Tencent is notorious for developing me-too products and then killing the existing ones by taking advantage of its huge user base. It still does so sometimes but began making investments in or acquire other startups in and outside China a few years ago.
The company has invested $2 billion in overseas markets, a large part of which went to startups, disclosed Martin Lau, president of Tencent, at GMIC 2013 Sillicon Valley. Not only does Tencent inject money into those startups, the company would also pass on experience or help them enter China market, he said.
Online gaming has been the major contributor to its total revenues and now Tencent counts on mobile gaming in order to monetize the huge user base it has already had through WeChat, Mobile QQ and other mobile apps. So most of foreign businesses Tencent has stakes in are gaming-related.
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