By Abu-Bakar Shoaib
Your commercial awareness dose.
Tencent is a technology-oriented company established in 1998 in Shenzen, China, serving their customers with in-search engines, social networking, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, music, payment systems, film production, video games, and online services. It is currently holding the title of the world’s biggest video game supplier, in which some of their most significant development includes Tencent QQ, WeChat, and QQ.com. Tencent is also a developer of the PUBG mobile version. Tencent was initiated by Pony Ma, Zhang Zhidong, Zeng Liqing, Xu Chenye, and Chen Yidan.
The majority of the company is owned by Naspers, which owns about 31 per cent of the company. The company was indulged in many investments and ventures since its initiation. Some of the major subsidiaries of Tencent include Epic Games with 40 per cent ownership, Iflix and Spotify with 10 per cent ownership- followed by Tesla with 5 per cent ownership. In February 1999, the company’s first product, OICQ was launched. It took three years for the company to enter the phase of profit. In which by 2001 Naspers had purchased up to 46 per cent of the company’s shares.
In June 2004, Tencent was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Till 2005 the company was earning revenues from just OICQ, which was later renamed as QQ. After 2005 the company introduced value addition in QQ, which also became another source of income. After attaining virtual goods in 2008, the company had decided to launch yet another infamous application in January 2011 called WeChat.
After the year 2011, Tencent acquired stakes within two competing American games developers- Riot Games and Epic Games. Later in 2014, the company had delved into the e-commerce domain and invested 193.45 million US dollars in China South City Holding. Tencent had also bought 15 per cent of the ownership of JD.com, an e-commerce website. By May 2014, Tencent was listed on NASDAQ- America’s most leading stock market index. Furthermore, Tencent had continued to buy more stakes within the e-commerce industry in leading corporations such as WUBA and Koudai Gouwu. In the same year company also acquired the rights of distribution of HBO in China.
After 2015 Tencent showed exponential growth, it established WeBank- China’s first online bank. Later acquiring an 84 per cent stake in Supercell, a developer of Clash of Clans by June 2016. They had also managed to successfully launch Future Mobility, a car startup, which will generate electric cars in 2020. Moving on to March 2017, the company had bought a 5 per cent ownership of Tesla, followed by a 12 per cent stake which was bought several months later in January 2018.
Tencent had gone on a venture with The Lego Group in hope to make an online game for young children. In June 2020, Tencent acquired Iflix. Tencent has a significant influence on the tech industry. In the social media domain, they launched great companies like QQ and WeChat. They have ownerships in the entertainment sector and Tencent Music, Tencent Pictures, Spotify, and TiMi Studios. Tencent also invested in some of the diversified sectors such as utilities, medical, and insurance agencies.
For research and development, Tencent has developed Tencent research institutes in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing. In which they are planning to invest in many diverse areas. Some of their agreements and projects are in the pipeline and near to execution.
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