'Red envelope' payments spurred WeChat's financial services growth

WeChat: The world's second-largest messaging platform

The central technology in Tencent's empire, WeChat boasts roughly 1.4 billion users and provides a platform for the company to expand its ambitions in digital payments, e-commerce, and more. Unlike rival WhatsApp (owned by Meta), WeChat was built as a "superapp"—a single place where users are provided a wide range of features.

An interview with WeBank’s CFO

Leveraging Tencent's massive WeChat network, WeBank started as China's first digital bank and now serves 340 million users and 2.8 million businesses (as of 2024). Chief Financial Officer Arthur Wang discusses how the company is using AI and continuous innovation to stay ahead of the technological curve.

Meet China's "VICs," or Very Important Customers

High-volume spenders power China's economy. Despite making up just over 10% of consumers, they account for about 40% of consumer spending. WeChat has focused on these spenders to supercharge the expansion of its digital payments and e-commerce services.

Tencent—one of China's earliest tech giants

While not as well-known as Temu or Shein, Tencent began as an early internet messaging platform. Over three decades, it expanded to digital payments, video games, and more, becoming the first-ever Chinese company to surpass $500B in value.

Tencent's revenue streams include fintech, advertising, games, and social

Headquartered in China’s Shenzhen tech hub, Tencent currently generates revenue through services like WeChat, WeBank, and Tencent Games. Each of these services (and their associated sectors) made up roughly a third of Tencent’s 2024 annual revenue.

China is making a deliberate push toward a cashless society

Riding widespread digital finance apps like Alipay and WeBank, physical cash circulating in China fell under 4% of total money in 2023. The trend reflects the country's drive to be a leader in the future of digital payments.

Critics call WeChat a surveillance tool

This report from the Citizen Lab details evidence WeChat, with 1.4 billion users, is a powerful surveillance tool for the Chinese Communist Party. In particular, it finds the government uses non-China accounts to train censorship algorithms for use on domestic communications.

The payments tool Zelle was created by big banks to compete with apps like Venmo

Zelle is an alternative to Venmo, where people can pay each other back for expenses like apartment utilities or dinner. But its origin story has more to do with big finance than small transactions.

Hóngbāo, or traditional red envelopes, can now be shared digitally

The red envelopes people exchange during the Lunar New Year have a long history and plenty of lore. Symbolizing the triumph of good over evil, hóngbāo may be given to anyone from a grandparent to a favorite celebrity. However, never give an amount with a "4" in it, as the pronunciation sounds like the Chinese word for death.

The way dating apps make money is changing

As downloads fall across the industry, dating apps are trying to stay competitive by adding paywalls to their business models. The more than $6B dating app industry is largely dominated by Match Group, the parent company of both Tinder and Hinge. This video explores how AI and human behavior are changing the industry one right swipe at a time.

Temu uses gamification techniques to encourage customers to shop on its app

Games include a spinning roulette wheel that offers coupon rewards, promises free delivery, and more. Some have said it’s tough to pull themselves out of the Temu ecosystem once they’re in it.

The rebrand to X was to make Twitter an all-in-one social media app

Elon Musk renamed the platform as part of his plan to create an app that goes beyond posts and tweets. The rebrand included a new name, logo, and vision for a platform that offers messaging, video, banking, shopping, and more.

How the checking account has evolved into a platform of features rather than a product

The accounts act as an anchor for customer relationships that banks need to retain said customers. As fintech companies unbundle the checking account without technically being chartered banks, traditional banks face pressure to innovate the checking account experience.

How the people behind spam text messages make money

If you've ever gotten a text message from a scammer—sometimes even just someone from an unknown number saying hello and calling you by the wrong name—you've probably wondered what they're trying to get out of you. This podcast answers that question. Hint: The answer has to do with cryptocurrency.

The iPhone reshaped culture, media, and communication through innovation

Cultural moments, such as Ellen's viral Oscars selfie and Taylor Swift's iPhone Notes statement, have demonstrated how deeply integrated the device has become into society. The film "Tangerine" and Kendrick Lamar's "Pride" were created with the iPhone, underscoring its use in media creation.

How end-to-end encryption protects messages, even from service providers

Using symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, data is encrypted on the sender's device before being transmitted across application servers that lack the key needed to decrypt it. The message is not decrypted until it reaches the recipient's device, which uses their private key to recover the plaintext. E2EE's effectiveness has led to its adoption by WhatsApp and Signal.

The pandemic saw Zoom overtake Skype as the default video conferencing tool

When millions of people needed to become work-from-home experts overnight, ease of use for video conferencing tools became especially important. Zoom's success was partly because the company made it easier to join meetings than Skype did—with Zoom, users only needed a URL to join a meeting, rather than downloading a fully separate app as they did on Skype. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Why TikTok loves fast-casual restaurant Chili's

The company noticed TikTokers posting enthusiastically about its food and began partnering with creators on the platform. The videos include mukbangs, a South Korean trend in which users eat a massive amount of food, and #cheesepulls, where Chili's mozzarella sticks are stretched to their limits.

See a timeline of American Express' history

Since its founding in 1850, American Express has evolved from a mail delivery service to a multinational financial services company. Small additions to the company over time, such as taking money orders and inventing traveler's cheques, were key drivers of the company's transformation.

The history of Reddit, the front page of the internet

The hyperactive online forum and social media platform has transformed since 2006 from a simple link-sharing site to a behemoth in digital media. Topping off its ascendancy, Reddit went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024, solidifying its future amid a shifting technological climate. Dive into Reddit's nearly two decades of growth with this detailed timeline.

As of 2025, increasing numbers of people turn to AI companions for emotional connection

These chatbots provide endlessly supportive, one-sided, and highly customizable relationships to users, but may hinder the development of real-world connections and emotional growth. About 72% of teens have tried AI companions, with more than half of them using one regularly.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Many startup founders pull out-of-the-box stunts to get their businesses off the ground

Do you know Airbnb’s founders used cereal (yes, as in the breakfast food) to secure their initial round of funding? Or that PayPal’s founders once gave out free money to get people to sign up for the platform? These stories might be crazy, but they’re not uncommon.

How K-pop conquered the world

How did Korean musical acts go from unpopular and at times maligned to filling arenas and creating one of the most viral music videos of all time? This 25-minute audio documentary from BBC World Service explains how social networks, plastic surgery, and government tax breaks helped turn K-pop into the multibillion-dollar global juggernaut we know today.

A Chinese-Mexican alliance marked one of history's largest nonviolent money laundering schemes

In 2019, Chinese-American gangster Xizhi Li was arrested for an expansive money laundering scheme spanning four continents. Li reportedly laundered hundreds of millions of dollars for cartel members, wealthy Chinese Americans, and other foreign countries.

Executives at American Online wanted to shut down AIM

Despite not seeing value in a service that could not be charged for, executives were pushed by the development team behind AOL's Instant Messenger to keep it free, which helped it reach 36 million active users. Screenname selection and away messages allowed users to express their individuality, and the use of emoticons sets the tone for future internet communication.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Coral reefs get their colors from zooxanthellae—microorganisms that line corals' digestive tracts and provide them with sugars in exchange for a home within this protective tissue.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.