The Chinese company, founder of WeChat and world number one of video games, sells important assets. A turning point that marks an entry into a more reasonable era for the web giant.
by Simon leplâtre (shanghai, correspondence)
The announcement marked a turning point in the Chinese tech landscape: on November 16, Tencent, the most valued company in China, at 375 billion euros (against 285 billion euros for Meta, by Example), announced to sell most of its shares in Meituan, a very popular service platform in China. The 23 billion dollars (21.5 billion euros) of shares held will be distributed to its shareholders. Especially known for WeChat, the most used application in China and 1.3 billion users worldwide, Tencent has become over time a superinvestor, supporting hundreds of Chinese and foreign start-ups, and investing In hundreds of video game studios. But, after twenty years of all -round development, the time is for caution.
Meituan’s sale intervenes in a difficult context for the group which published a turnover to decline 2 % in the third quarter, at 140 billion yuan (19 billion euros). This is the second quarter of a row down, a first for the Chinese giant, which saw its market value melted by 60 % since its peak, in early 2021. In 2022, its turnover should only increase by 0, 5 % to around 563 billion yuan. Or its weakest growth since its IPO in 2004, estimates the Refinitiv research firm.
tence suffers from both the economic situation in China, marked up to a strict zero covid policy, and a campaign to regulate tech platforms. Less touched than his Alibaba rival, sentenced to several fines, including one, in early 2021, of 18 billion yuan for abuse of dominant position, Tencent does not escape the attacks of regulators against the monopolistic practices of the platforms. Faced with the wrath of the authorities, the media giant and the world number one of video games is forced to separate from part of its participations.
my Huateng, a discreet boss
A year ago already, Tencent had distributed to its shareholders’ actions of window JD. com , the number two Chinese online sales, for an amount of $ 16.4 billion, thus reducing its shares in the group from 17 % to 2 %. The company also had to abandon a merger project between the two main video game streaming sites, and put an end to its agreements granting the exclusivity of music diffusion rights in China to its QQ Music platform, which dominates This sector.
If, in this tense political context, Tencent came out better than its competitors, it is to be put in account of the business owner, Ma Huateng (or Pony ma in English), whose discretion contrasts With the passion of Jack Ma, the charismatic founder of Alibaba. In October 2020, the latter had dared to denounce the “lender of wages” of the Chinese banking regulator, an insolence punished by the cancellation of the IPO of the financial subsidiary of Alibaba.
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