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91-549: The company was founded on September 16, 2011, by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy upon the relaunch of the photo sharing app Picaboo as Snapchat . On December 31, 2013, the application was hacked and 4.6 million usernames and phone numbers were leaked to the Internet. By January 2014, the company had refused offers of acquisition, including overtures from Mark Zuckerberg , with Spiegel commenting that "trading that for some short-term gain isn’t very interesting." In May 2014,

182-468: A social media app . Now branded as WeChat, the app is one of the "super apps", due to its wide range of functions and platforms, and its over 1 billion monthly active users. On 18 February 2011, Tencent acquired a majority of equity interest (92.78%) in Riot Games , developer of League of Legends , for about US$ 230 million. Tencent had already held 22.34% of the equity interest out of

273-523: A "smart interactive television service" in a joint effort with TCL . In 2015, Tencent launched Tencent Pictures (Chinese: 腾讯影业 ), a film distributor and a production company that creates and distributes films based on books , comic books , animated series and video games . In the same year, Tencent launched Tencent Penguin Pictures (Chinese: 腾讯企鹅影视 ) a production unit focusing on online dramas and minor investments in feature films. It

364-404: A $ 13.5 million Series A funding round led by Benchmark , which valued the company at between $ 60 million and $ 70 million. In June 2013, Snapchat raised $ 60 million in a Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners . The firm also appointed a new high-profile board member, Michael Lynton of Sony 's American division. By mid-July 2013, a media report valued

455-540: A 12% non-voting minority equity stake of the company in the open market. On October 26, 2018, at TwitchCon , Snap launched a new desktop application for macOS and Windows known as Snap Camera. It allows users to utilize Snapchat filters via PC webcams in video chat and live streaming services such as Skype , Twitch , YouTube , and Zoom . Snap also announced additional integration with Twitch. In August 2022, The Verge reported that Snap would be laying off 20% of its 6,400-person workforce. The layoffs primarily impacted

546-605: A 15% decrease in advertising revenue. The decline was attributed to the pandemic and tighter regulations imposed by the Chinese government. In September 2022, Tencent acquired a 49.9% stake and 5% voting rights in Guillemot Brothers Limited, Ubisoft 's parent company. On 16 September 2022, Tencent took a minority stake in Mordhau studio Triternion. In November 2022, Tencent announced that it would divest

637-466: A 15% stake in Chinese e-commerce website JD.com Inc. by paying cash and handing over its e-commerce businesses Paipai, QQ Wanggou and a stake in Yixun to JD.com to build a stronger competitor to Alibaba Group . On 22 May 2014, JD.com got listed on NASDAQ and Tencent expanded its stake in the company to 17.43% on a fully diluted basis by investing an additional US$ 1,325 million. On 27 March 2014, it

728-604: A 5% stake in Tesla for US$ 1.78 billion, the automotive control systems of which it subsequently successfully performed penetration-testing until 2019. In a "direct challenge to Chinese search engine Baidu ," in May 2017, Tencent entered news feed and search functions for its WeChat app, which the Financial Times reported was used by 770 million people at the time. In May 2017, Tencent surpassed Wells Fargo to enter

819-606: A 7% stake in lottery technology firm China LotSynergy Holdings Ltd for HKD 445.5 million (US$ 57.4 million). On 23 October 2014, Tencent pitched in $ 145 million for a 10 per cent stake in Koudai Gouwu, a Chinese mobile shopping portal. In November 2014, the company announced a deal with HBO which would give it exclusive rights for distribution in China. On 9 December 2014, Chinese taxi-hailing app Didi Dache announced that it had raised more than $ 700 million in

910-419: A Canadian public interest technology law clinic. The firms objected to Google's decision of choosing Saudi Arabia as its new Google Cloud region overlooking an alarming record of human rights abuse and longstanding surveillance accusations. The firms claimed that placing the personal information of millions of Snapchat users there would put it under the jurisdiction of the government of Saudi Arabia, jeopardizing

1001-488: A combined stake of about 20%. On March 1, 2017, it was reported that Snap Inc. "values itself at nearly $ 24B with its IPO pricing." Snap Inc.'s stock started trading on March 2, 2017, under the symbol SNAP, on the New York Stock Exchange. When Snap reported earnings for the first time in May 2017, they reported a $ 2.2 billion quarterly loss, and the stock fell more than 20%, erasing most of the gains since

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1092-411: A dedicated CCP member activity area of more than 6,000 square meters. More than 1 million yuan is allocated for CCP activities per year. In 2016, Tencent, together with Foxconn and luxury-car dealer Harmony New Energy Auto founded Future Mobility , a car startup (now defunct) that aimed to sell all-electric fully autonomous premium cars. On 28 March 2017, Tesla, Inc. announced Tencent had purchased

1183-498: A funding round led by Tencent and Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings. On 29 December 2014, Tencent launched the website for WeBank (China) , China's first online-only bank. Trials for the service commenced on 18 January 2015. In 2014, Tencent sued its major competitor NetEase alleging copyright infringement. Tencent used its leverage from the suit to convince NetEase to sublicense music rights from Tencent. The sub-licensing arrangement that resulted then became

1274-488: A gaming platform. Tencent remained the largest video game publisher in the world by revenue, and had a market capitalisation of around $ 475 billion. In the same month, Tencent announced that WeChat reached 980 million monthly active users , and said to be earmarking billions of dollars to amass a catalogue of user-generated content, in competition with YouTube . The company became the first Asian company to cross US$ 500 billion valuation, surpassing Facebook to enter

1365-487: A hardware maker and would have overseen Black Shark's transition into a manufacturer of VR headsets to support Tencent's plans for its metaverse business in the future. Reports initially suggested that Black Shark would be acquired for RMB 2.7 billion (US$ 420 million), although Tencent walked away from the deal due to regulatory scrutiny of metaverse businesses in China. In June 2022, Tencent posted its slowest revenue gain since going public in 2004, partly caused by

1456-606: A hub for Tencent's game development. Aside from Wuhu, another eSports theme park is planned in Chengdu . In June 2017, Tencent became the 8th most valuable company in BrandZ's Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, signalling its growing influence globally as well as the rise of Chinese brands. Alibaba overtook Tencent as Asia's most valuable company as its stocks surged after the company hosted its 2017 Investor's day. The company has also developed its own voice assistant Xiaowei, and

1547-731: A majority stake in China Music Corporation. Private enterprises in China are required to have an in-firm committee or branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) if three or more CCP members are among their employees. In 2016, Tencent's CCP branch was recognized as one of the one hundred best such branches in the country. It provides communications and education platforms including a CCP activity hall, WeChat channel, and an intranet for CCP members where they can take classes related to government and party policies. The Tencent Party Member Activity Center has

1638-460: A minority share in Chinese search engine Sogou.com , the subsidiary of Sohu , Inc. On 15 January 2014, Tencent said it would invest HKD 1.5 billion (US$ 193.45 million) in logistics and warehouse firm China South City Holdings Ltd to develop its e-commerce and logistics business. On 27 February 2014, Tencent purchased a 20% stake in restaurant ratings and group-buying website Dianping for $ 400 million. On 10 March 2014, Tencent bought

1729-588: A model used by other online music platforms in China. On 30 January 2015, Tencent announced that it had signed a US$ 700 million deal with the National Basketball Association to stream American basketball games in China. Later that year, Chinese automaker BYD became the chief corporate sponsor for Tencent's NBA broadcasts. On 21 June 2016 Tencent announced a deal to acquire 84.3% of Supercell , developer of Clash of Clans , with US$ 8.6 billion. In July 2016, Tencent acquired

1820-526: A partnership that will see English-language releases of several popular online Chinese titles. In 2014, Tencent established exclusive in-China distribution agreements with several large music producers, including Sony , Warner Music Group and YG Entertainment and in 2017 it signed a deal with Universal Music Group to stream its music in China. It also entered a partnership with Alibaba Group on music-streaming rights sharing. The deal aims to protect licensed streaming services offering copyrighted content of

1911-532: A period of 20 years. The redesign of the Snapchat app in early 2018 made changes for which many users were not happy. Around 1.2 million people petitioned Snap, Inc. to roll back the redesign. Snap, Inc's reply makes no concessions, other than noting, "We completely understand the new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many." Due to the redesign and other market factors in 2018, such as the growth of Instagram Stories and WhatsApp Status, Daily Active Users (DAU) of

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2002-628: A previous investment in 2008. On 16 December 2015, Riot Games sold its remaining equity to Tencent. Tencent acquired a minority stake in Epic Games , developer of franchises like Fortnite , Unreal , Gears of War and Infinity Blade , in June 2012. That year, Tencent acquired ZAM Network, parent of Wowhead and other websites, from Brock Pierce . Tencent in 2013 increased its stake in Kingsoft Network Technology,

2093-541: A private ceremony in Los Angeles on May 27, 2017. Just a month before Spiegel's engagement to Kerr, he purchased a 7,164 square foot, $ 12 million house that was previously owned by Harrison Ford . Spiegel has three sons with Kerr and a stepson from Kerr's previous marriage to Orlando Bloom . As of 2021, Spiegel was ranked number 55 on the Forbes 400 with $ 13.8 billion in wealth. In 2017, Spiegel became one of

2184-490: A prototype of this concept called "Picaboo", which they later renamed as Snapchat. The app's popularity grew significantly and in 2012, Spiegel left Stanford to focus on Snapchat shortly before completing his degree. By the end of 2012, Spiegel's Snapchat app had reached 1 million daily active users. He later completed his remaining credits and graduated in 2018. In February 2017, Spiegel and Murphy pledged to donate upwards of 13,000,000 shares of Class A common stock over

2275-566: A record HK$ 10 billion share purchase. In March 2024, the firm uploaded its revenue report for the 4th quarter of the year 2023, recording a surprising 7% rise in the fourth-quarter revenue, slightly missing the expected mark. Launched in February 1999, Tencent QQ is Tencent's first and most notable product, QQ is one of the most popular instant messaging platforms in its home market. As of 31 December 2010, there were 647.6 million active Tencent QQ IM user accounts, making Tencent QQ

2366-455: A social networking/blogging service integrated within QQ. Qzone has become one of the largest social networking services in China, with a user base of 645 million in 2014. On 10 April 2010, Tencent launched Tencent Weibo , a microblogging service. WeChat is a mobile app with functions such as voice- and text messaging, mobile payment , and a friends-only social network called Moments . It

2457-808: A stake in Tencent's sister companies, such as OLX , VK , Trip.com Group , Delivery Hero , Bykea , Meesho , Stack Overflow , Udemy , Codecademy , Brainly and PayU . Tencent Holding Ltd was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 16 June 2004, and it was added as a Hang Seng Index Constituent Stock in 2008. The company originally derived income solely from advertising and premium users of QQ, who pay monthly fees to receive extras. By 2005, charging for use of QQ mobile, its cellular value-added service , and licensing its penguin character, which could be found on snack food and clothing, had also become income generators. By 2008, Tencent

2548-475: A strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent. China's government designated Tencent as one of its "AI champions " in 2018. In November 2018, Tencent Charity Foundation donated RMB$ 1 billion to establish the Xplorer Prize award for outstanding young scientists in areas of basic science and cutting-edge technologies. In October 2019, Tencent began sending out refunds to customers after cancelling

2639-590: A student, he worked as a paid intern for a biomedical company, as a careers instructor in Cape Town , South Africa, and at Intuit on the TxtWeb project. Spiegel is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. In April 2011, Spiegel proposed an app with ephemeral messaging as a product design class project. Later that year, Spiegel worked with fellow Stanford classmates Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown to launch

2730-476: A subsidiary of Kingsoft Corporation, to 18%. Tencent previously had a 15.68% stake in the company and raised the stake through a US$ 46.98 million investment. Tencent took part in Activision Blizzard splitting from Vivendi as a passive investor in 2013 and now owns less than 4.9% of the shares as of 2017. On 17 September 2013, it was announced that Tencent had invested $ 448 million for

2821-654: A whole has many major and minor investments in domestic and, since the 2010s, foreign game companies. Other notable investments include Discord ( February 2015 ), Roblox Corporation ( February 2020 ), Lockwood Publishing ( November 2020 ), PlatinumGames ( January 2020 ), Aiming ( December 2014 ), Novarama ( March 2022 ), Triternion ( September 2022 ) Riffraff Games ( March 2022 ), Offworld Industries ( March 2022 ), Bohemia Interactive ( February 2021 ), Payload Studios ( February 2021 ), Playtonic Games ( November 2021 ), Voodoo (August 2020) and Lighthouse Games (July 2023). In April 2009, Tencent launched iTQQ,

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2912-639: Is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen . It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the world's largest company in the video game industry based on its equity investments. Founded in 1998, its subsidiaries globally market various Internet -related services and products, including in entertainment, artificial intelligence , and other technology. Its twin-skyscraper headquarters, Tencent Seafront Towers (also known as Tencent Binhai Mansion) are based in

3003-431: Is among the largest social media , venture capital , and investment corporations . Its services include social networks, music, web portals, e-commerce , mobile games, internet services, payment systems, smartphones, and multiplayer online games. It operates the instant messengers Tencent QQ and WeChat , along with the news site QQ.com. The company surpassed a market value of US$ 500 billion in 2018, becoming

3094-527: Is an American-French businessman, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. Spiegel was the youngest billionaire in the world in 2015. As of August 2024 , he had a personal net worth of $ 2.6 billion according to Forbes . Evan Thomas Spiegel was born in Los Angeles , California , to lawyers John W. Spiegel and Melissa Ann Thomas. He grew up in Pacific Palisades, California , where he

3185-536: Is the most popular social mobile application in China and some overseas Chinese communities, for instance, Malaysia . As of 2017, WeChat has been unsuccessful in penetrating major international markets outside of China. Tencent publishes video games via its Tencent Games division of Tencent Interactive Entertainment. It has five internal studio groups under it: TiMi Studio Group , LightSpeed Studios , Aurora Studio Group, Morefun Studio and Next Studio. Outside of companies subsidiary of its game division, Tencent as

3276-529: Is under the Online Media Business Unit at Tencent and works closely with Tencent Video . On 21 March 2012, Tencent launched Tencent Comic , and would later become China's largest online animation platform. In September 2017, Tencent has announced plans to introduce Chinese online comics to every market around the world, with the first being North America . It will be working with San Francisco -based digital publisher Tapas Media ,

3367-545: The Nanshan District of Shenzhen. In December 2023, architect Büro Ole Scheeren unveiled the latest helix-inspired design of Tencent's new global headquarters in Shenzhen. Known as Tencent Helix, it will accommodate more than 23,000 employees across nearly 500,000 square meters. Tencent is the world's largest video game vendor , as well as one of the largest companies in the world by market capitalization . It

3458-540: The SAMR 's requirements on giving up exclusive rights. This comes after the company recently withdrew the merger application for antitrust review and refiled it after SAMR told the company it could not complete the review of the merger within 180 days since its first filing. Tencent's plan to take search engine Sogou private was approved by the SAMR. Tencent later announced too its intention to take DouYu private, in part due to

3549-667: The automotive industry . It is also collaborating with L'Oréal , the world's largest cosmetics company, to explore digital marketing under the Joint Business Partnership (JBP) agreement. According to a report by Sina Tech in October 2017, Tencent employed over 7,000 members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that CCP members took a leading role in the development of WeChat. "With over 7,000 CCP members, accounting for approximately 23% of

3640-447: The chief marketing officer for the initial selfie app used to launch Snapchat, offering evidence of contacts with publications such as Cosmopolitan . He also claimed that he had come up with the original concept, which he had ultimately called Picaboo, and that he had created the mascot logo for the product while working with Spiegel to promote and market the idea. Originally titled "Toyopa Group, LLC," Brown said that he had named

3731-634: The image messaging and multimedia mobile app Snapchat , as well as the Snapchat's Augmented Reality (AR) ad lens. The function was launched in September 2015. Specifically, the AR ad lens is one of the unique features of Snapchat, which allows advertisers to attract their target audience with various innovative lenses. Users can also use these lenses to change their faces, appearance, and even surroundings based on their preferences, and share those visual images or videos within their social networks. In addition,

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3822-404: The 13 deals cited in total by the SAMR, each carried a fine of RMB 500,000 (US$ 78,700) and Tencent received a total fine of RMB 4.5 million (US$ 710,000) for its involvement in nine deals. On 11 January 2022, it was announced that Tencent was in talks to acquire Xiaomi-backed Black Shark , one of the largest gaming smartphone makers in China. The acquisition would have been Tencent's first in

3913-469: The Big Board." Snap's IPO was estimated to value the company at between $ 20 billion and $ 25 billion, the largest IPO on a US exchange since Alibaba debuted in 2014 at a value of $ 168 billion. Beyond the two founders, the two biggest shareholders for the planned early 2017 Snap IPO were Benchmark and Lightspeed Venture Partners, both prior investors and venture-capital firms from Silicon Valley . They held

4004-589: The Chinese government's regulations to curb online gaming cost Tencent $ 46 Billion in Market Capitalisation. Later, on 27 December 2023, the first of trading after the Chinese government vowed to make improvements to the proposed gaming rules, the firm's stock rose by 5%. Also in December 2023, Tencent accelerated the pace of buybacks , increasing the pace of daily purchases to about HK $ 1 billion (with an average of HK$ 375 million per day) and made

4095-646: The French culture or economy. In November 2022 he joined the board of directors for Gagosian Gallery . In the same year, he gave $ 20 million to Stockton Scholars, a scholarship program in Stockton, California . In 2022, at the Otis College of Art and Design commencement, Spiegel announced that he and Miranda Kerr would pay off the 2022 graduating class student's debt. Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( Chinese : 腾讯 ; pinyin : Téngxùn )

4186-463: The IPO. Its market capitalization reached $ 100 billion for the first time on 22 February 2021. In February 2024 stock fell 30% after earnings with disappointing profit guidance. Market capitalisation as of 3 March 2024 was $ 18B, below 2017 IPO level. In February 2013, Reggie Brown sued Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Early investors were also eventually named in the lawsuit. Brown said that he had once been

4277-529: The U.S., Canada, U.K. and France; and 13 more European countries in May 2018. On April 28, 2022, the company announced a mini drone called Pixy. Later that year in August, it was reported that future development of Pixy would be discontinued, while continuing to sell the current iteration of the drone. Snapchat app raised $ 485,000 in its seed round and an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners . By February 2013, Snapchat confirmed

4368-522: The app only rose 2% from Q4 2017. Snap, Inc. stock fell more than 15% in after-hours trading following the earnings report release. Growth of daily active users slowed in Q1 2018, and the growth rate for Q2 2018 was "planned to decelerate rapidly from Q1 levels." Snap, Inc. has commented on the redesign, saying, "We have also started to realise some of the positive benefits [of the redesign], including increased new user retention for older users." Some publishers feel

4459-725: The broadcast of NBA games in response to the Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey 's social media comments in support of protests in Hong Kong . In May 2020, Tencent purchased the rights to create System Shock 3 and any further sequels from OtherSide Entertainment . On 29 June 2020, Tencent acquired the video-on-demand service iflix in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia . In September 2020, Tencent picked Singapore as its hub in Asia, joining rivals ByteDance and Alibaba in

4550-475: The company acquired Bitstrips for $ 100 million, Obvious Engineering, the developers of Seene, for an undisclosed amount and Vurb for $ 100 million. Vurb formerly developed the eponymous mobile search engine . The Vurb card-based engine removed the need to switch through multiple other applications on the device to perform a task. In September 2016, the company officially named itself Snap Inc. , and unveiled smartglasses known as Spectacles . In November 2016,

4641-523: The company acquired Vergence Labs for $ 15 million in cash and stock, who were the developers of Epiphany Eyewear , and the mobile app Scan for $ 50 million, which was revealed during the 2014 Sony Pictures hack . In May 2015, the company moved from its original headquarters to a 47,000 ft (4,366 m) office complex near Venice Beach and signed a 10-year lease . They were one of the first prominent online platforms to establish themselves there, alongside others such as Whisper and Tinder , giving Venice

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4732-477: The company acquired the software company AddLive to provide needed technology to create a new video chat feature. In that same month, it settled U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges over its having misled users regarding its collection of their address book data and transmission of their locations (without notice or consent), and regarding its claim that user messages disappeared after their expiration (rather than remaining accessible, as they had). In December,

4823-485: The company also develops and manufactures the wearable camera called Spectacles , a pair of smartglasses that connect to the user's Snapchat account and records videos in a circular video format adjustable in any orientation. On February 20, 2017, Snap Spectacles became available for purchase online. The company sold only 220,000 pairs of Snap Spectacles V1. The company developed and launched Spectacles V2 in April 2018 in

4914-465: The company announced that it had established an international headquarters in Soho , London . In early February 2017, the company confirmed their plans for an IPO in 2017 and its expectation to raise $ 3 billion. In early March 2017, the company went public under the trading symbol SNAP, and raised almost $ 30 billion in market capitalization on the first day of trading. In late May 2017, the company acquired

5005-476: The company at $ 860 million. On November 14, 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook offered to acquire Snapchat for $ 3 billion, but Spiegel declined the cash offer. Tech writer Om Malik then claimed on November 15, 2013, that Google had offered $ 4 billion, but Spiegel again declined. On December 11, 2013, Snapchat confirmed $ 50 million in Series C funding from Coatue Management . Beyond 2014,

5096-538: The company filed documents for an initial public offering (IPO) with an estimated market value of $ 25–35 billion. In December 2016, the company opened research and development in Shenzhen and acquired advertising and technology company Flite and Israel -based augmented reality startup Cimagine Media for $ 30–40 million. A partnership issued in December 2016 with Turner Broadcasting System will allow integration of Turner properties on Snapchat, while cooperating with Snap Inc. to develop original content. In January 2017,

5187-458: The company had achieved a $ 10–$ 20 billion valuation, depending on the source, raising $ 100 million in Series D funding led by KPCB and $ 485 million in a Series E round led by Alibaba Group . Investors included General Catalyst , Kingdom Holding Company , SV Angel , Yahoo! , and Tencent . According to reports in May 2016, the company's estimated worth was said to be approaching $ 22.7 billion in

5278-455: The company's hardware division and the developer products including the separately run Zenly. On 5 February 2024, Snap Inc. announced it would lay off 10% of its global workforce, approximately 500 employees, partly to enhance in-person collaboration, marking another significant reduction following a 20% staff cut in 2022. On September 12, 2024, Snap appointed Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone to its board of directors. The company develops and maintains

5369-469: The conglomerate. Wanda Commercial was renamed Wanda Commercial Management Group. Tencent bought a 5% to 10% minority stake in Skydance Media . On 23 January 2018, Tencent and Carrefour reached strategic co-operation agreement in China. On 15 August 2018, Tencent reported a profit decline in the second quarter of 2018, ending a growth streak of more than a decade, as investment gains slid and

5460-418: The creation of Snapchat and appreciate his work in getting the application off the ground." The Federal Trade Commission alleged that the company had exaggerated to the public the degree to which mobile app images and photos could actually be made to disappear. Following a settlement in 2014, Snapchat was not fined, but the app service agreed to have its claims and policies monitored by an independent party for

5551-416: The event of a new Series F round of investment of $ 1.8 billion from Spark Capital , General Atlantic , Sequoia Capital , T. Rowe Price , Meritech Capital Partners , Dragoneer Investment Group and others, led by Fidelity Investments . Later, the company got an additional $ 200 million in the following Series FP round. Further reports in 2016 suggested that funding was almost at $ 3 billion and that Snapchat

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5642-838: The first Asian technology company to cross this valuation mark. It has since then emerged as the most valuable publicly traded company in China, and is the world's tenth most valuable company by market value as of February 2022. In 2015, 2018, and 2020, the company was ranked by the Boston Consulting Group and Fast Company among the 50 most innovative companies worldwide. Tencent has stakes in over 600 companies, and began focusing on tech start-ups in Asia in 2017. TechCrunch characterized Tencent's investment strategy as letting its portfolio startups operate autonomously. Tencent's valuation approached US$ 1 trillion in January 2021 before it plummeted. Tencent Holdings

5733-456: The government's scrutiny of the gaming business weighed on the company. Shares of Tencent fell 3% in morning trade in Hong Kong after the rare drop in quarterly profit was reported, extending a slide that has wiped nearly $ 50 billion in market value from the company in that week. The sell-off dragged down many other Chinese internet stocks as well. On 6 September 2018, Luckin Coffee signed

5824-554: The location sharing app Zenly in a cash and stock deal. The Zenly app will remain functional, but its concepts were incorporated into a Snapchat feature added in June 2017. In August 2017, Business Insider reported that Google discussed an offer to buy the company for $ 30 billion in early 2016. In October 2017, the company announced that it had formed a joint venture with NBCUniversal to produce content for Snap's platforms, and that it had signed Duplass Brothers Productions as its first partner. In November 2017, Tencent acquired

5915-587: The majority of its US$ 20.3 billion stake in Meituan through a dividend distribution to shareholders, in part due to China's earlier regulatory crackdown on tech giants. In January 2023, OpenSecrets reported that Tencent spent over $ 6.3 million lobbying the U.S. federal government after coming under greater regulatory scrutiny in 2020. By January 2023, Tencent had sold its share in Tesla. Majority owned subsidiary China Literature acquired Tencent Animation and Comics in December 2023. On 22 December 2023,

6006-468: The new title of " Silicon Beach ." In February 2017, two weeks before the company's IPO, The New York Times published a feature about Snap's role in turning the area into a technology hub, noting that Snap, with a total of 1,900 employees, had "already changed the face of Venice." In September 2015, Snapchat acquired Looksery to develop Lenses for its mobile app, a feature based on Looksery's facial recognition software. In March, July, and August 2016,

6097-624: The newly formed company as well. Brown's lawyers offered documentation of a collaboration with Spiegel and Murphy, which included the filing of an original patent by the three Stanford classmates, but Snapchat described the lawsuit as meritless and called Brown's tactics a "shakedown". During April's depositions, Brown testified that he had believed he was an equal partner, and that he had agreed to share costs and profits. Spiegel instead described Brown as an unpaid intern who had been given an opportunity to earn valuable experience, and although Murphy claimed that he had not fully understood what Brown's role

6188-564: The next 15–20 years to an arts, education and youth non-profit. They have created the Snap Foundation which is a non-profit organization. Their mission is to "develop pathways to the creative economy for underrepresented youths in Los Angeles." Recently they have donated $ 3 million to people affected by COVID-19. In January 2017 The Wall Street Journal reported that after the predicted March 2017 initial public offering for Snap Inc., Murphy and Evan Spiegel would hold over "70% of

6279-682: The predicted March 2017 IPO, the two Snap co-founders would hold over "70% of the voting power" in the company and own around 45% of the total stock. On January 29, 2017, it was reported that the Snap Inc. IPO would likely take place on the New York Stock Exchange . As both the NYSE and Nasdaq had been "aggressively courting the listing for more than a year," the Wall Street Journal called it "a big competitive victory for

6370-545: The race to reinforce their presence closer to home after complications in India and the United States. Lazy Audio was acquired from Shenzhen Lanren Online Technology Co for 2.7 billion yuan in January 2021. In July 2021, China's antitrust regulator formally blocked Tencent's plan to merge China's top two video game streaming sites, Huya Live and DouYu , after it had failed to come up with sufficient remedies to meet

6461-408: The second quarter 2016 financial report, the stock price rose by 6.2% in the Hong Kong stock market, and the market value reached US$ 429 billion. Tencent became the second Asian company after Alibaba Group to surpass US$ 400 billion market cap. Tencent has also created an alliance to its own AI self-driving program, similar to Baidu's Apollo Project , recruiting numerous industry players in

6552-488: The security of the data. In June 2024, Snap paid $ 15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the California Civil Rights Department alleging that the company discriminated against female employees with respect to pay and promotions, failed to prevent workplace sexual harassment, and retaliated against women who complained. Evan Spiegel Evan Thomas Spiegel (born June 4, 1990)

6643-544: The top 5 list of the world's biggest firms. In January 2018, Tencent and The Lego Group , the world's largest toy company, teamed up to jointly develop online games and potentially a social network aimed at children. It also launched its first unmanned shop in Shanghai . Tencent led a US$ 5.2 billion investment in Wanda Commercial , together with JD.com , Sunac and Suning Group , to acquire shares in

6734-502: The total workforce, and more than 60% of whom are core technical personnel, the number of CCP members at Tencent is increasing by nearly a thousand every year. In Tencent, a leading internet company, CCP members are becoming the main driving force in shaping the company's development direction." In November 2017, Tencent revealed that it had purchased a 12% stake in Snap Inc. in the open market, with plans to help establish Snapchat as

6825-488: The turn towards the older demographic spells the end for the app. In a December 2020 announcement, Google Cloud confirmed the development of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with Saudi Aramco . The update stated the possibility of exploring options to establish cloud services in Saudi, where it confirmed storing Snapchat data. The decision was contested by Access Now , a non-profit organization, and CIPPIC ,

6916-471: The unsuccessful merger, but also due to lacklustre business performance and disagreements over strategy among company executives. Tencent is currently the largest stakeholder in DouYu with a 37% stake. On 17 December 2021, Tencent announced it had acquired Slamfire Inc. and its subsidiary Turtle Rock Studios , the developer behind Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood . In January 2022, reports emerged that Tencent

7007-550: The voting power" in the company, and own around 45% of the total stock. Spiegel joined the board of directors of investment management company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 2021. In 2014, emails sent by Spiegel during his time at Stanford were leaked to Gawker . The emails included misogynistic and homophobic comments and openly encouraged getting women heavily drunk in an attempt to convince them to have sex. The emails included comments about getting his friends laid by wasted "sororisluts", and shooting lasers at "fat girls". He

7098-480: The world's largest online community at the time. The number of QQ accounts connected simultaneously has, at times, exceeded 100 million. While the IM service itself is free, a fee was being charged for mobile messaging as of 2006. Tencent also created QQ International, which is an English version of QQ that allows communication with mainland accounts; QQi is available for Windows and macOS. In 2005, Tencent launched Qzone ,

7189-576: The world's top 10 most valuable companies. Tencent has also entered an agreement with the Wuhu City Council to build the world's first eSports town in the city, which comprises an eSports theme park, eSports university, a cultural and creative park, an animation industrial park, creative block, tech entrepreneurial community and Tencent Cloud's data center. The site will be used for the education and accommodation of future eSports players, as well as hosting national eSports events and serving as

7280-529: The youngest public company CEOs at age 26 when Snap began trading in March. Spiegel is also a member of the Berggruen Institute 's 21st Century Council and its board of directors. A Francophile , Spiegel learned French. In 2018, he and his son Hart received French citizenship through a clause in the naturalization laws that waives French residency requirements for applicants that contribute to

7371-498: Was also encouraging underage drinking. Spiegel issued a statement responding to the controversy stating, "I'm obviously mortified and embarrassed that my idiotic emails during my fraternity days were made public. I have no excuse. I'm sorry I wrote them at the time and I was jerk to have written them. They in no way reflect who I am today or my views towards women." Spiegel began dating Australian model Miranda Kerr in 2015. They became engaged on July 20, 2016. They married in

7462-594: Was announced that Tencent had agreed to pay about $ 500 million for a 28 per cent stake in South Korea's CJ Games. On 27 June 2014, Tencent announced that it had agreed to buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Chinese e-commerce website 58.com (WUBA) Inc. for $ 736 million. On 17 April 2015, Tencent announced it bought an additional $ 400 million worth of shares, rising its stake in the company to about 25%. On 16 October 2014, via its wholly held subsidiary Hongze Lake Investment Ltd, Tencent announced that it had bought

7553-651: Was in the midst of discussion to acquire Rovio Entertainment , the developer of Angry Birds . At the same time, Tencent introduced its mini-programs feature that allows smartphone users to access mobile apps across the globe on WeChat without downloading them. In July 2017, Tencent bought a 9% share in Frontier Developments , the creator of the Elite: Dangerous and Planet Coaster franchises; as well as developer for Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 & 3. In August 2017, after Tencent announced

7644-471: Was one of the major tech conglomerates to receive a fine from the SAMR for failing to report their merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in advance. According to China's antitrust law , official approval is required before the completion of a M&A deal if the combined annual revenue of all entities involved is at least RMB 10 billion (US$ 1.57 billion), and at least two entities have at least RMB 400 million (US$ 62.7 million) in annual revenue. Of

7735-459: Was provided to it by venture capitalists . In February 1999, Tencent's messenger product OICQ was released. Shortly after, Tencent had the client's name changed to QQ; this was said to be due to a lawsuit threat from ICQ and its owner AOL . The company remained unprofitable for the first three years. South African media company Naspers purchased a 46.5% share of Tencent in 2001. As of 2023, it owns 26.16% through Prosus , which also owns

7826-655: Was raised Episcopalian . He was educated at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica , and attended Stanford University . Spiegel took design classes at the Otis College of Art and Design while still in high school and at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena the summer before entering Stanford. He also had an unpaid internship in sales at Red Bull . While

7917-547: Was ranked 35th on Forbes Global 2000 2023 list. Tencent was founded by Pony Ma , Zhang Zhidong , Xu Chenye, Charles Chen and Zeng Liqing in November 1998 as Tencent Inc , in the Cayman Islands . The name "Tencent" is based on its Chinese name Tengxun (Chinese: 腾讯 ), which incorporates part of Pony Ma 's Chinese name ( Ma Huateng ; 马化「腾」) and literally means "galloping fast information". Initial funding

8008-529: Was revealed on 2 February, 2017, in Snap's SEC public filing to be $ 157.5 million. As part of the settlement , they credited Brown with the conceptual idea for Snapchat. The press release published by Snapchat's communication department quoted Spiegel: "We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter in a manner that is satisfactory to Mr. Brown and the Company. We acknowledge Reggie's contribution to

8099-528: Was seeing profit growth from the sale of virtual goods . In June 2007, Tencent established its charity foundation, becoming the first Chinese internet company to do so. While Tencent's services have included online gaming since 2004, around 2007/2008, it rapidly increased its offerings by licensing games. While at least two, Crossfire and Dungeon Fighter Online , were originally produced by South Korean game developers, Tencent now makes its own games. On 21 January 2011, Tencent launched Weixin ( 微信 ),

8190-420: Was supposed to have been, he too characterized Brown's involvement as having been that of an internship. Months later, Spiegel dismissed the lawsuit as an example of opportunists who seek out rapidly successful companies in an attempt "to also profit from the hard work of others." On 9 September 2014, the company announced that they had settled the lawsuit for an initially undisclosed amount. The settlement amount

8281-405: Was targeting yearly revenues of a billion dollars. Google reportedly offered Snap $ 30 billion in 2016 for acquisition, which Snap turned down. In January 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that "people familiar with the matter" stated that Snap Inc. would share 2.5% of the money raised in an upcoming initial public offering (IPO) with the banks managing the IPO. It also reported that after

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