Tencent, the $500bn Chinese tech firm you may never have heard of
(The Guardian China)

It´s overtaken Facebook, bought stakes in Snapchat, Tesla and Hollywood films, and has quietly risen to rival Google and NetflixIt is China´s web giant and has a string of high-profile investments spanning Snapchat, Spotify, Tesla and Hollywood film and TV. It is a sprawling corporate giant that has recently overtaken Facebook to become the world´s fifth most valuable listed company - but few, in the west at least, will have heard of Tencent, even though it is worth half a trillion dollars and rising.China is the world´s most populous digital market and the protection afforded by state censorship through the so-called great firewall - which has meant no competition from Facebook, Google, Twitter and Netflix - has helped Tencent flourish since it launched nearly two decades ago in Shenzhen. But in the last year the shares have been supercharged - climbing from less than HK$200 (£18) at the beginning of 2017 to HK$442 now - and the value of the company has soared. Continue reading...