This Day, That Year

On Feb 10, 1999, Tencent released its first online instant messaging service product — OICQ messenger — later renamed QQ.

Thanks to China’s dramatic internet boom in the late 1990s, QQ became the most popular instant messenger in the country, as seen in an article from China Daily on Oct 6, 2009.

It also offers services including games, music, shopping and voice chat. QQ has more than 803 million users. In the 2000s, China’s internet went through a transformation from desktop to mobile. To keep up with the trend, Tencent developed WeChat, an instant messaging app for mobile devices, which now has more than 1 billion users.

In 2004, Tencent went public on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Besides messaging products, it has also become an entertainment giant. It operates the hit games Arena of Valor and Honor of Kings. The latter is the first Chinese mobile game to reach more than 10 million daily active users outside China.

In January 2015, Tencent launched Webank. With 30 percent of total shares, the tech giant is the bank’s largest shareholder.

Last year, French retailer Carrefour SA announced a potential investment in Carrefour China by Tencent and hypermarket operator Yonghui Superstores.

According to the retailer, the investment would leverage Carrefour’s global retail knowledge, Tencent’s technological leadership and Yonghui’s operational know-how.

Tencent is the first Asian tech company to join the exclusive club of tech companies worth more than $500 billion. Its chief executive, Ma Huateng, has been named the wealthiest man in China, with a net worth of $38.6 billion, according to the Forbes China Rich List.