Tencent Holdings Ltd. is Now China's Most Valuable Company

By Angel Soleil / 1473192610
(Photo : Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) 'Pony' Ma Huateng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tencent Holdings Ltd., speaks at a news conference in Beijing, China.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. has now become China's most valuable company, beating the state-owned telecom giant, China Mobile Communications Corporation. The company's stock surged by 4.16 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange, giving it a market capitalization of approximately HK$1.99 trillion ($256.60 billion).

Over the years, Tencent Holdings Ltd. has been racing with Samsung to overthrow the state-owned China Mobile to obtain the title of the most valuable company in Asia. Now, the company has achieved that goal as it is now considered the biggest company, in terms of market capital. According to China Money Network, the shares of the company are now trading at 26 times its projected earnings in 2017. J.P Morgan estimates that the company's stocks would climb as high as HK$300 apiece in the long run.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. is operating China's largest messaging service, WeChat, through which several businesses such as advertising, social media, and gaming have flourished. In June, the company agreed to acquire Finnish game-maker, Supercell Oy, the creator of the renowned game "Clash of Clans," worth $8.6 billion from SoftBank.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. is now moving towards building a "Disney-like" entertainment empire. Bloomberg reported that according to Tencent's chairman and CEO Ma Huateng, they want the company to be viewed as a cross-platform entertainment. Previously, the company splurged on contents that varied from anime to Hollywood movies; this enabled them to generate ad sales which rose up to 60 percent in the quarter of June.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. is not stopping at anything. Ma said that "When it comes to intellectual property, you have to serve the chicken many ways."