What is Tencent? It is an internet and technology company headquartered in Shenzhen and founded in 1998. It runs the Weixin/WeChat super app and a large games business, and also sells advertising, payments and cloud services.
The company sits alongside the other Chinese tech brands described in the wider guide to China’s consumer technology industry. This page is an independent informational summary and is not affiliated with Tencent or any company named here.
Where Tencent comes from
Tencent describes itself on its company page as founded in 1998 with its headquarters in Shenzhen, China. The company says its products help users stay connected with friends and family, access transportation, pay for day-to-day expenses, and have fun.
According to the encyclopedia entry on the company, its first big product was a messenger. In February 1999, Tencent’s messenger product OICQ was released, and it was later renamed QQ. The same entry records that Tencent was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 16 June 2004. Shares in the company therefore trade in Hong Kong, even though the operating headquarters sit across the border.
That Shenzhen base matters for context. The city is better known to gadget buyers as a hardware centre, a story told in the guide to Shenzhen electronics. Tencent is a different kind of company from the factories and component makers there. Its own description of its business centres on services used on screens: messaging, payments, games and cloud computing, rather than on devices sold in a shop.
Weixin and WeChat: the social super app
Most people meet Tencent through Weixin, which is branded WeChat outside mainland China. The encyclopedia entry records that Tencent launched Weixin on 21 January 2011. Tencent’s own results announcement shows how large it has become: the combined monthly active users of Weixin and WeChat were 1,418 million as at 31 December 2025.
The older QQ service still has a large audience, though it is shrinking. The same results release lists mobile device monthly active users of QQ at 508 million at the end of 2025, down 3% year on year.
Weixin matters for gadgets and commerce because it works as more than a chat app. Tencent’s results refer to Mini Programs, Mini Shops and Mini Games, and describe closed-loop ads as those where the user clicks through to native transactional experiences, such as Mini Programs, Mini Shops, or Mini Games. In practice this means a user can see an advertisement, open a small app inside Weixin and complete a purchase without leaving it.
Tencent Games and its overseas studios
Games are the largest single earner among Tencent’s consumer products. In its 2025 results, domestic games revenues were RMB164.2 billion, up 18% year on year. International games revenues were RMB77.4 billion, up 33%, and Tencent says its international games revenue surpassed USD10 billion in the year.
Part of that international business comes from studios the company has bought into. The encyclopedia entry says Tencent acquired a majority of equity interest (92.78%) in Riot Games in February 2011. The results release names Supercell’s games and PUBG MOBILE among the sources of higher international revenue.
For readers following the hardware side, the games business is a reason Tencent shows up in phone discussions. Mobile games drive demand for faster chips and brighter, smoother screens, a link that matters to anyone comparing phones for gaming. The company itself, however, publishes games and services rather than making handsets, so its role in that chain is on the software side.
How the money is made
Tencent reports its results in several segments. For the full year 2025, total revenues were RMB751.8 billion, up 14% over 2024, and gross profit was RMB422.6 billion, up 21%.
| Segment | 2025 revenue | Change on 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Games | RMB164.2 billion | up 18% |
| International Games | RMB77.4 billion | up 33% |
| Social Networks | RMB127.7 billion | up 5% |
| Marketing Services | RMB145.0 billion | up 19% |
| FinTech and Business Services | RMB229.4 billion | up 8% |
Figures are taken from Tencent’s 2025 annual and fourth quarter results announcement. Tencent also reports a combined value-added services line of RMB369.3 billion, up 16%, which sits alongside these segments.
Marketing Services is the advertising business and grew 19%, second only to International Games (up 33%) among the lines above. FinTech Services, which Tencent says grew at a high single-digit rate, benefited from wealth management services, consumer loan services and commercial payment activities. Business Services, which includes cloud, grew at a high-teens rate on increased domestic and international demand for cloud services, including demand for AI-related services.
Profit, cash and investments
Beyond revenue, the 2025 announcement gives a picture of how profitable the business is. On a non-IFRS basis, operating profit was RMB280.7 billion, up 18%, and Tencent says the operating margin increased to 37%. Net profit was RMB267.0 billion on that basis, also up 18%. On an IFRS basis, net profit was RMB229.8 billion, up 17%. The gap between the two arises because Tencent’s non-IFRS measure excludes certain exceptional and non-cash items, so the IFRS figures are the ones to use for strict comparisons.
Cash generation is also reported. Free cash flow was RMB182.6 billion, up 18%, while capital expenditure was RMB79.2 billion, up 3%. In the same announcement Tencent states that the fair value of its shareholdings in listed investee companies, excluding subsidiaries, totalled RMB672.7 billion as at 31 December 2025. That stake portfolio is a reminder that Tencent is an investor as well as an operator of its own services.
What Tencent means for someone buying or using gadgets
Tencent is relevant to gadget buyers mainly through its software and services rather than through hardware. Its apps are used on phones from many makers, so the company shapes what people do on a device more than which device they buy. Shoppers heading to Hong Kong, where Tencent’s shares are listed, can read about Hong Kong electronics shopping for the physical side of the trade.
Tencent publishes detailed results, so its filings are a direct way to follow Chinese consumer internet trends. Users, revenue by segment and year-on-year change are reported in a consistent format, which lets readers compare results across years without relying on commentary.
When reading any figure about the company, it helps to note the basis. Revenue and user numbers are reported in Chinese yuan, user numbers are monthly active users at a stated date, and profit can be quoted on an IFRS or a non-IFRS basis. Mixing those bases produces misleading comparisons.
Frequently asked questions
Is Weixin the same as WeChat?
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They are the same product. Tencent reports one combined user figure for Weixin and WeChat, 1,418 million monthly active users as at 31 December 2025, and uses the WeChat name outside mainland China.
Where is Tencent based?
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Tencent says it was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China. Its shares are listed in Hong Kong.
Does Tencent make phones?
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Tencent describes its business in terms of social platforms, games, payments, advertising and cloud services. Its published results do not list a handset segment.
What is QQ?
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QQ is Tencent’s older messenger. It started as OICQ in February 1999 and still reported 508 million mobile monthly active users at the end of 2025.
How big is Tencent’s business?
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For the full year 2025, Tencent reported total revenues of RMB751.8 billion, up 14% over 2024. Games, advertising, financial technology and cloud services all contribute, and the company reports each separately so readers can see which parts are growing fastest.
