Tencent Music Entertainment Group ( TME ; Chinese : 腾讯音乐娱乐集团 ) is a company that develops music streaming services for the Chinese market. Tencent Music's apps include QQ Music , KuGou , Kuwo, and WeSing; which have more than 800 million active users and 120 million paying subscribers . As of July 2016, Tencent Music's three services held an estimated 56% market share of music streaming services in China.
63-665: In the first quarter of 2021, Tencent Music announced it had 60.9 million paying users, up 42.6% compared to the 42.7 million paying users in the first quarter of 2020. In addition, the total number of music streaming users was announced to be 615 million, a drop of 6.4% compared to the first quarter of 2020 (657 million). Tencent Music was established in July 2016 with Tencent 's purchase of China Music Corporation to strengthen its music offerings. On July 4, 2018, Sony/ATV Music Publishing acquired an equity stake in Tencent Music. In October 2018,
126-462: A social media app . 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. On 18 February 2011, Tencent acquired a majority of equity interest (92.78%) in Riot Games , developer of League of Legends , for about US$ 230 million. Tencent had already held 22.34% of the equity interest out of
189-518: A "smart interactive television service" in a joint effort with TCL . In 2015, Tencent launched Tencent Pictures (Chinese: 腾讯影业 ), a film distributor and a production company that creates and distributes films based on books , comic books , animated series and video games . In the same year, Tencent launched Tencent Penguin Pictures (Chinese: 腾讯企鹅影视 ) a production unit focusing on online dramas and minor investments in feature films. It
252-584: A 15% decrease in advertising revenue. The decline was attributed to the pandemic and tighter regulations imposed by the Chinese government. In September 2022, Tencent acquired a 49.9% stake and 5% voting rights in Guillemot Brothers Limited, Ubisoft 's parent company. On 16 September 2022, Tencent took a minority stake in Mordhau studio Triternion. In November 2022, Tencent announced that it would divest
315-462: A 15% stake in Chinese e-commerce website JD.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 to Alibaba Group . 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. On 27 March 2014, it
378-590: A 5% stake in Tesla for US$ 1.78 billion, the automotive control systems of which it subsequently successfully performed penetration-testing until 2019. In a "direct challenge to Chinese search engine Baidu ," in May 2017, Tencent entered news feed and search functions for its WeChat app, which the Financial Times reported was used by 770 million people at the time. In May 2017, Tencent surpassed Wells Fargo to enter
441-596: A 7% stake in lottery technology firm China LotSynergy Holdings Ltd for HKD 445.5 million (US$ 57.4 million). On 23 October 2014, Tencent pitched in $ 145 million for a 10 per cent stake in Koudai Gouwu, a Chinese mobile shopping portal. In November 2014, the company announced a deal with HBO which would give it exclusive rights for distribution in China. On 9 December 2014, Chinese taxi-hailing app Didi Dache announced that it had raised more than $ 700 million in
504-411: 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. In 2016, Tencent, together with Foxconn and luxury-car dealer Harmony New Energy Auto founded Future Mobility , a car startup (now defunct) that aimed to sell all-electric fully autonomous premium cars. On 28 March 2017, Tesla, Inc. announced Tencent had purchased
567-498: A funding round led by Tencent and Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings. On 29 December 2014, Tencent launched the website for WeBank (China) , China's first online-only bank. Trials for the service commenced on 18 January 2015. In 2014, Tencent sued its major competitor NetEase alleging copyright infringement. Tencent used its leverage from the suit to convince NetEase to sublicense music rights from Tencent. The sub-licensing arrangement that resulted then became
630-488: A gaming platform. 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 million monthly active users , and said to be earmarking billions of dollars to amass a catalogue of user-generated content, in competition with YouTube . The company became the first Asian company to cross US$ 500 billion valuation, surpassing Facebook to enter
693-487: 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. In June 2022, Tencent posted its slowest revenue gain since going public in 2004, partly caused by
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#1733106754351756-597: A hub for Tencent's game development. Aside from Wuhu, another eSports theme park is planned in Chengdu . 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. Alibaba overtook Tencent as Asia's most valuable company as its stocks surged after the company hosted its 2017 Investor's day. The company has also developed its own voice assistant Xiaowei, and
819-711: A majority stake in China Music Corporation. Private enterprises in China are required to have an in-firm committee or branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) if three or more CCP members are among their employees. In 2016, Tencent's CCP branch was recognized as one of the one hundred best such branches in the country. 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. The Tencent Party Member Activity Center has
882-460: A minority share in Chinese search engine Sogou.com , the subsidiary of Sohu , Inc. 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. On 27 February 2014, Tencent purchased a 20% stake in restaurant ratings and group-buying website Dianping for $ 400 million. On 10 March 2014, Tencent bought
945-575: A model used by other online music platforms in China. On 30 January 2015, Tencent announced that it had signed a US$ 700 million deal with the National Basketball Association to stream American basketball games in China. Later that year, Chinese automaker BYD became the chief corporate sponsor for Tencent's NBA broadcasts. On 21 June 2016 Tencent announced a deal to acquire 84.3% of Supercell , developer of Clash of Clans , with US$ 8.6 billion. In July 2016, Tencent acquired
1008-526: A partnership that will see English-language releases of several popular online Chinese titles. In 2014, Tencent established exclusive in-China distribution agreements with several large music producers, including Sony , Warner Music Group and YG Entertainment and in 2017 it signed a deal with Universal 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
1071-643: A partnership with Billboard to integrate the TME UNI Chart into Billboard ' s official Hits of the World collection of global record charts. In 2024, they launched the TME Korean Chart, a subchart that ranks the top Korean songs within China based on streaming and sales activity from the platforms QQ Music, KuGou, Kuwo, Polka Dot, and Joox. This corporation or company article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Chinese music article
1134-607: A previous investment in 2008. On 16 December 2015, Riot Games sold its remaining equity to Tencent. Tencent acquired a minority stake in Epic Games , developer of franchises like Fortnite , Unreal , Gears of War and Infinity Blade , in June 2012. That year, Tencent acquired ZAM Network, parent of Wowhead and other websites, from Brock Pierce . Tencent in 2013 increased its stake in Kingsoft Network Technology,
1197-561: A record HK$ 10 billion share purchase. 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. Launched in February 1999, Tencent QQ is Tencent's first and most notable product, QQ is one of the most popular instant messaging platforms in its home market. As of 31 December 2010, there were 647.6 million active Tencent QQ IM user accounts, making Tencent QQ
1260-452: 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. On 10 April 2010, Tencent launched Tencent Weibo , a microblogging service. WeChat is a mobile app with functions such as voice- and text messaging, mobile payment , and a friends-only social network called Moments . It
1323-793: A stake in Tencent's sister companies, such as OLX , VK , Trip.com Group , Delivery Hero , Bykea , Meesho , Stack Overflow , Udemy , Codecademy , Brainly and PayU . 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. The company originally derived income solely from advertising and premium users of QQ, who pay monthly fees to receive extras. By 2005, charging for use of QQ mobile, its cellular value-added service , and licensing its penguin character, which could be found on snack food and clothing, had also become income generators. By 2008, Tencent
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#17331067543511386-468: A strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent. China's government designated Tencent as one of its "AI champions " in 2018. 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. In October 2019, Tencent began sending out refunds to customers after cancelling
1449-467: 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. Tencent took part in Activision Blizzard splitting from Vivendi as a passive investor in 2013 and now owns less than 4.9% of the shares as of 2017. On 17 September 2013, it was announced that Tencent had invested $ 448 million for
1512-654: A whole has many major and minor investments in domestic and, since the 2010s, foreign game companies. Other notable investments include Discord ( February 2015 ), Roblox Corporation ( February 2020 ), Lockwood Publishing ( November 2020 ), PlatinumGames ( January 2020 ), Aiming ( December 2014 ), Novarama ( March 2022 ), Triternion ( September 2022 ) Riffraff Games ( March 2022 ), Offworld Industries ( March 2022 ), Bohemia Interactive ( February 2021 ), Payload Studios ( February 2021 ), Playtonic Games ( November 2021 ), Voodoo (August 2020) and Lighthouse Games (July 2023). In April 2009, Tencent launched iTQQ,
1575-784: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( Chinese : 腾讯 ; pinyin : Téngxùn ) is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen . It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the world's largest company in the video game industry based on its equity investments. Founded in 1998, its subsidiaries globally market various Internet -related services and products, including in entertainment, artificial intelligence , and other technology. Its twin-skyscraper headquarters, Tencent Seafront Towers (also known as Tencent Binhai Mansion) are based in
1638-832: Is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities . These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 . Investment companies invest money on behalf of their clients who, in return, share in the profits and losses. Investment companies are designed for long-term investment, not short-term trading . Investment companies do not include brokerage companies, insurance companies, or banks. In United States securities law , there are at least five types of investment companies: In general, each of these investment companies must register under
1701-431: Is among the largest social media , venture capital , and investment corporations . Its services include social networks, music, web portals, e-commerce , mobile games, internet services, payment systems, smartphones, and multiplayer online games. It operates the instant messengers Tencent QQ and WeChat , along with the news site QQ.com. The company surpassed a market value of US$ 500 billion in 2018, becoming
1764-536: 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. 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. Outside of companies subsidiary of its game division, Tencent as
1827-518: Is under the Online Media Business Unit at Tencent and works closely with Tencent Video . On 21 March 2012, Tencent launched Tencent Comic , and would later become China's largest online animation platform. In September 2017, Tencent has announced plans to introduce Chinese online comics to every market around the world, with the first being North America . It will be working with San Francisco -based digital publisher Tapas Media ,
1890-703: The Investment Company Act 1940 is private investment companies , which are simply private companies that make investments in stocks or bonds, but are limited to under 250 investors and are not regulated by the SEC. These funds are often composed of very wealthy investors. Investment companies that choose to register under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or any investment fund that is subject to similar regulation in another jurisdiction are considered regulated funds. This provides certain protections and oversight for investors. Regulated funds normally have restrictions on
1953-532: The Nanshan District of Shenzhen. In December 2023, architect Büro Ole 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. Tencent is the world's largest video game vendor , as well as one of the largest companies in the world by market capitalization . It
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2016-532: The SAMR '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 take search engine Sogou private was approved by the SAMR. Tencent later announced too its intention to take DouYu private, in part due to
2079-663: The Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940 . A fourth and lesser-known type of investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 is a Face-Amount Certificate Company . Investment companies should not be confused with investment platforms such as eToro , Robinhood , Fidelity and E-Trade, which are digital services or tools that enable investors to access and manage various financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options, futures, cryptocurrencies, and real estate. A major type of company not covered under
2142-641: The automotive industry . It is also collaborating with L'Oréal , the world's largest cosmetics company, to explore digital marketing under the Joint Business Partnership (JBP) agreement. 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
2205-407: The music industry , encouraging more high-quality and original music, as well as developing China '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 of Chinese and Japanese music. Investment corporation An investment company
2268-404: 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. On 11 January 2022, it was announced that Tencent was in talks to acquire Xiaomi-backed Black Shark , one of the largest gaming smartphone makers in China. The acquisition would have been Tencent's first in
2331-886: The 1930s like the 1933 Securities Act restored investor confidence. A number of innovations then led to steady growth in investment company assets and accounts over the decades. The Investment Company Act of 1940 regulates the structure and operations of investment companies. It requires registration and disclosure for companies with over 100 investors. The act governs investment company capital, custody of assets, transactions with affiliates, and fund board duties. The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 regulates investment advisers to registered funds and other large advisers. It establishes registration, recordkeeping, reporting and other requirements for advisers. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 regulates trading, buying and selling of securities including investment company shares. It governs broker-dealers who sell fund shares. In 1938, it authorized
2394-575: The Chinese government's regulations to curb online gaming cost Tencent $ 46 Billion in Market Capitalisation. 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%. Also in December 2023, Tencent accelerated the pace of buybacks , increasing the pace of daily purchases to about HK $ 1 billion (with an average of HK$ 375 million per day) and made
2457-458: The Chinese market. In June 2020, the Government of India banned QQ Music with 58 other Chinese origin apps citing data and privacy issues. The border tensions in 2020 between India and China might have also played a role in the ban. As of 2023, 16.47% of Tencent Music class A ordinary shares are owned by Spotify . In 2018, Tencent Music Entertainment Group launched two music charts in China,
2520-520: The TME UNI Chart and TME Wave Chart. The TME UNI Chart ranks the top songs within China based on streaming and sales activity from the platforms QQ Music , KuGou , Kuwo, WeSing, Joox and Weixin Video Account , and listening data from China’s public radio stations. The TME Wave Chart is a ranking of the top songs in China compiled based on scores and recommendations from over 250 industry professionals. In 2023, Tencent Music Entertainment Group announced
2583-750: The United States, regulated funds include not only open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, but also unit investment trusts and closed-end funds. In Europe, regulated funds encompass UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) like ETFs and money market funds, as well as alternative investment funds known as AIFs. In many countries, regulated funds may also include institutional funds limited to non-retail investors, funds offering principal guarantees, and open-end real estate funds investing directly in property assets. The first investment trusts were established in Europe in
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2646-844: The advantages of diversification previously only available to the wealthy. The Scottish American Investment Trust , founded in 1873, was one of the first funds to invest in American securities and help finance the post- Civil War U.S. economy. This established a link between British fund models and U.S. markets. The first mutual fund, or open-end fund, was introduced in Boston in 1924 by the Massachusetts Investors Trust. This fund introduced innovations like continuous share offerings, share redemptions, and clear investment policies. The 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression temporarily hampered investment funds. But new securities regulations in
2709-703: The broadcast of NBA games in response to the Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey 's social media comments in support of protests in Hong Kong . In May 2020, Tencent purchased the rights to create System Shock 3 and any further sequels from OtherSide Entertainment . On 29 June 2020, Tencent acquired the video-on-demand service iflix in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia . In September 2020, Tencent picked Singapore as its hub in Asia, joining rivals ByteDance and Alibaba in
2772-462: The conglomerate. Wanda Commercial was renamed Wanda Commercial Management Group. Tencent bought a 5% to 10% minority stake in Skydance Media . On 23 January 2018, Tencent and Carrefour reached strategic co-operation agreement in China. 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
2835-465: The firm filed for IPOs of around $ 2 billion in the United States. In December 2018, the company announced an IPO with the total value of shares around $ 1.23 billion, which includes 82 million ADS and 164 million regular shares priced around $ 13 - $ 15. On January 30, 2019, SM Entertainment, the largest entertainment agency of South Korea entered into strategic partnership agreement with China's Tencent Music that included music distribution and marketing in
2898-823: The first Asian technology company to cross this valuation mark. 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. In 2015, 2018, and 2020, the company was ranked by the Boston Consulting Group and Fast Company among the 50 most innovative companies worldwide. Tencent has stakes in over 600 companies, and began focusing on tech start-ups in Asia in 2017. TechCrunch characterized Tencent's investment strategy as letting its portfolio startups operate autonomously. Tencent's valuation approached US$ 1 trillion in January 2021 before it plummeted. Tencent Holdings
2961-452: The government's scrutiny of the gaming business weighed on the company. 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. The sell-off dragged down many other Chinese internet stocks as well. On 6 September 2018, Luckin Coffee signed
3024-576: The late 1700s by a Dutch trader who wanted to enable small investors to pool their funds and diversify. This is where the idea of investment companies originated, as stated by K. Geert Rouwenhorst . In the 1800s in England, "investment pooling" emerged with trusts that resembled modern investment funds in structure. For example, the Foreign and Colonial Government Trust formed in London in 1868 provided small investors
3087-582: The majority of its US$ 20.3 billion stake in Meituan through a dividend distribution to shareholders, in part due to China's earlier regulatory crackdown on tech giants. 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. By January 2023, Tencent had sold its share in Tesla. Majority owned subsidiary China Literature acquired Tencent Animation and Comics in December 2023. On 22 December 2023,
3150-478: The race to reinforce their presence closer to home after complications in India and the United States. Lazy Audio was acquired from Shenzhen Lanren Online Technology Co for 2.7 billion yuan in January 2021. In July 2021, China's antitrust regulator formally blocked Tencent's plan to merge China's top two video game streaming sites, Huya Live and DouYu , after it had failed to come up with sufficient remedies to meet
3213-408: 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. Tencent became the second Asian company after Alibaba Group to surpass US$ 400 billion market cap. Tencent has also created an alliance to its own AI self-driving program, similar to Baidu's Apollo Project , recruiting numerous industry players in
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#17331067543513276-531: The top 5 list of the world's biggest firms. In January 2018, Tencent and The Lego Group , the world's largest toy company, teamed up to jointly develop online games and potentially a social network aimed at children. It also launched its first unmanned shop in Shanghai . Tencent led a US$ 5.2 billion investment in Wanda Commercial , together with JD.com , Sunac and Suning Group , to acquire shares in
3339-497: 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." In November 2017, Tencent revealed that it had purchased a 12% stake in Snap Inc. in the open market, with plans to help establish Snapchat as
3402-573: The types and amounts of investments the fund manager can make. Typically, regulated funds may only invest in listed securities and no more than 5% of the fund may be invested in a single security. The majority of investment companies are mutual funds, both in terms of number of funds and assets under management. The International Investment Funds Association defines regulated funds as open-end collective investment vehicles that are subject to substantive regulation. Open-end funds allow investors to purchase new shares or redeem existing shares on demand. In
3465-467: 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. On 17 December 2021, Tencent announced it had acquired Slamfire Inc. and its subsidiary Turtle Rock Studios , the developer behind Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood . In January 2022, reports emerged that Tencent
3528-477: The world's largest online community at the time. The number of QQ accounts connected simultaneously has, at times, exceeded 100 million. While the IM service itself is free, a fee was being charged for mobile messaging as of 2006. 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. In 2005, Tencent launched Qzone ,
3591-568: The world's top 10 most valuable companies. Tencent has also entered an agreement with the Wuhu City Council to build the world's first eSports 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 and Tencent 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
3654-588: Was announced that Tencent had agreed to pay about $ 500 million for a 28 per cent stake in South Korea's CJ Games. 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. On 17 April 2015, Tencent announced it bought an additional $ 400 million worth of shares, rising its stake in the company to about 25%. On 16 October 2014, via its wholly held subsidiary Hongze Lake Investment Ltd, Tencent announced that it had bought
3717-634: Was in the midst of discussion to acquire Rovio Entertainment , the developer of Angry Birds . 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. In July 2017, Tencent bought a 9% share in Frontier Developments , the creator of the Elite: Dangerous and Planet Coaster franchises; as well as developer for Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 & 3. In August 2017, after Tencent announced
3780-471: 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 to China'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
3843-459: Was provided to it by venture capitalists . In February 1999, Tencent's messenger product OICQ was released. Shortly after, Tencent had the client's name changed to QQ; this was said to be due to a lawsuit threat from ICQ and its owner AOL . The company remained unprofitable for the first three years. South African media company Naspers purchased a 46.5% share of Tencent in 2001. As of 2023, it owns 26.16% through Prosus , which also owns
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#17331067543513906-535: Was ranked 35th on Forbes Global 2000 2023 list. Tencent was founded by Pony Ma , Zhang Zhidong , Xu Chenye, Charles Chen and Zeng Liqing in November 1998 as Tencent Inc , in the Cayman Islands . The name "Tencent" is based on its Chinese name Tengxun (Chinese: 腾讯 ), which incorporates part of Pony Ma 's Chinese name ( Ma Huateng ; 马化「腾」) and literally means "galloping fast information". Initial funding
3969-528: Was seeing profit growth from the sale of virtual goods . In June 2007, Tencent established its charity foundation, becoming the first Chinese internet company to do so. While Tencent's services have included online gaming since 2004, around 2007/2008, it rapidly increased its offerings by licensing games. While at least two, Crossfire and Dungeon Fighter Online , were originally produced by South Korean game developers, Tencent now makes its own games. On 21 January 2011, Tencent launched Weixin ( 微信 ),
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