China Internet Stats, Trends, Insights
Tencent, or Tencent Holdings Limited, is one of China’s largest internet-based technology companies, founded in 1998 by five founders in Shenzhen: Ma Huateng (Pony Ma), Zhang Zhidong, Chen Yidan, Xu Chenhua, Zeng Liqing.
Tencent Holding Ltd was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 16 June 2004, and it was added as a Hang Seng Index Constituent Stock in 2008. Check out Tencent stock on Bloomberg here.
Tencent consists of six business groups: Technology Engineering Group, WeChat Group, Interactive Entertainment Group, Platform & Content Group, Cloud & Smart Industries Group, Corporate & Development Group.
Tencent dominates China’s social media with WeChat and QQ; and, it’s the world’s largest online gaming company too.
It owns several largest social media platforms in China including WeChat, QQ, Qzone.
To meet with the interest-based social needs of youngsters, QQ has also introduced its mobile social community ecological strategy which combines QQ Group, Interest Tribe (Interest Tribe is the largest interest-based social networking platform in China) and QQ Official Accounts together.
From comics, videos, games and animation to music, literature, films and news, Tencent runs digital content and multi-media services, providing entertainment and cultural enrichment. Tencent also runs one of the top entertainment platforms Tencent Video and QQ Music.
Tencent is also one of the world’s largest gaming company and one of the world’s largest venture capital firms and investment corporations.
Payment solutions: Tenpay, WeChat Pay, QQ Wallet.
News: QQ.com, Tencent News (app)
Other popular applications include Yingyongbao (Android app store), QQ Browser, Tencent Mobile Manager, Tencent PC Manager, Tencent Map, QQ Mail, etc.
In 2007, Tencent launched the Tencent Foundation, the first charitable foundation by an internet enterprise in China. The foundation is devoted to creating a system that empowers citizens to engage in charitable activities.
Tencent Open Platform is built for its partners, enabling them to easily connect with QQ, Weixin, Qzone, and YingYongBao and gain traffic and revenue through open APIs across PC, mobile and multiple devices.
Additionally, there are more than 30 “Incubator Spaces” for partners in China, with total floor space of up to 1 million square meters.
Tencent also provides Tencent Cloud, a public cloud platform for corporate and individual users. It provides developers with cloud servers, cloud databases, cloud storage, CDN and other basic cloud computing services, as well as various industry solutions including online games, video, and mobile applications.
Tencent is one of the most successful Chinese internet company listed in Hong Kong, its market value once surpassed USD 100 billion in 2013 which was second only to Google and Amazon in the global internet industry.
Instant Messaging client QQ and mobile app WeChat are the flagship products of Tencent. QQ attracted 800 million users worldwide in 15 years, and WeChat accumulated 300 million users in merely two years.
What is the secret of the Chinese internet legend? How does Tencent make its market value skyrocket? Why could Tencent retain millions of active users?
Read Tencent’s success story: Rise of the Tencent Empire.