TikTok’s slice of the profit pie may look like grandpa at the buffet, and, well, Aunty Beeb is not impressed. 😒 The BBC last week revealed thirsty TikTok’s near 70% profit take out, which eats into livestreamers’ revenue. The app’s greed was discovered following the broadcaster’s investigation of Syrian refugees asking for money through TikTok LIVE Gifts. 🙏 The BBC found that for US$106 donated, the remaining $33 was split between money transfer agents and TikTok ‘middlemen’, leaving the refugees with just US$19.

But the app’s gorging gift-grifting hasn't seen TikTokers gobbled up by competitor, OnlyFans. The adult subscription service app, designed for ‘celebrities and musicians to monetise their social media following’, lets their 2.1 million creators keep 80% of their subscription earnings - last year divvying up US$4.8 billion between them. 💰

TikTok’s hunger for revenue has, however, turned them into fat cats. Sensor Tower data revealed the Beijing-based app has roasted the competition - including YouTube and Google One (GOOG, GOOGL) - continuing their ‘record-breaking’ streak as the ‘highest grossing app in the world’. 🤳

And TikTok may be cooking up more, adding to last year’s Shopify (SHOP) partnership. The vertical video app is in chats with TalkShopLive - which themselves takes 10% commission from sellers - for live shopping within TikTok’s app. 🛒 Last week Axios also hinted TikTok may be chomping at Amazon’s tail (AMZN), hoping to take a bite out of the US ecommerce market - unwittingly revealed in TikTok Shop job ads. Is Amazon concerned? Who knows. 🤷‍♀️ They own Twitch, which themselves is in a food fight with gamers over the livestreaming app’s gluttonous 70/30 revenue split.

Meanwhile, is Meta hoping for a second bite of the cherry in the meh-taverse? A ‘better looking’ virtual Mark Zuckerberg announced at last week’s Meta Connect 2022 that he’d convinced Microsoft (MSFT) that the future of work is VR. Is this why last year Clippy came out of retirement? 📎