Den kinesiske teknologigigant Tencents hurtige vækst har gjort den til verdens femte største selskab og det første asiatiske firma, der er kommet ind i klubben af selskaber, hvis markedsværdi overstiger 500 milliarder.
Mascots of Tencent
© Tyrone Siu / ReutersKinas Tencent overhaler Facebook og bliver verdens største sociale netværk.

Tencent mascotter fremvises på et registreringsbord.
Den Hong Kong baserede internet gigant, kendt for sin WeChat messaging app og online games, har oplevet, at dets aktiepriser er steget næsten 120 procent i indeværende år. Den har meddelt et bedre end forventet tredje kvartal og netto indkomsten er steget 69 % på årsbasis.

Med en markedsværdi på $523 milliarder, overgår Tencent nu Facebook ($522 milliarder), og har sluttet sig til gruppen af verdens fem største virksomheder, der omfatter Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, og Amazon. Den er også større end dens kinesiske rivaler: internethandels giganten Alibaba ($474.15 billion), og web service firmaet Baidu ($82.97 billion).


One of Tencent's key products, WeChat, was the main revenue contributor in the third quarter. China's most popular messaging service has expanded to an all-in-one platform with almost one billion users. It could be the "killer product" to spearhead expansion abroad, according to Tencent senior vice president S.Y. Lau.

The 19-year old company's other businesses include Spotify equivalent Tencent Music and YouTube equivalent Tencent Video.

Overseas acquisitions will remain a key way of enhancing Tencent's global access and competitiveness, S.Y. Lau told Reuters. Tencent has made a "breakthrough" in gaining an e-payment license in Malaysia for local transactions, and plans to start early next year, he added.

"Malaysia is actually quite large in the sense that we have 20 million WeChat users, huge potential, and the market is quite warm toward internet products from China," said Lau.

Tencent president Martin Lau said the company would keep investing in digital content, especially online video, to draw more time from more paying customers.