99-710: Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( Chinese : 腾讯 ; pinyin : Téngxùn ) 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
198-463: 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
297-520: 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
396-601: 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
495-464: 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
594-600: 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
693-603: 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
792-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓ ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of
891-577: A computer-assisted trading system on 2 April 1986. In 1993 the exchange launched the "Automatic Order Matching and Execution System" (AMS), which was replaced by the third generation system (AMS/3) in October 2000. David Webb , independent non-executive director of the Exchange since 2003, has been arguing for a super regulatory authority to assume that role as regulator, as there is an inherent conflict between its commercial and regulatory roles. In
990-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst
1089-433: A crucial role in connecting international investors with mainland Chinese companies, serving as a major platform for capital raising. Unlike mainland Chinese exchanges , it operates under Hong Kong’s distinct regulatory framework, which allows greater access to foreign investors. The stock exchange is owned (through its subsidiary Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ) by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX),
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#17327760544191188-409: 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
1287-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as
1386-490: 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
1485-484: 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
1584-485: 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
1683-437: A holding company that it also lists ( SEHK : 388 ) and that in 2021 became the world's largest bourse operator in terms of market capitalization , surpassing Chicago-based CME . A 2021 poll reported that approximately 57% of Hong Kong adults had money invested in the stock market. The physical trading floor at Exchange Square was closed in October 2017. The Hong Kong securities market can be traced back to 1866, but
1782-600: 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
1881-724: 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
1980-457: 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
2079-583: 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
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#17327760544192178-610: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as
2277-401: A ninety-minute lunch break, and an afternoon session from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Index futures and options now began trading at 9:15 am, thirty minutes earlier than before, and closed at the same time as before, 4:15 pm. On 5 March 2012, the lunch break was cut to sixty minutes, with the afternoon session running from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The exchange first introduced
2376-527: A number of major developments have taken place. The 1987 market crash revealed flaws in the market and led to calls for a complete reform of the Hong Kong securities industry. This led to significant regulatory changes and infrastructural developments. As a result, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) was set up in 1989 as the single statutory securities market regulator. The market infrastructure
2475-518: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),
2574-524: 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
2673-406: A pre-opening auction from 9:30 am to 9:50 am, followed by continuous trading from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm. The two-hour lunch break between the morning and afternoon sessions was the longest among the world's 20 major stock exchanges . A 2003 proposal to shorten the lunch break failed due to opposition from brokers. Another plan to shorten the lunch break to one hour was floated by
2772-624: 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,
2871-561: 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
2970-451: 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
3069-801: 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
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3168-470: 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
3267-472: 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
3366-640: 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,
3465-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌 'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊ 'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,
3564-426: 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
3663-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with
3762-813: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at
3861-623: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c. 100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to
3960-530: 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
4059-527: 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 ,
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4158-547: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,
4257-670: The Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of
4356-541: 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
4455-539: 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
4554-609: 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
4653-488: The music industry , encouraging more high-quality and original music, as well as developing China 's fast-growing streaming market. Alibaba will gain the rights to stream music from international labels, which already have exclusive deals with Tencent, in return for offering reciprocal rights to its catalogue of Chinese and Japanese music. Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write
4752-494: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (香港交易所, SEHK , also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange ) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong . It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the 9th largest globally by market capitalization as of August 2024. The exchange plays
4851-459: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across
4950-403: 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
5049-482: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3
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#17327760544195148-520: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of
5247-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components
5346-587: 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
5445-614: 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
5544-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between
5643-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant
5742-463: 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
5841-473: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from
5940-476: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see
6039-533: The exchange also implemented a closing auction session to run from 4:00 pm to 4:10 pm, with a similar pricing mechanism as the opening auction; however, this resulted in significant fluctuations in the closing prices of stocks and suspicions of market manipulation . Initially, the exchange proposed limiting price fluctuations in the auction sessions to 2%; in the end, they removed the closing session entirely in March 2009. Up until 2011, trading hours comprised
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#17327760544196138-495: The exchange in 2010; the morning session would then start earlier, run from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm, and the afternoon session from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, leaving the closing time the same as before. Justifications included bringing hours into line with China. Reactions from both brokers and the restaurant industry were mixed. On 7 March 2011, the exchange extended its hours in the first of two phases. The morning session now ran from 9:30 am to 12:00 noon, followed by
6237-824: 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
6336-634: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over
6435-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including
6534-475: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility
6633-459: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during
6732-453: 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
6831-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d. 782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what
6930-465: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d. 208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,
7029-632: The listing of the first China-incorporated enterprise (H share) in June 1993 ( Tsingtao Brewery ); and the introduction of regulated short selling in January 1994 and stock options in September 1995. Furthermore, the exchange introduced the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) in November 1999 to provide fundraising opportunities for growth companies of all sizes from all industries, and to promote the development of technology industries in
7128-583: 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,
7227-479: The meantime, he argues for improved investor representation on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In 2007, the uproar by smaller local stockbrokers over the decision by board of directors to cut minimum trading spreads for equities and warrants trading at between 25 HK cents and HK$ 2 caused the new board to vote to reverse the decision. The reforms were to be implemented in the first quarter, but
7326-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,
7425-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted
7524-542: 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
7623-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on
7722-560: The region. According to the reform plan announced in March 1999, the Exchange, the Hong Kong Futures Exchange and their clearinghouses merged into a new holding company, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited . source: HK Ex The trading day consists of: The closing price is reported as the median of five price snapshots taken from 3:59 to 4:00 pm every 15 seconds. In May 2008,
7821-481: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted
7920-406: 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
8019-467: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊
8118-504: The stock market was formally set up in 1891, when the Association of Stockbrokers in Hong Kong was established. It was renamed as The Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1914. By 1972, Hong Kong had four stock exchanges in operation. There were subsequent calls for the formation of a unified stock exchange. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited was incorporated in 1980 and trading on the exchange finally commenced on 2 April 1986. Since 1986,
8217-401: The system infrastructure, including the launch of off-floor trading terminals in brokers' offices in January 1996. The third generation of the trading system, AMS/3, was launched in 2000. It provides enhanced functionality and a platform for a straight-through transaction process. In respect of market and product development, there is the listing of the first derivative warrant in February 1988,
8316-538: 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
8415-501: 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
8514-497: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to
8613-833: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes
8712-468: 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
8811-522: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of
8910-477: 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 ,
9009-573: 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
9108-464: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by
9207-591: 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
9306-646: 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
9405-803: Was much improved with the introduction by the exchange of the Central Clearing and Settlement System (CCASS) in June 1992 and the Automatic Order Matching and Execution System (AMS) in November 1993. Since then, the framework of market rules and regulations, both exchange-administered or otherwise, have been undergoing continuing review and revision to meet changing market needs while ensuring effective market regulation. The Exchange Listing Rules have been made more comprehensive, and other existing regulations have been improved or new regulations introduced to enhance market development and investor protection. Enhancements were also made to
9504-471: 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
9603-453: 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
9702-485: 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
9801-524: 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 ),
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