Tencent became the first Asian technology company to surpass a US$500 billion market capitalization in 2017.
Tencent crossed the milestone after a major rise in its Hong Kong-listed share price. Investors valued its combination of online games, social networking, digital payments, advertising, and cloud services. The company’s WeChat platform was especially important to its reach in China.
The achievement placed Tencent among a small group of global technology companies with market values above US$500 billion. Market capitalization is not the same as annual revenue or cash on hand; it represents the market’s valuation of all outstanding shares.
Tencent was founded in Shenzhen in 1998 by Pony Ma and several co-founders. Its first major product was the instant-messaging service QQ. WeChat, launched in 2011, later became one of the company’s most influential products and a major part of China’s mobile internet ecosystem.