Tencent operates the WeChat messaging platform and was founded in Shenzhen in 1998.
Tencent was founded in November 1998 by Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Cheney, Chen Yidan, and Zeng Liqing. Its first major product was QQ, an instant-messaging service that became highly popular in China.
The company launched WeChat in 2011. WeChat developed beyond messaging into a broad mobile platform offering voice and video calls, payments, social features, mini-programs, and business services. Tencent also operates major gaming, entertainment, cloud-computing, and financial-technology businesses.
Tencent’s market capitalization has made it one of Asia’s most valuable publicly traded companies, although its ranking changes as share prices move. Alibaba, Baidu, and NetEase are also major Chinese technology companies, but WeChat is specifically Tencent’s platform.