This is not the first time that Tencent’s market cap has surpassed Facebook’s. It happened in late 2017 and a number of times briefly in 2018. But in 2019, Facebook stayed ahead of Tencent for the whole year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. And again this time Tencent’s market capitalization has surpassed Facebook’s following an enormous rally within the Chinese agency’s shares this year.
The whole value of publicly traded shares of the Chinese gaming and social media large stood at 5.15 trillion Hong Kong {dollars} ($664.50 billion) at around 3:07 p.m. Singapore time. Meanwhile, Facebook’s market cap totaled $656.15 billion as of Tuesday’s shut.
Tencent is identified for its fashionable cellular video games but in addition for operating WeChat — China’s hottest messaging app with over a billion customers. WeChat has a social media function known as Moments the place customers can submit footage, movies and hyperlinks. And Tencent makes cash from promoting via Moments.
The company also runs an instant messaging service called QQ. Revenue from social networks account for about 23% of Tencent’s overall sales. Tencent shares have rallied around 43% year-to-date, compared to just over 12% for Facebook. That rally has added around 1.56 trillion Hong Kong dollars ($201.44 billion) to Tencent’s value.
The Chinese giant has benefited from users staying at home during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic in China earlier this year as many of those stuck at home spent time on its games and apps.
Facebook, which saw its shares hit a record high of $250.15 earlier this month, has seen its share price dip amid a recent decline in technology stocks and as regulatory scrutiny on the social networking company increases. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will appear virtually in front of the House Antitrust Subcommittee on Wednesday as part of a probe by lawmakers into the power of U.S. technology giants including Google, Amazon and Apple.
