A quick history of Tencent

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.

How Tencent became one of the world's most valuable social network firms

With 1.4 billion users on WeChat, Tencent passed Facebook in 2018 in terms of market capitalization ($580B as of May 2025). However, while Facebook relies almost entirely (98%) on advertising for revenue, Tencent's growth relies on diverse revenue streams from video games, e-commerce, and more.

Tencent surpassed Facebook in value in 2017

Tencent joined the $500B club (in terms of market capitalization) in 2017, overtaking Facebook at that point in terms of social media networks by value. This report from the time captures the rise of the company despite being relatively unknown outside of China.

Age of Miracles: Why Tencent is the ultimate outsider

Tencent has relatively low name recognition outside of China, despite being the world's biggest video game publisher, operating a 1.4-billion-user messaging network, and much more. This podcast explores the business principles underpinning its success, from long-term vision to a unique investment portfolio.

Tencent is the world's largest video game publisher

Despite mainly being known for its 1.4 billion WeChat users, Tencent has quietly expanded its video game empire to include more than 600 investments. These include 100% ownership of Riot Games (maker of League of Legends) and 30% of Epic Games (Fortnite), two of the most popular online video games.

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.

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.

Tour Tencent's sprawling headquarters focused on tech and health

Tencent has a massive headquarters in China to match its sizable market capitalization. Featuring 40% less carbon consumption and emissions, the building features facial recognition for security, swimming pools and a fitness track, time management apps, and more.

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

What started as a messaging platform morphed into much more with the advent of so-called red envelope payments, where friends, colleagues, and acquaintances recreate an age-old Chinese custom with the tap of a finger. The viral custom helped WeChat expand its digital payment services, effectively becoming a “superapp.”

How Tencent's QQ penguin became a national mascot

Created when Tencent launched the first version of its internet messaging platform, the company's winking penguin has become a ubiquitous cultural presence in China. The mascot has become a revenue generator, with Tencent licensing the character for cross-promotion with KFC, Midea Group, and more.

What's the difference between QQ, WeChat, and Weixin?

Tencent owns QQ, Weixin, and WeChat—three separate apps serving different users. QQ launched in 1999 as a youth-focused messenger. Weixin (for China) and WeChat (international) are technically the same app, but split to comply with regional regulations, especially around data and payments.

Understanding TikTok-owner ByteDance's business model

ByteDance has ridden TikTok's major success to become the world's most valuable startup. This deep dive showcases some of the company's smartest moves and tactics, and where it's headed next.

A timeline and visuals on TikTok's rapid growth

The app that would become TikTok is known as Douyin in China, and this article recounts its history, acquisition of rival Musical.ly, and rebranding ahead of its lightning growth. One visualization shows how quickly TikTok reached 1B users.

In 2018, Apple became the world's first publicly traded trillion-dollar company

The valuation was made possible by Steve Jobs' return to the company in 1997, who implemented a simplification strategy by cutting the majority of Apple's existing product line. His promotion of Jony Ive to SVP of industrial design would help popularize Apple through colorful products and marketing.

Key moments in fintech history include the transatlantic cable’s invention and E-Trade’s founding

Founded in 1982, E-Trade was the first-ever online brokerage, pioneering a method of investing that is common today. Its story is part of a timeline that the New York Times put together of key moments in early fintech history.

Sears once tried to become a tech company

In 1984, Sears arguably created one of the first online retail services, called “Prodigy,” in 1984 alongside IBM and CBS. But it was more of a WeChat than an Amazon, offering a variety of other services to users a few years before the dot com era.

See a timeline of all of Elon Musk's business ventures

From the software company Zip2 in the 1990s to Musk's Twitter acquisition (which he later renamed X), Elon Musk has run, founded, and invested in many different businesses over the past three decades.

By 2024, Nvidia had become one of the world’s most valuable companies

Nvidia started as a graphics chip designer for PCs and consoles. This explainer traces its rise from early GPU innovation to powering AI breakthroughs and fueling the data centers behind today’s biggest tech platforms.

A timeline of Google's growth

As of 2025, Google will approach its third decade of existence. A period that's seen the company go from dominating the search market to the launch of one billion-user product after another, from Gmail to YouTube. This detailed timeline lays out what happened when, laying out Google's history in detail. It marks key milestones, like the introduction of Google Maps, and what year they happened.

The original 'four horsemen' of tech were Intel, Dell, Microsoft, and Cisco

These companies became known as the "four horsemen of tech" for the influence the companies had both on other businesses and investors in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The expansion of internet infrastructure throughout the 1990s and the dot-com bubble lifted these companies to incredible heights.

The dot-com boom made Mark Cuban a billionaire

Cuban co-founded AudioNet with Todd Wagner in 1995 before it became Broadcast.com—a web app that allowed people to listen to sports commentary on their computers if they couldn't watch a game. In 1999, Yahoo bought Broadcast.com for $5.7B. By the time the market crashed, Cuban had already sold most of his stock in the company and had become a billionaire.

At 12 years old, Mark Zuckerberg built a messaging platform for his family called 'ZuckNet'

Mark's family used "ZuckNet" to communicate with each other in different rooms and Mark's dad's dental office, which was connected to their family home. ZuckNet ultimately didn't go anywhere, as AOL's instant messaging platform soon replaced it.

The fintech industry was worth roughly $340B as of 2025

Venture capitalists have been bullish on the industry’s future in recent years, too. Some estimate that global investment in fintech increased by 12,000% between 2008 and 2020.

Meet Frederick Terman: Stanford University professor and the 'Father of Silicon Valley'

Stanford University professor Frederick Terman used to encourage his students to start their own tech companies. His advice led to the creation of Hewlett-Packard. He also established the Stanford Research Park, which helped develop many successful tech companies today. Terman is often called the "Father of Silicon Valley," because his ideology directly shaped the region's development.

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

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.

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.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

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.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

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

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

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.

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

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.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

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.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

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

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The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.