Tencent Holdings overview

Tencent is a Chinese internet service portal offering value-added internet, mobile, telecom, and online advertising services.

Since its establishment in 1998, Tencent has maintained steady growth under its user-oriented operating strategies. It provides value-added internet, mobile and telecom services, as well as online advertising under the strategic goal of providing users with “one-stop online lifestyle services.” Tencent’s leading internet platforms in China – QQ (QQ Instant Messenger), WeChat, QQ.com, QQ Games, Qzone, 3g.QQ.com, SoSo, PaiPai, and Tenpay – aim to address the various needs of internet users, including communication, information, entertainment, e-commerce, and others.

With its R&D staff comprising more than 60% of its employee base, Tencent has obtained patents relating to technologies in various areas such as instant messaging, e-commerce, online payment services, search engine, information security, gaming, and many more. In 2007, Tencent invested more than RMB100 million in setting up the Tencent Research Institute, China’s first internet research institute, with campuses in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The institute focuses on the self-development of core internet technologies in pursuing its development and innovation goals for the industry.

Tencent was founded in November of 1998. In April 2000, the IDG and PCCW invested a total of $2.2 million dollars in the company. Tencent was listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK) on June 16, 2004.

Tencent’s major competitors include Baidu, Alibaba, and Netease.

In 2018 the company surpassed a market value of US$500bn. Its revenue in 2018 was CN¥312.69bn.

In 2019 Tencent revealed it was to open a blockchain-based virtual bank after the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission approved a license.

The company saw significant growth in 2019 (FY'19 hit $54bn - up 21%), meaning that it overtook companies such as Cisco and Lenovo in terms of revenue. It saw $16.4bn in operating profit.

In October 2020, Tencent launched AIMIS Medical Image Cloud, and the AIMIS Open Lab, designed to leverage cloud-stored medical data to help tech companies develop innovative new products.

Later that same month, Tencent reportedly applied for a reinsurance license in China. The company already has partnerships with Swiss Re to research AI within the reinsurance industry, and it launched insurance platform WeSure in 2017, which reported 55m users at the end of 2019.

Map showing the location of Tencent Holdings

Shenzhen, China

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Key people

Liu-Zhi ping President
Shan Liu Distinguished Scientist and VP of Tencent Media Lab
Xin Liu Vice-President of Auto Intelligence and Linux Foundation Executive
John Lo Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President
Lin Haifeng General Manager, Merger and Acquisitions
Guo Kaitian VP
Forest Lin General Manager, Tencent Investment
Chen Ye Xu Chief Information Officer
Hongwei Chen Executive Director of Investment
Raymond Gong General Manager of Online Games
phil mu Chief Investment Officer
Jim Lai Vice President
Davis Lin Corporate Vice President
Lei Bi Senior Security Engineer
Jeffrey Li Managing Partner
Chris Zhou Sr. Product Manager
Piao Yanli Vice President of Tencent Games
Luo Shuo Han Chief Financial Officer, Group Senior Vice President
Zhidong Zhang Founder, Chief Technology Officer
Danying Ma Managing Director
Miao (Mars) Hou Head of Tencent Sports
Wu Xiaoguang Senior Management Adviser
Yun Zhang Head of Strategy
Yang Yu Director of Xuanwu Lab
Xiaolong Guo Senior Security Engineer
Abe Tan R&D Manager of Game
Zhu Liang product manager
Tom Bie VP
Alexander Ng President
Pony Ma Chairman of the Board of Directors
Charles Searle Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors
Iain Bruce Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors
Li Dongsheng Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors
Martin Lau President
Levin Yao Managing Director, Tencent Investment
Yao Xia Executive Director
James Mitchell Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Executive Vice President
Dowson Tong President of Social Network Group, Senior Executive Vice President
Koos Bekker Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors
Steven Ma SVP
David Wallerstein Chief eXploration Officer and Senior Executive Vice President
Ben Feder President, International Partnerships (North America)
Steven Fan Executive Director
YuXiang Li Senior engineer
Linq Ge Chief European Representative
Lau Seng Yee SEVP, Chairman of Tencent Advertising, Chairman of Group Marketing and Global Branding
Peter Pi Senior Security Researcher
Dan Brody Managing Director, Tencent Investments
Wendy Sun Senior Product Director
Eric Cleaver Senior Global Community Manager
Tommy Deng Growth Hacker
Chong Sun Senior Director
John Lacey MENA Head
Kyler Liu VP of Product, Tencent Content Platform
Adam Najberg Head of Communications, IEG Global at Tencent
Shawn Layden Strategic Advisor