Tencent owns WeChat and was founded in 1998 by Ma Huateng and four co-founders.
Tencent began with internet services and became one of China’s largest technology companies. Its products include WeChat, QQ, online games, digital payments, cloud services, music, and other internet platforms.
WeChat launched in 2011 and developed beyond messaging into a broad mobile ecosystem. Users can communicate, make payments, access services, and interact with businesses within the platform. Tencent is also a major global videogame investor and publisher.
Tencent’s market capitalization reflects the value investors assign to all of these businesses, not just WeChat. It is sometimes confused with Alibaba, another major Chinese technology group, but Alibaba is best known for e-commerce and cloud activities while Tencent’s origins are in social platforms and online services.