Tencent Holdings

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Tencent Holdings Limited
腾讯控股有限公司
Type Public
Traded as SEHK: 700
Industry Media, Internet
Founded 1998
Headquarters Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Area served China
Key people Ma Huateng, Chairman
Products Social networks, mass media, web portals, e-commerce, and multiplayer online games
Services Online services
Revenue Increase CN¥ 28,496 million (2011)1
Operating income Increase CN¥ 12,099 million (2011)1
Net income Increase CN¥ 10,225 million (2011)1
Total assets Increase CN¥ 56,804 million (2011)1
Total equity Increase CN¥ 29,088 million (2011)1
Employees 20,000 (2011)1
Website tencent.com
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Tencent Holdings Limited (Chinese: 腾讯控股有限公司，SEHK: 700) is a Chinese investment holding company whose subsidiaries provide mass media, entertainment, Internet and mobile phone value-added services and operate online advertising services in the People's Republic of China.2 Its headquarters are in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.

Tencent's diverse services include social networks, web portals, e-commerce, and multiplayer online games.3 It operates the well-known instant messenger Tencent QQ45 and runs one of the largest web portals in China, QQ.com.6

As of December 31, 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 simultaneously online QQ accounts has sometimes exceeded 100 million.7

As of November 2010 the company is the third largest Internet company in the world behind Google and Amazon with a market capitalization of US$38 billion.8 Other big, Chinese Internet companies include Sina and Baidu.

Contents

History

Tencent was founded by Ma Huateng and Zhang Zhidong in November 19989 as Tencent Inc.10 Incorporated in the Cayman Islands,11 initial funding was provided to it by venture capitalists.2 The company remained unprofitable for the first three years.9

South African Naspers purchased a 46% share of Tencent in 2001. (As of 2010, it owns 35%.12) During these early years Tencent's iconic messenger product had its name changed from OICQ to QQ; this was said to be due to a (apocryphalcitation needed) lawsuit from ICQ itself.9 Others say American Internet company AOL, not ICQ, requested the name change.13 Tencent Holding Ltd was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 16 June 2004,10 and it was added as a Hang Seng Index Constituent Stock in 2008.14

The company originally derived income solely from advertising and premium users of QQ, who pay monthly fees to receive added extras.9 But by 2005, charging for use of QQ mobile, its cellular value-added service, and licensing its iconic penguin character, which can be found on snack food15 and clothing,9 had also become income generators.9 And c. 2008 Tencent was seeing profit growth from the sale of virtual goods.16

While Tencent's services have included online gaming since 2004, around 2007-2008 it rapidly increased its offerings by licensing South Korean games.17 At least two, CrossFire and Dungeon and Fighter, were originally produced by South Korean game developers, but Tencent now makes its own games.17

Virtual goods

Tencent sells virtual goods18 for use in their MMOs,19 IM client, social networking sites,20 and for mobile phones.21 Income from the sale of virtual goods was a large proportion of Tencent's revenue in 2009.6 The sort of games Tencent made as of 2010 were on track to remain popular and spin profits until 2012, at least.22

Tencent's online currency, Q Coins, can be used to purchase virtual goods.23 These range from the offbeat, such as virtual pets24 and the virtual clothing, jewelry, and cosmetics needed to customize online-game avatars,25 to the more mundane, such as more storage space, wallpapers, bigger photo albums,20 and ring tones.21

Locations

Tencent's headquarters are located at the Tencent Building (腾讯大厦 téngxùndàshà) in the Southern Hi-Tech Park District (新科技园 xīnkējìyuán) in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.2627 Other sites include a 48,000 square meter compound that houses an R&D center in the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone,28 a data and R&D center in Tianjin's Binhai Service Outsourcing Industry Park that is expected to be finished by June 2013,29 and also some 17,646 square meters of Shanghai office space purchased through a subsidiary, Tencent Cyber (Tianjin), and located in the Shanghai Modern Technology Services Community Zone.30

The above list of locations is not exhaustive.

Products and services

Tencent headquarters

Tencent offers a diverse mix of services and counts both consumers and businesses as customers.

QQ instant messenger

Main article: Tencent QQ

Launched in February 1999,26 and Tencent's most notable product,45 QQ is one of the most popular instant messaging platforms in its home market.2331 While the IM service is free, a fee is charged for mobile messaging.32

QQ International

An English version of QQ that allows communication with mainland accounts, QQi is available for Window and Mac OSX.33

iTQQ

China's first "smart interactive television service" and a joint effort with TCL.23

Multiplayer online games

Tencent offers a number of online, multiplayer games through its game portal QQ Games.

These massively multiplayer online games include Dungeon & Fighter, a side-scrolling online fighting game; QQ Fantasy, a 2D online game that incorporates elements from Chinese mythology; Xunxian, a 3D, online RPG; QQ Three Kingdoms, an online casual role playing game set during the historical three kingdoms period; QQ Huaxia, an online RPG; QQ Dancer, an online musical dancing game that offers QQ IM interactivity; QQ Nanaimo, an online game set on a desert island where players maintain houses and pets; QQ Speed, a casual online racing game; QQ R2Beat, an online in-line skating game; QQ Tang, an "advanced casual game" with gameplay derived from Chinese literature; QQ PET, a QQ IM-based desktop virtual pet game and two online first-person shooters; CrossFire and AVA.34

PaiPai.com

Launched on March 13, 2006,35 it is a C2C auction site.23

QQLive

Main article: QQLive

A peer-to-peer distribution platform for streaming media.36

QQ Show

An avatar-based social platform like Cyworld,6 QQ Show allows purchase of virtual goods to outfit avatars, which can also be used with QQ IM.37

QQ Player

In 2008, Tencent released a media player, available for free download, under the name QQ Player.38

Qzone

Main article: Qzone

A social networking service5 and, as of 2008, the largest in China.11

SOSO

Main article: Soso.com

Launched in March 2006,39 this search engine's name sounds like "搜搜", or "search search" in Chinese.40 It was a Chinese partner of Google, using AdWords.8

Tencent Traveler

Abbreviated "TT" (TencentTraveler), this web browser developed by Tencent41 is based on the Trident42 and was the third most-used browser in China c. 2008.42

Tencent Weibo

Main article: Tencent Weibo

A Chinese microblogging service, Tencent Weibo competes with Sina Weibo.

TenPay

An online payment system similar to PayPal,23 it supports B2B, B2C, and C2C payments.35 In some Chinese cities individuals can use TenPay for utility payments and to refill their public transport cards.43 Co-branded credit cards are available, and credit card bills can also be paid using the service.44 Offline recharging of your TenPay account is possible, as the company sends employees to collect customer money in person.45

WeChat

WeChat46 is a social mobile application with voice and text messaging, timeline,47 and several social features like drift a bottle. It is very popular in China and is likely to expand abroad.48

Subsidiaries

Tencent has at least four wholly foreign owned enterprises and nearly twenty subsidiaries in all.11

Epic Games

Tencent acquired a minority stake in Epic Games, developer of franchises like Gears of War and Infinity Blade in June 2012.49

Riot Games

Tencent invested in Riot Games, developer of League of Legends, for $400 million USD in 2011.50

Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co Ltd

A software development unit that has created, among others, Tencent Traveler and later versions of QQ IM,51 as well as some mobile software.52 This subsidiary is located at the Southern District of Hi-Tech Park, Shenzhen.51 It also holds a number of patents related to instant messaging and massively multiplayer online game gaming.53

Copying claims

Many of Tencent's software and services are remarkably similar to those of competitors. The founder and chairman, Huateng "Pony Ma" Ma, famously said, "[To] copy is not evil." A former CEO and President of SINA.com, Wang Zhidong, said, "Pony Ma is a notorious king of copying." Jack Ma of Alibaba Group stated, "the problem in Tencent is no innovation; all things are copies."54

As of 2009, the company held 400 patents.55

See also

Portal icon People's Republic of China portal
Portal icon Companies portal
Portal icon Internet portal


References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "2011 Annual Report". Tencent.com. Retrieved 2012-09-04. 
  2. ^ a b Biographical Dictionary of New Chinese Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders, Pg. 111-112 Ilan Alon and Wenxian Zhang. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009. Google Book Search.
  3. ^ Tencent, More Than QQ Instant Messaging In China thechinaobserver.com, undated but posted prior to February 12, 2009
  4. ^ a b Tencent Set Up china-business-daily.blogspot.com, November 7, 2008
  5. ^ a b c Tencent: The Largest Internet Portal In China technologygear.net, Wednesday, February 25th 2009
  6. ^ a b c For Chinese IM Portal Tencent, The Money Is In Micro-Transactions techcrunch.com, March 27, 2008
  7. ^ "腾讯QQ最新24小时在线数据". Im.qq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-14. 
  8. ^ a b What Valley Companies Should Know about Tencent techcrunch.com, Jun 20, 2010
  9. ^ a b c d e f Investing in China: The Emerging Venture Capital Industry Jonsson Yinya Li, Google Book Search
  10. ^ a b Tencent Tencent official site
  11. ^ a b c 2008 Annual Report Tencent Official Site
  12. ^ Tencent 腾讯 Naspers
  13. ^ "Tencent: March of the Penguins". Businessweek. August 4, 2011. pp. 4/7. Retrieved 8 Aug. 2011. 
  14. ^ HANG SENG INDEXES ANNOUNCES INDEX REVIEW RESULTS
  15. ^ QQ Games on AIM: Another Penguin Aims for the Casual Market gotgame.com, January 13, 2009
  16. ^ A Chinese Web Giant's Sizzling Success businessweek.com, November 26, 2008, 9:11AM EST
  17. ^ a b "Tencent: March of the Penguins". Businessweek. August 4, 2011. pp. 5/7. Retrieved 8 Aug. 2011. 
  18. ^ "Cashing in on virtual goods - Techland". 
  19. ^ TenCent Reaches New Heights in Virtual Goods Sales insidesocialgames.com, March 31st, 2009
  20. ^ a b Tencent Tells its Story at Virtual Goods Summit 3pointd.com, Friday, June 22nd, 2007, at 1:45 pm Eastern
  21. ^ a b Ericsson Mobility World partner profile: Tencent ericsson.com
  22. ^ China Web game market to hit $750 mln in 3 yrs-report reuters.com, ue Nov 16, 2010 3:48am EST
  23. ^ a b c d e Meet China's Google trouncer 14 May 2007, 1917 hrs IST, The Times Group
  24. ^ Lucrative Alternatives to Online Advertising businessweek.com, October 23, 2008, 5:00PM EST
  25. ^ The world's most lucrative social network? China's Tencent beats $1 billion revenue mark venturebeat.com, March 19, 2009
  26. ^ a b Investor Fact Sheet Tencent Official Site
  27. ^ "Contact Us." Tencent. Retrieved on September 28, 2011. "Tencent Building, Kejizhongyi Avenue, Hi-techPark,Nanshan District,Shenzhen." Address in Chinese: "深圳市南山区高新科技园中区一路腾讯大厦"
  28. ^ Tencent Opens Chengdu R&D Center JLM Pacific Epoch, Apr 09, 2009
  29. ^ Tencent's Tianjin R&D Center Ready in 2013 JLM Pacific Epoch, Mar 13, 2009
  30. ^ DI SCLOSEABLE TRANSACTI ON PURCHASE OF PROPERTY 1 5 Ma y 2 0 0 8
  31. ^ About Tencent Tencent Official Site
  32. ^ The party, the people and the power of cyber-talk economist.com, Apr 27th 2006
  33. ^ "QQ International". Tencent. Retrieved November 23, 2012. 
  34. ^ Products and Services > Interactive Entertainment Service Tencent official Site
  35. ^ a b Products and Services > E-commerce Tencent Official Site
  36. ^ Products and Services > Internet Value-added Service Tencent Official Site
  37. ^ Products and Services > Internet Value-added Service Tencent Official Site
  38. ^ Tencent releases QQ Player
  39. ^ Products and Services > Online Media Tencent Official Site
  40. ^ Tencent to Build 3000-person Search Army to Power Search Engine cnreviews.com, 14 APR 2008
  41. ^ Products & Services > Instant Messaging Service Tencent Official Site
  42. ^ a b Mozilla Takes on Microsoft in China businessweek.com, January 11, 2008, 7:21AM EST
  43. ^ Tenpay Expands Into Online Utility Payment JLM Pacific Epoch, Jul 20, 2009
  44. ^ Tenpay Releases Credit Card Payment Service JLM Pacific Epoch, Apr 15, 2009
  45. ^ Knock, Knock: TenPay To Offer Door-To-Door Recharging Service J:M Pacific Epoch, Nov 14, 2008
  46. ^ "WeChat website". 
  47. ^ "Social features of WeChat". Value2020. Retrieved 2013-01-23. 
  48. ^ "Here’s a Heatmap of WeChat Users Around the World". TechinAsia, Steven Millward & VALUE2020. Retrieved 2013-01-18. 
  49. ^ "Gears of War studio sells minority stake to Chinese Internet company". Gamespot. 
  50. ^ "Tencent Acquires Riot Games (and League of Legends) for $400M". PCWorld. 
  51. ^ a b Company Snapshot: Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. businessweek.com
  52. ^ China Developers Bring Mobile Widgets to Market nokia.com, 2008
  53. ^ IPEXL Search > Patent Directory > "TENCENT TECHNOLOGY SHENZHEN COMPANY LIMITED" ipexl.com
  54. ^ Tencent's innovation is copied... Machine translation xinhuanet.com, April 13, 2007
  55. ^ Tencent Holds 400 Patents JLM Pacific Epoch, Jul 29, 2009

External links

Tencent Holdings
Co-founder
Products & Services
Instant Messaging
Online Media
Games
Online Games
Game Platform
Value-added Service
E-commerce
Related
  • Annual revenue Increase CNY￥ 28,496 million (2011)
  • Employees 19,130 (2012)
  • Stock symbol SEHK: 700


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