Tencent owns the WeChat super-app and was founded in Shenzhen in 1998.
Tencent was established by Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, and several co-founders. Its early success came from QQ, an instant-messaging service that helped popularize online communication in China. The company later expanded into games, digital content, advertising, financial technology, and cloud services.
WeChat, known in China as Weixin, launched in 2011 and grew into a multifunctional platform. Users can message, make voice and video calls, follow accounts, pay for goods, and use mini-programs inside the service. Tencent is also a major global video-game investor and publisher, with stakes or ownership interests in companies across the games industry. Tencent and Alibaba are both major Chinese technology firms, but Tencent is especially associated with social communication, gaming, and WeChat.