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I don't think people realize that Tencent is is even bigger than Facebook.This is a big deal if they make this deal.
by baldfat 9y ago
I don't think people realize that Tencent is is even bigger than Facebook.This is a big deal if they make this deal.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoMost people don’t realize it because their market share is almost completely limited to one country. Also, Chinese tech companies are known for being traded at multiples greater than western ones given...investor enthusiasm. I’m not sure what Tencent hopes to accomplish here. Western users are less interested in platforms and prefer apps.
- banachtarski 9y agoJust like League of Legends is limited to one country /s edit: For clarification, they own a majority share in companies like Riot Games. Their presence is emphatically not limited to one country.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoYes, Tencent has been trying to break into other markets like India with little success, and they do have Chinese overseas users. But ask a Cambodian or a Vietnamese if they use Facebook or wechat, they are 100% going to say the former and not the latter.
- fspeech 9y agoI think his point was that Tencent makes half of its revenue off games (which is a global business), even though people primarily associate it with WeChat (and social networking).
- killjoywashere 9y agoKeep in mind the Ministry of State Security may have asked the Organization Department to suggest Tencent do this to acquire the social graph. The fact that there is investor enthusiasm only makes it easier. This is potentially equivalent to Yuri Milner's investment actions to launder Putin's money through YCombinator and get intel along the way.
- paganel 9y agoFB’s advisor on the WhatsApp acquisition was a boutique investment firm headed at the time by former CIA director George Tenet. To this day I think that Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype (which was quite expensive at the time) was also made under the same auspices, i.e. to bring an entire social network under the control of a country’s intelligence services (in this case the US services). What I’m trying to say it’s that this is a well-known game that everyone is playing.
- baybal2 9y ago>almost completely limited to one country. Well, they also have South Africa...
- taobility 9y agoFacebook doesn't have much revenue from games, music and videos like what Tencent did. Facebook's profile mostly rely on AD, but Tencent has much more diversity income source.
- fspeech 9y agoJust one person's idle speculation. It is not clear why the person has particular insight into Tencent's intentions.
- pavlov 9y agoTencent owns Supercell, whose games (Clash of Clans primarily) have over 100 million daily active users worldwide. That's just one Tencent property.
- SimbaOnSteroids 9y agoThey also own a large share of Riot Games.
- Kiro 9y agoThey own 100%.
- 2-m3m3n70 9y agoDefinitely not limited to one country - they are basically one of the largest video game companies in the world with majority holdings in Riot Games, Supercell, Epic Games and a large percentage of Activision Blizzard.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoSoftBank has lots of interest in international companies also, but it still isn’t an international brand.
- baldfat 9y agoSince I am a Sprint Customer they are pretty big in my day to day life.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoIsn’t that kind of like how Deutsch Telecom owns T-mobile, but not many really know or care? Is SoftBank trying to make itself the brand for Sprint users?
- baldfat 9y agoBrand and size of US capital are two different things. Yes Deutsch and SoftBank are big players in US technology. http://www.businessinsider.com/running-list-softbank-investments-2017-7/#wework-march-2017-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/running-list-softbank-investm... Biggest deal is Softbank owns ARM, granted that is a UK firm but ARM really is the future especially now that Windows 10 can run on ARM. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-07/arm-bulks-up-staff-and-compensation-after-softbank-acquisition https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-07/arm-bulks...
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoThe original statement was most people don’t know Tencent is bigger than Facebook (in market cap). That’s simply because most people don’t know what Tencent is, like they don’t know SoftBank or Deutsch Telecom. They aren’t international brands.
- zailaiba 9y agoTencent got the chance to acquire WhatsApp before; they actually approached ahead of Facebook. It's a pity that their CEO had to go do that surgery.