Tencent owns WeChat, one of the world’s most widely used messaging and payment platforms.
Tencent launched WeChat in 2011 as a mobile messaging service. It grew into a multipurpose application offering chats, voice and video calls, social feeds, payments, mini programs, shopping tools, and other services. In China, the app is known as Weixin, although WeChat is its international brand name.
Tencent was founded in Shenzhen in 1998 by Pony Ma and several co-founders. Its businesses also include online games, digital content, advertising, cloud services, and fintech. These activities have made Tencent one of Asia’s largest companies by market capitalization.
WeChat is not the same company as WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta Platforms. Tencent also owns QQ, an older instant-messaging service that helped establish its early internet business.