Tencent was the first Chinese company to be valued at more than $500 billion on a stock exchange.
Tencent exceeded the $500 billion market-capitalization level in 2017, with its shares trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company’s rapid rise was powered by online games, advertising, digital payments, and the huge user base of its WeChat platform.
Tencent’s history began with internet products such as QQ, an instant-messaging service that became widely used in China. WeChat later expanded the company’s reach by combining messaging with payments, mini-programs, commerce, and media.
This record concerns a publicly traded company’s equity value, not the value of all Chinese businesses or the size of China’s technology sector. Tencent and Alibaba are often grouped together as China’s biggest internet companies, but their businesses differ: Tencent is particularly associated with social platforms and gaming, while Alibaba is especially associated with e-commerce.