Digital Multinational Companies and Their Valuation

Using digital multinational companies as an example, this article analyzes the shortcomings and limitations of traditional transnationalization assessment tools – the transnationalization index, the internet intensity matrix, and the ease of foreign direct investment index. It demonstrates that all three approaches rely on physical assets, personnel, and geographically localized revenue, while digital multinational companies primarily expand internationally through intangible channels. A digital transnationalization index is proposed, based on three components: geographic reach, audience distribution, and audience engagement. This index is calculated using ByteDance and Meta Platforms as examples, demonstrating that the method can capture qualitatively different digital internationalization strategies that are not accessible using traditional metrics.

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