Tencent is a Chinese internet company. I don’t think that people outside China will be familiar with it but it is exactly the most successful Internet firm in China, maybe, even in Asia. In 2012, Tencent’s revenue reached 7 $billion when even Facebook only had 5.1 $billion revenue. What’s more, unlike Google, Yahoo and other Internet firms which target to global market, Tencent is still making money in local market. It shows that both Tencent and home market in China are very potential.
Ten years ago, at the beginning, Tencent’s first product was QQ. It was a clone of ICQ and could offer instant-messaging service. Because QQ was the first product entering Chinese online chatting market, Tencent became very popular soon. Up to now, QQ is used by 800 million people(data from reference). Such a large number of customers have become foundation of Tencent’s success.
In addition, Tencent’s business model is different from most western e-commerce. Other companies such as Google, their major revenue sources are mostly from online advertising. However, Tencent not only uses advertising, but also advertise their products like online games. What’s more, Tencent also persuades customers to pay for “value-added services” such as fancy weapons, snazzy costumes for their avatars and online VIP rooms. A research has claimed that “Tencent gets 80% of its revenues from the services.”(data from reference)
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