Tencent Overtakes Facebook in Terms of Market Cap

SEOUL, KOREA- China’s largest game company Tencent Holdings Ltd. saw its market capitalization reach 85 trillion won, overtaking Facebook’s 69 trillion won.In Korea, Tencent is famous for its China QQ, WeChat, and its investment in KakaoTalk, Korea’s largest smartphone chat service. Listed on the Hong Kong stock market, Tencent saw its share price hit record-high levels many times over, drawing a sharp attention from global IT investors.

China’s premier Li Keqiang stressed the importance of promoting informatization in China by saying that the country will try to achieve a 20-percent average annual growth in the consumption of information goods and services, while placing more focus on establishing nationwide Internet networks.

Against this backdrop, the stock price of Tencent reached an all-time high amid expectations that it will benefit from China’s drive for informatization. Other positive factors include its releasing of 4G, the establishment of a joint venture with a telecommunications company, plus an improvement in its financial performance.

Tencent’s stock price closed at 329.8 Hong Kong dollars (US$42.51) on July 17, with its market value estimated at 595.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (about US$76.7 billion).