Founded in 1998, its subsidiaries globally market variousInternet-related services and products, including in entertainment,artificial intelligence, and other technology.[4] Its twin-skyscraper headquarters,Tencent Seafront Towers (also known as Tencent Binhai Mansion) are based in theNanshan District of Shenzhen.[5] In December 2023, architect BüroOle Scheeren unveiled the latest helix-inspired design of Tencent's new global headquarters in Shenzhen. Known as Tencent Helix, it will accommodate more than 23,000 employees across nearly 500,000 square meters.[6]
Tencent is the world's largestvideo game vendor,[7] as well as one of thelargest companies in the world by market capitalization.[8] It is among the largestsocial media,[9]venture capital, andinvestment corporations.[10][11] Its services include social networks, music, web portals,e-commerce, mobile games, internet services, payment systems, smartphones, and multiplayer online games.[12] It operates theinstant messengersTencent QQ andWeChat, along with the news site QQ.com.[13] The company surpassed a market value of US$500 billion in 2018, becoming the first Asian technology company to cross this valuation mark.[14][15][16] It has since then emerged as the most valuable publicly traded company in China, and is the world's tenth most valuable company by market value as of February 2022.[17][18][19][20] In 2015, 2018, and 2020, the company was ranked byBoston Consulting Group andFast Company among the 50 most innovative companies worldwide.[21][22][23] Tencent hasstakes in over 600 companies,[24] and began focusing on tech start-ups in Asia in 2017.[25]TechCrunch characterized Tencent's investment strategy as letting its portfolio startups operate autonomously.[26] Tencent's valuation approached US$1 trillion in January 2021 before it plummeted, but it has since recovered as of November, 2025.[27] Tencent Holdings was ranked 35th on the 2023Forbes Global 2000 list.[28]
Tencent was founded byPony Ma,Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye,Charles Chen and Zeng Liqing in November 1998[29] as TencentInc,[30] in theCayman Islands.[31] The name "Tencent" is based on its Chinese name Tengxun (Chinese:腾讯), which incorporates part ofPony Ma's Chinese name (Ma Huateng; 马化「腾」) and literally means "galloping fast information".[32][33] Initial funding was provided to it byventure capitalists.[4] In February 1999, Tencent's messenger productOICQ was released.[34] Shortly after, Tencent had the client's name changed to QQ; this was said to be due to a lawsuit threat fromICQ and its ownerAOL. The company remained unprofitable for the first three years.[29]
The company originally derived income solely from advertising and premium users of QQ, who pay monthly fees to receive extras.[29] By 2005, charging for use of QQ mobile, its cellularvalue-added service, andlicensing its penguin character, which could be found on snack food[39] and clothing,[29] had also become income generators.[29] By 2008, Tencent was seeing profit growth from the sale ofvirtual goods.[40]
In June 2007, Tencent established its charity foundation, becoming the first Chinese internet company to do so.[41]
While Tencent's services have included online gaming since 2004, around 2007/2008, it rapidly increased its offerings by licensing games.[42] While at least two,Crossfire andDungeon Fighter Online, were originally produced by South Korean game developers, Tencent now makes its own games.[42] On 21 January 2011, Tencent launchedWeixin (微信), asocial mediaapp. Now branded as WeChat, the app is one of the "super apps", due to its wide range of functions and platforms, and its over 1 billion monthly active users.[43][44][45][46]
On 18 February 2011, Tencent acquired a majority of equity interest (92.78%)[47] inRiot Games, developer ofLeague of Legends, for about US$230 million. Tencent had already held 22.34% of the equity interest out of a previous investment in 2008. On 16 December 2015, Riot Games sold its remaining equity to Tencent.[48][49] Tencent acquired a minority stake inEpic Games, developer of franchises likeFortnite,Unreal,Gears of War andInfinity Blade, in June 2012.[50] That year, Tencent acquired ZAM Network, parent ofWowhead and other websites, fromBrock Pierce.[51]
Tencent in 2013 increased its stake inKingsoft Network Technology, a subsidiary of Kingsoft Corporation, to 18%. Tencent previously had a 15.68% stake in the company and raised the stake through a US$46.98 million investment.[52] Tencent took part inActivision Blizzard splitting fromVivendi as a passive investor in 2013[53][54] and now owns less than 4.9% of the shares as of 2017.[55] On 17 September 2013, it was announced that Tencent had invested $448 million for a minority share in Chinese search engineSogou.com, the subsidiary ofSohu, Inc.[56]
On 15 January 2014, Tencent said it would invest HKD 1.5 billion (US$193.45 million) in logistics and warehouse firm China South City Holdings Ltd to develop its e-commerce and logistics business.[57] On 27 February 2014, Tencent purchased a 20% stake in restaurant ratings and group-buying website Dianping for $400 million.[58] On 10 March 2014, Tencent bought a 15% stake in Chinese e-commerce websiteJD.com Inc. by paying cash and handing over its e-commerce businesses Paipai, QQ Wanggou and a stake in Yixun to JD.com to build a stronger competitor toAlibaba Group.[59]
On 22 May 2014, JD.com got listed on NASDAQ and Tencent expanded its stake in the company to 17.43% on a fully diluted basis by investing an additional US$1,325 million.[60] On 27 March 2014, it was announced that Tencent had agreed to pay about $500 million for a 28 per cent stake in South Korea's CJ Games.[61] On 27 June 2014, Tencent announced that it had agreed to buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Chinese e-commerce website 58.com (WUBA) Inc. for $736 million.[62] On 17 April 2015, Tencent announced it bought an additional $400 million worth of shares, rising its stake in the company to about 25%.[63] On 16 October 2014, via its wholly held subsidiary Hongze Lake Investment Ltd, Tencent announced that it had bought a 7% stake in lottery technology firm China LotSynergy Holdings Ltd for HKD 445.5 million (US$57.4 million).[64]
On 23 October 2014, Tencent pitched in $145 million for a 10 per cent stake in Koudai Gouwu, a Chinese mobile shopping portal.[65] In November 2014, the company announced a deal withHBO which would give it exclusive rights for distribution in China.[66] On 9 December 2014, Chinese taxi-hailing app Didi Dache announced that it had raised more than $700 million in a funding round led by Tencent and Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings.[67] On 29 December 2014, Tencent launched the website forWeBank (China),[68] China's first online-only bank.[69] Trials for the service commenced on 18 January 2015.[70]
In 2014, Tencent sued its major competitorNetEase allegingcopyright infringement.[71]: 102 Tencent used its leverage from the suit to convince NetEase to sublicense music rights from Tencent.[71]: 102 The sub-licensing arrangement that resulted then became a model used by other online music platforms in China.[71]: 102
BYD, one of the chief corporate sponsors for TencentTencent Beijing office, completed in the late 2010s
On 30 January 2015, Tencent announced that it had signed a US$700 million deal with theNational Basketball Association to stream American basketball games in China.[72] Later that year, Chinese automakerBYD became the chief corporate sponsor for Tencent's NBA broadcasts.[73] On 21 June 2016 Tencent announced a deal to acquire 84.3% ofSupercell, developer ofClash of Clans, with US$8.6 billion.[74] In July 2016, Tencent acquired a majority stake in China Music Corporation.[75]
Private enterprises in China are required to have an in-firm committee or branch of theChinese Communist Party (CCP) if three or more CCP members are among their employees.[76]: 227 In 2016, Tencent's CCP branch was recognized as one of the one hundred best such branches in the country.[76]: 230 It provides communications and education platforms including a CCP activity hall, WeChat channel, and an intranet for CCP members where they can take classes related to government and party policies.[76]: 230 The Tencent Party Member Activity Center has a dedicated CCP member activity area of more than 6,000 square meters. More than 1 million yuan is allocated for CCP activities per year.[77]
In 2016, Tencent, together withFoxconn and luxury-car dealer Harmony New Energy Auto foundedFuture Mobility, a car startup (now defunct) that aimed to sell all-electric fully autonomous premium cars.[78] On 28 March 2017,Tesla, Inc. announced Tencent had purchased a 5% stake in Tesla for US$1.78 billion, the automotive control systems of which it subsequently successfully performed penetration-testing until 2019.[18][79][80]
In a "direct challenge to Chinese search engineBaidu," in May 2017, Tencent entered news feed and search functions for itsWeChat app, which theFinancial Times reported was used by 770 million people at the time.[81]
In May 2017, Tencent surpassedWells Fargo to enter the world's top 10 most valuable companies.[82][83][84] Tencent has also entered an agreement with the Wuhu City Council to build the world's firsteSports town in the city, which comprises an eSports theme park, eSports university, a cultural and creative park, an animation industrial park, creative block, tech entrepreneurial community andTencent Cloud's data center. The site will be used for the education and accommodation of future eSports players, as well as hosting national eSports events and serving as a hub for Tencent's game development. Aside from Wuhu, another eSports theme park is planned inChengdu.[85][86]
In June 2017, Tencent became the 8th most valuable company in BrandZ's Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, signalling its growing influence globally as well as the rise of Chinese brands.[87][88][89] Alibaba overtook Tencent as Asia's most valuable company as its stocks surged after the company hosted its 2017 Investor's day.[90] The company has also developed its own voice assistant Xiaowei, and was in the midst of discussion to acquireRovio Entertainment, the developer ofAngry Birds.[91][92] At the same time, Tencent introduced its mini-programs feature that allows smartphone users to access mobile apps across the globe on WeChat without downloading them.[93]
In July 2017, Tencent bought a 9% share inFrontier Developments,[94] the creator of theElite: Dangerous andPlanet Coaster franchises; as well as developer forRollercoaster Tycoon 2 & 3.[95] In August 2017, after Tencent announced the second quarter 2016 financial report, the stock price rose by 6.2% in the Hong Kong stock market, and the market value reached US$429 billion.[96] Tencent became the second Asian company after Alibaba Group to surpass US$400 billion market cap.[97] Tencent has also created an alliance to its ownAI self-driving program, similar to Baidu'sApollo Project, recruiting numerous industry players in theautomotive industry.[98][99] It is also collaborating withL'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics company, to explore digital marketing under the Joint Business Partnership (JBP) agreement.[100]
According to a report by Sina Tech in October 2017, Tencent employed over 7,000 members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that CCP members took a leading role in the development of WeChat. "With over 7,000 CCP members, accounting for approximately 23% of the total workforce, and more than 60% of whom are core technical personnel, the number of CCP members at Tencent is increasing by nearly a thousand every year. In Tencent, a leading internet company, CCP members are becoming the main driving force in shaping the company's development direction."[101]
In November 2017, Tencent revealed that it had purchased a 12% stake inSnap Inc. in the open market, with plans to help establishSnapchat as a gaming platform.[102][103] Tencent remained the largest video game publisher in the world by revenue, and had a market capitalisation of around $475 billion. In the same month, Tencent announced that WeChat reached 980 millionmonthly active users,[104] and said to be earmarking billions of dollars to amass a catalogue of user-generated content, in competition withYouTube.[105] The company became the first Asian company to cross US$500 billion valuation, surpassing Facebook to enter the top 5 list of the world's biggest firms.[17][106]
In January 2018, Tencent andThe Lego Group, the world's largest toy company, teamed up to jointly develop online games and potentially a social network aimed at children.[107][108] It also launched its first unmanned shop inShanghai.[109] Tencent led a US$5.2 billion investment inWanda Commercial,[110] together withJD.com,Sunac andSuning Group, to acquire shares in the conglomerate. Wanda Commercial was renamed Wanda Commercial Management Group.[111] Tencent bought a 5% to 10% minority stake inSkydance Media.[112][113] On 23 January 2018, Tencent andCarrefour reached strategic co-operation agreement in China.[114][115][116]
On 15 August 2018, Tencent reported a profit decline in the second quarter of 2018, ending a growth streak of more than a decade, as investment gains slid and the government's scrutiny of the gaming business weighed on the company.[117] Shares of Tencent fell 3% in morning trade in Hong Kong after the rare drop in quarterly profit was reported, extending a slide that has wiped nearly $50 billion in market value from the company in that week.[118] The sell-off dragged down many other Chinese internet stocks as well.[118] On 6 September 2018,Luckin Coffee signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent.[119][120]
China's government designated Tencent as one of its "AIchampions" in 2018.[71]: 281
In November 2018, Tencent Charity Foundation donated RMB$1 billion to establish the Xplorer Prize award for outstanding young scientists in areas of basic science and cutting-edge technologies.[121]
In October 2019, Tencent began sending out refunds to customers after cancelling the broadcast of NBA games in response to theHouston Rockets general managerDaryl Morey's social media comments in support ofprotests in Hong Kong.[122]
In May 2020, Tencent purchased the rights to createSystem Shock 3 and any further sequels fromOtherSide Entertainment.[123] On 29 June 2020, Tencent acquired the video-on-demand serviceiflix inKuala Lumpur,Malaysia.[124] In September 2020, Tencent picked Singapore as its hub in Asia, joining rivalsByteDance and Alibaba in the race to reinforce their presence closer to home after complications in India and the United States.[125][126] Lazy Audio was acquired from Shenzhen Lanren Online Technology Co for 2.7 billion yuan in January 2021.[127]
In July 2021, China's antitrust regulator formally blocked Tencent's plan to merge China's top twovideo game streaming sites,Huya Live andDouYu, after it had failed to come up with sufficient remedies to meet theSAMR's requirements on giving up exclusive rights. This comes after the company recently withdrew the merger application for antitrust review and refiled it after SAMR told the company it could not complete the review of the merger within 180 days since its first filing. Tencent's plan to takesearch engineSogou private was approved by the SAMR.[128] Tencent later announced too its intention to take DouYu private, in part due to the unsuccessful merger, but also due to lacklustre business performance and disagreements over strategy among company executives. Tencent is currently the largest stakeholder in DouYu with a 37% stake.[129][130] On 17 December 2021, Tencent announced it had acquired Slamfire Inc. and its subsidiaryTurtle Rock Studios, the developer behindLeft 4 Dead andBack 4 Blood.[131]
In January 2022, reports emerged that Tencent was one of the major tech conglomerates to receive a fine from the SAMR for failing to report their merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in advance. According toChina's antitrust law, official approval is required before the completion of a M&A deal if the combined annual revenue of all entities involved is at least RMB 10 billion (US$1.57 billion), and at least two entities have at least RMB 400 million (US$62.7 million) in annual revenue. Of the 13 deals cited in total by the SAMR, each carried a fine of RMB 500,000 (US$78,700) and Tencent received a total fine of RMB 4.5 million (US$710,000) for its involvement in nine deals.[132]
On 11 January 2022, it was announced that Tencent was in talks to acquire Xiaomi-backedBlack Shark, one of the largest gaming smartphone makers in China. The acquisition would have been Tencent's first in a hardware maker and would have overseen Black Shark's transition into a manufacturer of VR headsets to support Tencent's plans for its metaverse business in the future. Reports initially suggested that Black Shark would be acquired for RMB 2.7 billion (US$420 million), although Tencent walked away from the deal due to regulatory scrutiny of metaverse businesses in China.[133][134]
In June 2022, Tencent posted its slowest revenue gain since going public in 2004, partly caused by a 15% decrease in advertising revenue. The decline was attributed to the pandemic and tighter regulations imposed by the Chinese government.[135] In September 2022, Tencent acquired a 49.9% stake and 5% voting rights in Guillemot Brothers Limited,Ubisoft's parent company.[136][137] On 16 September 2022, Tencent took a minority stake in Mordhau studio Triternion.[138]
In November 2022, Tencent announced that it would divest the majority of its US$20.3 billion stake inMeituan through a dividend distribution to shareholders, in part due to China's earlier regulatory crackdown on tech giants.[139] In January 2023,OpenSecrets reported that Tencent spent over $6.3 million lobbying the U.S. federal government after coming under greater regulatory scrutiny in 2020.[140] By January 2023, Tencent had sold its share in Tesla.[141]
Majority owned subsidiary China Literature acquired Tencent Animation and Comics in December 2023.[142]
On 22 December 2023, the Chinese government's regulations to curb online gaming cost Tencent $46 Billion in Market Capitalisation.[143] Later, on 27 December 2023, the first of trading after the Chinese government vowed to make improvements to the proposed gaming rules, the firm's stock rose by 5%.[144]
Also in December 2023, Tencent accelerated the pace ofbuybacks, increasing the pace of daily purchases to aboutHK$1 billion (with an average of HK$375 million per day) and made a record HK$10 billionshare purchase.[145]
In March 2024, the firm uploaded its revenue report for the 4th quarter of the year 2023, recording a surprising 7% rise in the fourth-quarter revenue, slightly missing the expected mark.[146]
In December 2024,Apple decided to have talks with Tencent and TikTok ownerByteDance for integrating their artificial intelligence models into iPhones that are sold in China.[147]In 2025 Tencent released an AI 3D model generator, Hunyuan3D.[148]
On 7 January 2025, Tencent was added to a watchlist of companies allegedly working with China's military, along withCATL.[149]
In March 2025, Tencent released Hunyuan T1, areasoning language model based on the Transformer-Mamba architecture.[150]
Launched in February 1999,[155]Tencent QQ is Tencent's first and most notable product, QQ is one of the most popularinstant messaging platforms in its home market.[156] As of 31 December 2010, there were 647.6 million active Tencent QQ IM user accounts,[1] making Tencent QQ the world's largest online community at the time. The number of QQ accounts connected simultaneously has, at times, exceeded 100 million.[157] While the IM service itself is free, a fee was being charged for mobile messaging as of 2006.[158] Tencent also created QQ International, which is an English version of QQ that allows communication with mainland accounts; QQi is available for Windows and macOS.[159] In 2005, Tencent launchedQzone, a social networking/blogging service integrated within QQ. Qzone has become one of the largest social networking services in China, with a user base of 645 million in 2014.[31][160]
WeChat is a mobile app with functions such as voice- and text messaging,mobile payment, and a friends-only social network calledMoments.[162] It is the most popular social mobile application in China and some overseas Chinese communities, for instance,Malaysia. As of 2017, WeChat has been unsuccessful in penetrating major international markets outside of China.[163]
Tencent publishes video games via its Tencent Games division of Tencent Interactive Entertainment. It has five internal studio groups under it:TiMi Studio Group,LightSpeed Studios, Aurora Studio Group, Morefun Studio and Next Studio.[164][165][166][167][168]
Outside of companies subsidiary of its game division, Tencent as a whole has many major and minor investments in domestic and, since the 2010s, foreign game companies.
Tencent invested inActivision Blizzard as a minority investor with 5% in 2013, when the holding company bought itself from theVivendi conglomerate which was part of it since 2008.[235][236]
18.6% ownership of Chinese company iDreamSky, which mainly develops and publishesmobile games for the Chinese market.
5% ownership of Chinese company Century Huatong, which operates games developed byFunPlus.[240] Tencent became a shareholder through an investment in Century Huatong's subsidiaryShengqu Games.[241]
On 21 March 2012, Tencent launchedTencent Comic, and would later become China's largest online animation platform.[247]
In September 2017, Tencent has announced plans to introduceChinese online comics to every market around the world, with the first beingNorth America. It will be working withSan Francisco-based digital publisherTapas Media, a partnership that will see English-language releases of several popular online Chinese titles.[248]
In 2014, Tencent established exclusive in-China distribution agreements with several large music producers, includingSony,Warner Music Group andYG Entertainment[249] and in 2017 it signed a deal withUniversal Music Group to stream its music in China. It also entered a partnership with Alibaba Group on music-streaming rights sharing. The deal aims to protect licensed streaming services offering copyrighted content of themusic industry, encouraging more high-quality and original music, as well as developingChina's fast-growing streaming market. Alibaba will gain the rights to stream music from international labels, which already have exclusive deals with Tencent, in return for offering reciprocal rights to its catalogue ofChinese andJapanese music.[250][251]
In December 2017, Tencent's music arm,Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), andSpotify agreed to swap a 10% stake in each other's music businesses,[252] forming an alliance in the music industry whichMartin Lau (president of Tencent) described as a "strategic collaboration".[253][254]
In October 2019, Tencent Music reached a streaming music distribution agreement withCD Baby andTuneCore to provide independent music artists who distribute music through CD Baby and TuneCore access to the Chinese music market through Tencent's music streaming servicesQQ Music,KuGou, and Kuwo.[255]
In March 2020, Tencent acquired 10% ofVivendi's stake inUniversal Music Group, the world's largest music group. In addition, it was given the option to buy another 10% with the same conditions.[256][257]
In June 2020, Tencent bought 1.6% ofWarner Music Group's shares after WMG launched its IPO in the same month.[258]
In June 2011, Tencent launchedTencent Video, a video streaming website.[261] It also controls the live-streaming platformHuya Live and has stakes in other major Chinese game live-streaming platform operators, includingDouYu,Kuaishou andBilibili.[262] In March 2020, Tencent started testingTrovo Live, a live-streaming service for worldwide users.[263] Since June 2020, it owns the Malaysian Video-on-demand serviceIflix.
In September 2005, Tencent launched PaiPai.com (Chinese:拍拍;pinyin:pāi pāi), aC2C auction site.[156] In addition to PaiPai.com, Tencent launched TenPay, an online payment system similar toPayPal, which supportsB2B,B2C, andC2C payments.[265] TenPay was one of the first domestic non-bank payment providers to receive a regulatory license following 2010People's Bank of China regulations that took non-bank third party payment providers out of a legal grey area.[266]: 55
In response to the dominance of the Chinesee-commerce market by Tencent competitor Alibaba Group, Tencent took great effort in its e-commerce platforms. On 10 March 2014, Tencent bought a 15 per cent stake in Chinese e-commerce website JD.com Inc. by paying cash and handing over its e-commerce businesses Paipai.com, QQ Wanggou, and a stake in Yixun to JD.com, as well as purchasing a stake in e-commerce website58 Tongcheng.[59][267] In accordance to this agreement, JD.com would receive exclusive access to Tencent's WeChat and MobileQQ platforms.[268] In May 2014, JD became the first Chinese e-commerce company to be listed on theNASDAQ exchange, under its ticker 'JD'.[268]
On 31 December 2015, JD announced that they will stop supporting services on Paipai.com after being unable to deal with issues involving fake goods, and had integrated the Paipai.com team within its other e-commerce platforms. In a 3-month transitional period, Paipai.com would be fully shut down by 1 April 2016.[269] JD relaunched PaiPai.com as PaiPai Second Hand (拍拍二手) to compete alongside 58 Tongcheng's Zhuanzhuan.com, both partially owned by Tencent, against Alibaba's Xianyu in thesecond-hand e-commerce market.[270][271]
Tencent was reported in 2017 to be working withChina's Central Bank to develop a central payments clearing platform for online payments.[272]
On 31 December 2021, it was reported Tencent had bought a stake in the UK digital bank,Monzo.[273][274]
In March 2006, Tencent launched its search engineSoso.com (搜搜; to search).[275][276] On 1 October 2012, it was the 33rd most visited website in the world, 11th most visited in China, as well as the 8th most visited website in South Korea, according toAlexa Internet.[277] It was also a Chinese partner ofGoogle, usingAdWords.[278] In September 2013, Tencent discontinued Soso.com after it invested inSogou and replaced Soso.com with Sogou Search as its main search engine.[279]
In 2008, Tencent released a media player, available for free download, under the nameQQ Player.[280] Tencent also launched Tencent Traveler, a web browser based onTrident. It became the third most-visited browser in China in 2008.[281][282]
QQ Haiwai is Tencent's first venture into international real estate listings and information and is the result of a partnership with Chinese international real estate website Juwai.com. Haiwai was announced at Tencent's annual regional summit in Beijing on 21 December 2016.[283][284]
In 2017, Tencent launched its owncredit score system called Tencent Credit, with a process similar to that of Sesame Credit, operated by its competitor, the Alibaba Group, through its subsidiary Ant Financial.[285]
Tencent officially commences operations of its first insurance agency platform, WeSure Internet Insurance Ltd. (WeSure), to work with domestic insurance companies such asPing An Insurance.[288]
In August 2017, Tencent released AI Medical Innovation System (AIMIS)[289] or Miying[290] (觅影 in Chinese), which has two core competencies: AI medical imaging and AI-assisted diagnosis. The AI Medical Innovation System (AIMIS) is capable of helping doctors screen for various diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, lung cancer, and esophageal cancer, through its AI-assisted medical image analysis. Its AI-assisted medical diagnosis engine enables doctors to identify and estimate the risk of over 700 diseases, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of diagnoses. The system is currently undergoing clinical validation in more than 100 major hospitals in China. It has already assisted doctors in interpreting over 100 million medical images and has served nearly one million patients. Tencent's data indicates that recognition accuracy reaches 90% for esophageal cancer, 97% for diabetic retinopathy, and 97.2% for colorectal cancer. Overall, Chinese medical institutions and companies are adopting a proactive approach toward AI. Nearly 80% of hospitals and medical enterprises plan to implement or have already implemented medical AI applications, and more than 75% of hospitals believe that these applications will become widespread in the future.[291]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Tencent helped source 1.2 million protective masks for American medical staff combating the virus.[292]
On 27 March 2020, a co-innovation lab was launched by Tencent who will be in collaborations withHuawei in developing acloud-based game platform by tapping into Huawei's Kunpeng processor's power to build Tencent's GameMatrix cloud game platform. Along with further exploration in the possibilities of artificial intelligence and augmented reality elements in game.[293]
In October 2020, Tencent's AIMIS Image Cloud was introduced.[294] AIMIS Image Cloud was designed to help patients manage their medical images and give permission to medical professionals to access their exams and reports. The AIMIS platform supports full images on the cloud to reduce repeated exams. It can also connect medical institutions at all levels through cloud based Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), allowing patients to take examinations in primary medical institutions and obtain expert diagnosis remotely. Doctors can conduct online consultations through Tencent real-time audio and video facilities when they encounter difficult cases and work collaboratively on images to communicate more efficiently.[294]
On 26 May 2020, Tencent announced it planned to invest 500 billion yuan (US$70 billion) over the next five years in new digital infrastructure, a major hi-tech initiative that would bolster Beijing's efforts to drive economic recovery in the post-coronavirus era.[295]
Tencent received theZero Project Award 2023 for innovative ICT solutions for persons with disabilities. Originating from Tencent's game development, MTGPA (Magic Tencent Game Performance Amelioration) Haptics is transmitting vibro-tactile signals to the user which support orientation and notification. Typical customers are persons with visual impairments or the elderly.[296] Connected to the Tencent Map app, MTGPA Haptics guides customers indoors and outdoors through long and short vibrations in case of deviations from the planned route.[296]
Tencent announced its WeCity project in 2019, through which it seeks to develop asmart city solution for digital governance, urban management and decision-making, and industrial interconnections.[297]: 65 In June 2020, Tencent has unveiled plans for an urban development dubbed "Net City",[297]: 65 a 21-million-square-foot development, equivalent in size to Monaco, in Shenzhen. The development will be built onreclaimed land.[297]: 65 It will prioritize pedestrians, green spaces and self-driving vehicles, corporate offices, schools, sports facilities, parks, retail space and apartments, according to the project's architect,NBBJ.[298][299]
At the end of June 2020, Tencent has increased its direct stake in Nio to 15.1% after acquiring more of the Chinese electric vehicle maker's New York-listed shares recently.[300] Tencent spent $10 million to buy 1.68 million American Depositary Shares earlier in the month, according to Nio's latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Shenzhen-based social media and entertainment conglomerate also controls another 16% stake in Nio's ADSs through three of its units. Tencent was the second-largest Nio shareholder in terms of voting rights after Li Bin, founder of the automaker, who held 13.8% in shares but 47% voting rights, according to a March filing by the company.As of 8 July, they bought another amount of shares increasing their stake in Nio to 16.3%.
Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, is the main co-founder of Tencent, and is currently the conglomerate'sCEO andchairman.Martin Lau, who helped with the company's IPO as an investment banker atGoldman Sachs, is currently Tencent's president.
Tencent's largest shareholder isProsus (majority owned byNaspers), which owns 25.6% of all shares[3] and hence is thecontrolling shareholder.[301] However,Ma Huateng, co-founder of Tencent, still owns a significant stake (8.42%).
Tencent has a unitary board consisting of Tencent co-founder,CEO, andchairmanMa Huateng, also known asPony Ma, executive director andPresident of Tencent Martin Lau, non-executive directorsJacobus "Koos" Bekker and Charles Searle ofNaspers, and independent non-executive directors Li Dongsheng, Iain Bruce, Ian Stone, and Yang Siushun.[304] Tencent's governance is aided by its Strategy Department, commonly known as SD, which provides business analytics for the corporation's various divisions.[305]
A software development unit that has created, among others, Tencent Traveler and later versions of QQ IM,[306] as well as somemobile software.[307] This subsidiary is located on the Southern District of Hi-Tech Park, Shenzhen.[306] It also holds a number of patents related to instant messaging andmassively multiplayer online game gaming.[308]
In 2023, an entity controlled by the state-ownedChina Internet Investment Fund took agolden share investment in Shenzhen Yayue Technology.[309] The stock price of Tencent sank when news of the deal was published.[310]
In 2007, Tencent invested over RMB100 million in the establishment of the Tencent Research Institute, which became China's first research center dedicated to core Internet technologies.[311] The campuses are located in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.[312]
In 2012, Tencent launched Tencent YouTu Lab, an AI research department that focuses on computer vision, including optical character recognition (OCR), image understanding, and generation.[313][314]
In 2020, as part of Tencent's efforts to combat the COVID-19 and future pandemic, Tencent established an AI Joint Lab with respiratory disease expertZhong Nanshan to conduct research on disease screening, prevention, and outbreak warnings.[315]
In 2023, Tencent debuted its large language model Hunyuan for enterprise use.[316] In 2023, Tencent announced its partnership with theChinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) to establish a Digital Seed Bank at the Tencent Science and Technology Museum.[317]
In a December 2020 article inForeign Policy, a former senior official of theCentral Intelligence Agency stated that the CIA concluded that Tencent received funding from theMinistry of State Security early on in its foundation. This was said to be a "seed investment" that was provided "when they were trying to build out theGreat Firewall and the monitoring technology." Tencent denied this allegation.[322]
Tencent participates in many carbon reduction programs and partnerships.[326] Tencent's Global Carbon Neutral Technology Alliance shares carbon neutrality patents and technologies for free and includes competitors like Alibaba and Microsoft.[326] Tencent's CarbonX Program is abusiness accelerator and digital capability program which aims to develop low-carbon technologies.[326] In December 2022, Tencent launched TanLIVE, a climate a co-developed platform which aims to bring together resources for climate change solutions in China.[327]
Tencent participates in the Science Based Targets initiative launched by the UN Global Compact, which provides a platform for setting science-based net-zero targets.[326] In 2022, Tencent established a goal of making the company and its supply chaincarbon neutral.[328]
Many of Tencent's software and services share similarities to those of competitors,[329][330][331][332][333][334] and to theirown.[335] The founder andchairman,Huateng "Pony" Ma, famously said, "[To] copy is not evil." A former CEO and president ofSINA.com,Wang Zhidong, said, "Pony Ma is a notorious king of copying."Jack Ma of Alibaba Group stated, "The problem with Tencent is the lack of innovation; all of their products are copies."[336]
In 1996, an Israeli company namedMirabilis released one of the first stand alone instant messaging clients namedICQ.[337] Three years later, Tencent released a copied version of ICQ, naming it OICQ, which stands for Open ICQ.[338] After losing a lawsuit againstAOL, which bought ICQ in 1998, for violating ICQ'sintellectual property rights, Tencent released a new version of OICQ in December 2000 and rebranded itQQ.[339] With its model of free-to-use and charging for customizing personal avatars, QQ hit 50 million users in its second year, 856 million users and at most 45.3 million synchronous users in 2008.[338]
During early stages of company development and expansion, Tencent has been widely accused of stealing ideas from its competitors and creating counterfeit copies of their products.[340][339] Some of the criticisms aimed at Tencent in this regard are that QQ farm was a direct copy ofHappy Farm, QQ dance originated fromAudition Online, and that QQ speed featured gameplay highly similar toCrazyracing Kartrider.[341] In January 2023, Tencent's trailer for their new MMORPG,Tarisland, was said to resembleBlizzard'sWorld of Warcraft.[342] In July 2025, Tencent had been sued bySony Interactive Entertainment because one of their gamesLight of Motiram heavily resembledHorizon Zero Dawn in terms of setting, protagonist, storyline, themes and gameplay.
In general, Tencent does not seek to acquire controlling stakes when it invests in other companies.[71]: 93 It usually deems minority ownership sufficient to build connections and acquire technology.[71]: 93
In a partial effort to rebuild the reputation of Tencent lost from allegations of copying, Tencent adjusted its strategy by aggressively investing in the acquisition of other companies, rather than in the replication of them. By 2020, Tencent had invested in over 800 companies across the world.[340] During 2012 and 2019, under the direction of President Martin Lau, Tencent has invested from minority stakes to majority stakes in world-wide-famous game companies such asRiot Games,Epic Games,Activision Blizzard,SuperCell, andBluehole.[343] While aggressive acquisitions may benefit Tencent due to factors such as reduction in competition and monopolization, it may not benefit the acquired companies in terms of their growth and innovation. Colin Huang, founder of Pinduoduo, said "Tencent won't die when Pinduoduo dies, because it has tens of thousands of sons."[344]
In 2015, security testing firmsAV-Comparatives,AV-TEST andVirus Bulletin jointly decided to remove Tencent from their softwarewhitelists. The Tencent products supplied for testing were found to contain optimisations that made the software appear less exploitable when benchmarked but actually provided greater scope for delivering exploits.[345] Additionally, software settings were detrimental to end-users protection if used.Qihoo was later also accused of cheating, while Tencent was accused of activelygaming the anti-malware tests.[346][347]
TheUnited States Department of Defense added Tencent to its list of entities associated with the Chinese military in January 2025; such companies are either considered to be either controlled by the Chinese military or serve the growth of China's civil-military complex. The listing is primarily an advisory, having no direct impact, but nominally is considered a blacklisting. Tencent representatives said the listing was "clearly a mistake" and will have no impact on their business but plan to appeal the listing.[348]
Since 2018, Tencent has been in litigation withByteDance.[71]: 109 ByteDance and its affiliates brought a series ofunfair competition lawsuits against Tencent, alleging that Tencent was blocking their content.[71]: 109 As of at least early 2024, these lawsuits had not reached resolution, largely due to disputes about jurisdiction.[71]: 109 Tencent filed two lawsuits against ByteDance and its affiliates, alleging that they were using WeChat and QQ profiles without authorization and illegally crawling data from public WeChat accounts.[71]: 109 Tencent obtained an injunction barring ByteDance from this practice.[71]: 109
Tencent'sWeChat platform has been accused of blockingTikTok videos and the censorship of politically sensitive content.[349][350][351] In April 2018, TikTok sued Tencent and accused it of spreading false and damaging information on its WeChat platform, demandingRMB 1 million in compensation and an apology. In June 2018, Tencent filed a lawsuit againstToutiao and TikTok in a Beijing court, alleging they had repeatedly defamed Tencent with negative news and damaged its reputation, seeking a nominal sum of RMB 1 million in compensation and a public apology.[352] In response, Toutiao filed a complaint the following day against Tencent for allegedlyunfair competition and asking for RMB 90 million in economic losses.[353]
However,Tim Sweeney, the CEO and founder ofEpic Games, maker of the popular gameFortnite, tweeted that his company would never follow suit and punish people for expressing their opinions, even though Tencent is a 40% stakeholder in Epic.[354] In a statement, Sweeney said it would "never happen on [his] watch", and emphasized that Epic is an American company, implying that it would not compromise an ethos of free speech to curry favor with Chinese authorities in the pursuit of maximum profit.[355]
Later in October 2019, Tencent announced it would stop broadcastingHouston RocketsNBA games in China due to a tweet made byDaryl Morey, general manager of the Rockets, that was supportive of protestors in the2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. Although Morey's tweet was hastily deleted, news of it was quickly reported all around the world, and the NBA went on to spend months attempting damage control in China.[356]
In December 2019, the Chinese government ordered Tencent to improve the firm's user data rules for its apps, which regulators regarded to be in violation of censorship rules.[357]
In January 2021, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed in California against Tencent, alleging user censorship and surveillance viaWeChat.[358]
On 6 August 2020, PresidentDonald Trump signed twoexecutive orders, one directed at TikTok and one at WeChat. The TikTok order dictated that within 45 days from its signing (20 September 2020) that it would ban transactions involving the TikTok app with ByteDance, effectively banning the TikTok app in the United States, under threat of penalty.TikTok sued Trump over the executive order, which was later revoked underJoe Biden'sadministration, causing the lawsuit to be dismissed in July 2021. The order for WeChat contained the same information but targeting the WeChat app and related transactions for Tencent. In the case of ByteDance, the order would be canceled should an American company acquire it, whichMicrosoft had been openly spoken of, but there are unlikely any immediate buyers for Tencent in the U.S.[360]Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Dean affirmed from the White House that this does not affect other facets of Tencent's ownerships in American companies such as with its video game companies.[361][362]
^腾讯科技（深圳）有限公司党委先进事迹 [Advanced deeds of the Party Committee of Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.].People's Daily. 1 July 2016. Retrieved10 June 2022.
^"Xi Jinping's grip on Chinese enterprise gets uncomfortably tight".The Economist. 26 November 2023.ISSN0013-0613. Retrieved27 November 2023.State investors have also been taking "golden shares", tiny stakes that grant outsized voting powers, in China's internet giants. In October it was revealed that a government agency had taken a 1% stake in a subsidiary belonging to Tencent, China's mightiest internet titan.
^Steiber, Annika (2018).Management in the digital age: Will China surpass Silicon Valley?. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. p. 87.ISBN978-3-319-67489-6.OCLC1008760930.
^Gobry, Pascal-Emmanuel."Tencent, China's $45 Billion Social Network Behemoth, Is All About Copying Others".Business Insider.Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved6 July 2021.[...], Tencent started out as a copycat and then innovated on its own in response to the local market. Thus Tencent's QQ started out as an ICQ clone but then added funny avatars to conform to young Chinese people's tastes.
^McGuire, Keegan (8 October 2020)."The Shady Side Of Tencent".Looper.com.Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved6 July 2021.QQ Speed, named for its platform on Tencent's QQ instant messaging service [...], borrowed liberally from Mario Kart and made little effort to hide it. More recently, Tencent announced a high-profile cyberpunk game, Syn. However, gamers were quick to notice that the game was very similar to the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077.
^Yuan, Li (2 June 2021)."Why China's Most-Hated Internet Company Decided to Play Nice".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archived from the original on 6 July 2021. Retrieved6 July 2021.[Tencent] wouldn't hesitate to copy somebody else's idea and drive the upstart out of business. Its top executives were confronted at industry conferences and in media interviews. Entrepreneurs called it the industry's most brazen copycat.
^Custer, C. (27 July 2016)."China's top mobile game is a complete League of Legends ripoff".techinasia.com.Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved6 July 2021.Honor of Kings is also a pretty complete copy of League of Legends. Now, to be fair, this isn't an issue of a Chinese company stealing IP. King of Glory was created by Tencent, which also wholly owns League of Legends creator Riot Games, [...].
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