struggle to keep track.
Its portfolio now spans everything from video editing and workplace collaboration to chatbots.
A deal consummated in January to sell 80% of the American division of TikTok to Oracle,
a software giant, and other investors friendly with President Donald Trump has ended a distracting saga
for the Chinese company, which secured a surprisingly advantageous arrangement
(it is reportedly leasing its algorithm to the new business in return for 20% of its revenue,
and continues to operate TikTok Shop, the accompanying e-commerce unit, in America).
Since then investors have become even more bullish about its prospects.
In November the unlisted firm was valued in a secondary transaction at $480 bn;
in February the figure reached $550 bn.
Among private companies only OpenAI,
the world's leading artificial-intelligence lab,
and SpaceX, Elon Musk's rockets-to-chatbots conglomerate, are worth more.
Its vast user base makes it the world's second-biggest social-media company,
behind only Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram.
It is also fast becoming an e-commerce powerhouse and one of China's top AI companies.