JOYY's Likee Is Creeping up on ByteDance's TikTok

JOYY (NASDAQ: YY), the Chinese streaming video company formerly known as YY, fully acquired Singapore-based start-up Bigo last March. The acquisition added the live streaming app Bigo Live, the messaging app IMO, and the short video app Like to its core live streaming services.

JOYY subsequently rebranded Like as Likee, and downloads of the app surged. Likee was the seventh-most downloaded app worldwide in 2019, according to App Annie's annual "State of Mobile" report, surpassing Snap's Snapchat, Netflix, and Spotify in total downloads.

Likee is also advancing on ByteDance's short video app TikTok, which ranked fourth on App Annie's chart. TikTok's meteoric growth previously forced market leaders like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Tencent (OTC: TCEHY) to launch their own short video apps, but those smaller apps couldn't keep pace with TikTok, which topped 500 million monthly active users in 2018. Let's see why Likee is gaining ground against TikTok, and what its growth means for the future of JOYY's stock.

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Source Fool.com