Adapted from keynote speeches delivered by Matthew Brennan at the ALSMA APAC regional conference, Nov 2017 Siem Reap & the 'Made by China' conference, Dec 2017 Copenhagen.
SPEAKER AND WRITER ABOUT WECHAT AND TENCENT (CHINA'S LARGEST INTERNET COMPANY). HIS OPINIONS ARE REGULARLY FEATURED IN GLOBAL MEDIA: THE ECONOMIST, BBC, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, FORBES, QUARTZ, TECHCRUNCH, TECHINASIA, CAMPAIGN ASIA, EMARKETER, ADAGE. MATTHEW'S COMPANY CHINA CHANNEL ORGANIZES CHINA’S LARGEST WECHAT MARKETING CONFERENCE SERIES FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES. HE WORKS PRIMARILY WITH INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSES TO HELP FORM AND IMPLEMENT THEIR WECHAT PLATFORM STRATEGY. CO-HOST OF THE CHINA TECH TALK PODCAST PRODUCED TOGETHER WITH CHINA'S LARGEST ENGLISH LANGUAGE TECH MEDIA, MATTHEW HAS BEEN BASED IN CHINA NOW FOR OVER 13+ YEARS. PARTS OF THIS REPORT ARE ADAPTED FROM KEYNOTE SPEECHES DELIVERED BY MATTHEW BRENNAN AT THE ALSMA APAC REGIONAL CONFERENCE, NOV 2017 SIEM REAP & THE MADE BY CHINA CONFERENCE, DECEMBER 2017 COPENHAGEN. FOR SPEAKING AVAILABILITY: [email protected] FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES: [email protected] LINKEDIN: HTTPS://CN.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/MATTHEW-BRENNAN TWITTER: @MBRENNANCHINA
SNG MIG TEG MARK REN PONY MA MARTIN LAU DOWSON TONG ALLEN ZHANG SHAN LU INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT ONLINE MEDIA MOBILE INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT WEIXIN (WECHAT) TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING IEG: OMG: MIG: SNG: CDG: WXG: TEG:
CONTRIBUTES AROUND 41% OF ALL REVENUE FOUNDED MAR 2012, BIGGEST ANIMATION & COMICS PLATFORM IN CHINA GAME.QQ.COM AC.QQ.COM FOUNDED SEP 2013, MERGED WITH SDO LITERATURE IN MAR 2015, RECENTLY SPUN OUT WITH SUCCESSFUL HONG KONG IPO WWW.YUEWEN.COM FOUNDED SEP 2015, FOCUS ON TRADITIONAL MOVIES PICTURES.QQ.COM CHINA’S NO.1 E-SPORT PLATFORM LAUNCHED DEC 2016 ESPORTS.QQ.COM TENCENT GAMES CHINA LITERATURE TENECENT COMIC TENCENT PICTURES TENCENT ESPORTS IEG: INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT GROUP KEY DIVISIONS + PRODUCTS SHENZHEN BEIJING SHANGHAI CHENGDU IEG STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN: *BASED ON TECENT HR HIRING NEEDS DATA 2016
REN TOOK OVER OMG IN MAR 2017 FOUNDED AUG 2003, THE NO.1 TRADITIONAL NEWS PORTAL IN CHINA LAUNCHED APR 2011, NOW THE NO.1 VIDEO PLATFORM IN CHINA NEWS.QQ.COM V.QQ.COM PERSONALIZED NEWS APP LAUNCHED AUG 2015 TO COMPETE WITH TOUTIAO (DAILY HEADLINE) KUAIBAO.QQ.COM BRAND ADS PLATFORM LAUNCHED IN OCT 2011 TONG.QQ.COM FOUNDED SEP 2015, WITH THE FOCUS ON ONLINE MOVIES & DRAMAS FAILED TWITTER LIKE SOCIAL PLATFORM SHUTTERED IN 2014. T.QQ.COM FORMER HEAD: SY LAU @TENCENT SINCE 2006 TENCENT NEWS QUICK NEWS** TENCENT VIDEO PENGUIN PICTURES TONG TENCENT MICROBLOG SHENZHEN BEIJING SHANGHAI GUANGZHOU OMG STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN: *BASED ON TECENT HR HIRING NEEDS DATA 2016 ** OUR TRANSLATION NONE FOUND
REN TOOK OVER MIG IN JAN 2013 THE NO.1 MOBILE SECURITY APP IN CHINA. RELEASED SEP 2010. IOS INTEGRATION SEP 2016 THE NO.1 ANDROID APP STORE IN CHINA LAUNCHED IN SEP 2011 M.QQ.COM SJ.QQ.COM NO.2 MOBILE BROWSER IN CHINA. MOBILE VERSION LAUNCHED JUNE 2010 BROWSER.QQ.COM LAUNCHED FEB 2010. OPEN PLATFORM FOR DEVELOPERS AND BUSINESS TO WORK WITHIN THE TENCENT ECOSYSTEM OPEN.QQ.COM TOP 3 MAP APPLICATION IN CHINA. RELEASED DEC 2013 LAUNCHED IN MAR 2015 AS AN EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT ON MOBILE OS. SHUT DOWN JUN 2017 BBS.TOS.CN MAP.QQ.COM MYAPP TENCENT MAP OPEN PLATFORM TENCENT OS MOBILE MANGER QQ BROWSER SHENZHEN BEIJING GUANGZHOU CHENGDU MIG STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN: *BASED ON TECENT HR HIRING NEEDS DATA 2016
THE INSTANT MESSENGER THAT STARTED IT ALL IM.QQ.COM QZONE.QQ.COM Y.QQ.COM SNG: SOCIAL NETWORK GROUP KEY DIVISIONS + PRODUCTS SHENZHEN BEIJING SHANGHAI CHENGDU SNG STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN: *BASED ON TECENT HR HIRING NEEDS DATA 2016 NOW.QQ.COM YOUTU.QQ.COM CLOUD.TENCENT.COM QQ IM Q ZONE QQ MUSIC NOW LIVE STREAM TENCENT YOUTU LAB TENCENT CLOUD SOCIAL NETWORK FOUNDED 2005, USERS CAN BLOG, STORE PHOTOS, MUSIC, AND VIDEOS. ONE OF CHINA’S MARKET LEADING MUSIC APPS LIVE STREAMING PLATFORM LAUNCHED IN JUN 2015 FOUNDED IN 2012, SPECIALIZES IN FACIAL AND VOICE RECOGNITION TECH CLOUD COMPUTING DIVISION
SHANGHAI GUANGZHOU CDG STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN: *BASED ON TECENT HR HIRING NEEDS DATA 2016 CHENGDU FOUNDED SEPT 2015, UNIFIED TENCENT’S PAYMENT PLATFORMS AND FINANCIAL RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FITGROUP.COM FOUNDED MAY 2015, UNIFIED ALL PERFORMANCE BASED AD PLATFORMS ACROSS TENCENT, SEE BELOW E.QQ.COM ONE OF SEVERAL INVESTMENT UNITS AT TENCENT HEAD: MARTIN LAU @TENCENT SINCE 2005 NONE FOUND SOCIAL ADS FINANCIAL TECH INVESTMENT
DOMINANT SOCIAL NETWORK AND THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN OF TENCENT’S EMPIRE WEIXIN.QQ.COM CHINA’S MOST POPULAR EMAIL SERVICE LAUNCHED 2002 MAIL.QQ.COM HEAD: ALLEN ZHANG @TENCENT SINCE 2005 SHENZHEN BEIJING GUANGZHOU SHANGHAI CHENGDU WXG STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN: *BASED ON TECENT HR HIRING NEEDS DATA 2016 WXG: WEIXIN (WECHAT) GROUP KEY DIVISIONS + PRODUCTS WECHAT
ANALYTICS FOR WEBITES, APPS, MINI PROGRAMS AND HTML5 FOUNDED IN APR 2016 WITH FOCUS ON COMPUTER VISION, VOICE RECOGNITION, NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND MACHINE LEARNING BIGDATA.QQ.COM AI.TENCENT.COM SHENZHEN BEIJING TEG STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN: *BASED ON TECENT HR HIRING NEEDS DATA 2016 TEG: TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING GROUP KEY DIVISIONS + PRODUCTS TENCENT BIG DATA TENCENT AI LABS
30,641 38,775 43,000 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Q3 SOURCE: STATISTA / TENCENT ALMOST 2,000 WECHAT TEAM ALL STAFF THERE ARE ALMOST HALF A MILLION ACTIVE WECHAT USERS FOR EVERY SINGLE STAFF MEMBER ON THE WECHAT TEAM!
VP (汤道生) JAMES MITCHELL CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER MARK REN COO OF TENCENT, IMARK REN (任宇昕) PONY MA CEO OF TENCENT (马化腾) MARTIN LAU PRESIDENT OF TENCENT (刘炽平) SOME WHITE GUY. NOT SURE WHO HE IS ;-) TENCENT HIGHER MANAGEMENT TEAM AT CUPERTINO AUG 2017
TO HIS NAMESAKE JACK MA (NO RELATION) OF ALIBABA. THE 2 LEADER’S OF CHINA’S LARGEST INTERNET COMPANIES HAVE VERY DIFFERENT STYLES HOWEVER WITH PONY KNOWN AS A LOW PROFILE ENTREPRENEUR COMPARED TO JACK MA'S OUTGOING SHOWMANSHIP. AVID GAMER PONY CAME FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS (FATHER WAS A PORT MANAGER) GRADUATING FROM SHENZHEN UNIVERSITY WITH A DEGREE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, HE IS ONE OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF CHINA’S INTERNET ENTREPRENEURS. STRATEGIC AND THOUGHTFUL, PONY HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY QUOTED AS SAYING STEVE JOBS WAS AN INSPIRATION. HE IS CURRENTLY CHINA’S RICHEST MAN. RANDOM FACT: HE MET HIS WIFE OVER TENCENT’S INSTANT MESSAGING SERVICE QQ. AGE: 46 NET WORTH: $50.9 BILLION *BLOOMBERG BILLIONAIRES INDEX DEC 20TH 2017
SENIOR POSITIONS AT MCKINSEY & GOLDMAN SACHS WHERE HE HELPED HANDLE TENCENT’S IPO. MARTIN SPEAKS ENGLISH FLUENTLY HAVING ATTENDED COLLEGE IN THE U.S. (UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN) AND RECEIVED A MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING FROM STANFORD UNIVERSITY WITH AN MBA DEGREE FROM KELLOGG GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT. A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN, AN AVID GAMER, MARTIN IS FIRST AND FOREMOST A GREAT BUSINESS ANALYST. HE KNOWS WHAT WARS TO FIGHT. MARTIN SITS ON THE BOARD OF SEVERAL OVERSEAS-LISTED MAINLAND COMPANIES, SUCH AS TENCENT E-COMMERCE PARTNER JD.COM. AGE: 44 JOINED TENCENT: 2005 NET WORTH: $2.5 BILLION
IN NORTH EAST OF CHINA PRIOR TO TENCENT, MARK WORKED AT HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES. HE WAS PROMOTED TO CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF THE COMPANY IN MAY 2012 WHILE HE’S KNOWN FOR HAVING A VERY LOW-KEY PERSONALITY MARK’S PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN ANYTHING BUT LOW KEY. HE’S ONE OF THE COMPANY’S MOST TRUSTED AND CAPABLE TALENTS. MARK IS FAMED FOR GUIDING TENCENT’S GAMING DIVISION TO ACHIEVE THE “DOUBLE 50%” I.E. INCOME FROM THE GAMING ACCOUNTING FOR MORE THAN 50% OF TENCENT’S REVENUE, AND TENCENT GAMES ACCOUNTING FOR MORE THAN 50% OF THE CHINESE INDUSTRY. IMAGE CREDIT: DIGITAL AGE AGE: 43 JOINED TENCENT: 2000
RELATIVE NEWBIE TO THE HIGHER MANAGEMENT TEAM (JOINED TENCENT IN 2011) JAMES IS RESPONSIBLE FOR VARIOUS FUNCTIONS, INCLUDING THE COMPANY’S STRATEGIC PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION, INVESTOR RELATIONSHIPS, M&A AND INVESTMENT ACTIVITY. OXFORD UNIVERSITY GRADUATE JAMES PREVIOUSLY WORKED IN INVESTMENT BANKING FOR 16 YEARS WITH PRIOR ROLES AT GOLDMAN SACHS’ NEW YORK’S RESEARCH TEAM, ANALYZING INTERNET, ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA COMPANIES. WHEN JAMES FIRST ARRIVED AT TENCENT HE DIDN’T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE AND WASN’T A CHINA HAND. WHAT HE DID BRING WAS A BANKER’S SENSIBILITIES FOR RELATIONSHIPS AND POLITICS. IMAGE CREDIT: FRONTIER.CO.UK AGE: 43 JOINED TENCENT: 2011
ALLEN ZHANG IS THE CLOSEST THING CHINA HAS TO A STEVE JOBS LIKE TECH VISIONARY. UNLIKE STEVE HOWEVER ALLEN SHUNS THE LIMELIGHT AND RARELY APPEARS IN PUBLIC. HE’S A LEGENDARY PRODUCT MANAGER THAT SINGLE HANDEDLY CREATED ONE OF CHINA’S MOST POPULAR EMAIL PRODUCTS FOXMAIL. HE LATER CAME TO TRANSFORM CHINESE SOCIETY WITH THE MESSAGING PLATFORM WECHAT. WECHAT IS THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN OF TENCENT’S EMPIRE, THE ENGINE WHICH INDIRECTLY DRIVES MUCH OF ITS BUSINESS IN CHINA. ITS CONTINUED ABILITY TO LEAD AND INNOVATE IS DUE IN LARGE PART TO ALLEN. AGE: 49 JOINED TENCENT: 2005
ADVERTISING SENG YEE LAU IS A CHINA ADVERTISING INDUSTRY VETERAN. HE JOINED TENCENT IN 2006 HAVING PREVIOUSLY HELD SENIOR ROLES AT MCCANN-ERICKSON, PUBLICIS AND BBDO CHINA. HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATE LAU, IS AN ENTERTAINING SPEAKER IN BOTH ENGLISH AND CHINESE, HE IS ALSO A PROLIFIC ARTICLE CONTRIBUTOR. PREVIOUSLY VICE PRESIDENT OF CHINA ADVERTISING ASSOCIATION. CANNES LION FESTIVAL “MEDIA PERSON OF THE YEAR 2015” (FIRST CHINESE RECIPIENT). SY PREVIOUSLY RAN THE ONLINE MEDIA GROUP OF TENCENT NOW HEADED BY MARK REN. IMAGE CREDIT: CAMPAIGN MIDDLE EAST AGE: 51 JOINED TENCENT: 2011
PRESIDENT DANIEL XU 许晨晔 CO-FOUNDER CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER LU SHAN SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT PRESIDENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING GROUP DOWSON TONG 汤道生 SENIOR VP PRESIDENT OF SOCIAL NETWORK GROUP (SNG) CHAIRMAN OF TENCENT MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP DAVID WALLERSTEIN CHIEF EXPLORATION OFFICER SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
OF JD (刘强东) ZHANG LEI FOUNDER OF HILLHOUSE CAPITAL (张磊) SU HUA FOUNDER & CEO OF KUAI (宿华) ZHANG YIMING CEO OF TOUTIAO (张一鸣) CHENG WEI, FOUNDER & CEO OF DIDI CHUXING (程维) LEI JUN FOUNDER OF XIAOMI (雷军) NEIL SHEN SEQUOIA CAPITAL GLOBAL MANAGING PARTNER (沈南鹏) DAVIS WANG CEO & CO-FOUNDER OF MOBIKE (王晓峰) WANG HUIWEN SENIOR VP OF MEITUAN DIANPING (王慧文) ZHOU YUAN FOUNDER OF ZHIHU (周源) YAO JINBO CEO OF 58.COM (姚劲波) ALLEN ZHU PARTNER, GSR VENTURES (朱啸虎) CHEN SHENGQIANG CEO OF JD FINANCIAL (陈生强) YANG YUANQING CEO OF LENOVO (杨元庆) PONY MA CO-FOUNDER & CEO TENCENT (马化腾) CHINACHANNEL.CO TENCENT STRATEGIC PARTNERS, WUZHEN SUMMIT, DEC 3RD 2017
RETAIL INVESTMENT DATE LOGO COMPANY BUSINESS CHINA LOCATIONS TENCENT OWNERSHIP INVESTMENT AMOUNT 2017 DEC 15TH YONGHUI YONGHUI SUPERMARKETS 580+ 5% $636 M 2018 JAN 15TH VIP SHOP VIP SHOP CLOTHES RETAIL 3RD LARGEST ECOMMERCE PLAYER IN CHINA N/A 7% $604 M 2018 JAN 23RD CARREFOUR CARREFOUR SUPERMARKETS 250+ UNDISCLOSED 2018 JAN 29TH DALIAN WANDA DALIAN WANDA COMMERCIAL PROPERTY, MALLS, HOTELS 185+ MALLS 90 HOTELS 4.12% $1.5 B TENCENT HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY ACTIVE IN THE RETAIL SPACE IN THE FIRST MONTH OF 2018
MA MARTIN LAU DOWSON TONG ALLEN ZHANG SHAN LU INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT ONLINE MEDIA MOBILE INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT WEIXIN (WECHAT) TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING IEG: OMG: MIG: SNG: CDG: WXG: TEG: ONLINE GAMES 41% ONLINE ADS OTHERS 17% 18% TENCENT REVENUE SEGMENTS MATCHED LOOSELY TO BUSINESS GROUPS 23% SOCIAL NETWORKS
THE ORIGINAL TENCENT SOCIAL PLATFORM. IT IS NO EXAGGERATION TO SAY THAT AT ONE STAGE THE QQ DESKTOP MESSENGER WAS INSTALLED ON ALMOST EVERY COMPUTER IN CHINA. THE ICONIC QQ HIGH PITCHED ‘BEEP, BEEP, BEEP’ SOUND DEFINED THE GENERATION OF CHINA’S EARLY PRE-MOBILE ERA INTERNET. OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS IT HAS SUCCESSFULLY REBRANDED AND REPOSITIONED AS A LIVELY AND VIBRANT MESSAGING APP FOR CHINA’S YOUTH. LAUNCHED: FEB 1999 ACTIVE USERS: 843 MILLION BG: SNG (SOCIAL NETWORK GROUP) CORE PRODUCT TEAM: SHENZHEN POSITIONING: YOUNG AND FUN OFFICIAL WEBSITE: IM.QQ.COM
INTERNET WECHAT IS CHINA’S MOST FAMOUS INTERNET PRODUCT BY FAR AND WITH GOOD REASON. CHINESE SPEND APPROXIMATELY 1/3 OF ALL THEIR TIME ON MOBILE IN WECHAT AND USE THE APP FOR EVERYTHING YOU COULD IMAGINE. THE DECENTRALIZED WECHAT ECOSYSTEM ALLOWS USERS TO DO AND BUY ALL KINDS OF SERVICES. LAUNCHED: JAN 2011 ACTIVE USERS: 980 MILLION BG: WXG (WEIXIN GROUP) CORE PRODUCT TEAM: GUANGZHOU POSITIONING: SUPER APP FOR EVERYTHING OFFICIAL WEBSITE: WEIXIN.QQ.COM
CENTRAL SHENZHEN WITH IT’S DISTINCTIVE PENGUIN LOGO ATOP HAS BEEN THE HEAD QUARTERS. COMPLETED: AUG 2009 SIZE: 88,180 SQUARE METERS HEIGHT: 193 METERS (39 FLOORS)
SPEAKER AND WRITER ABOUT WECHAT AND TENCENT (CHINA'S LARGEST INTERNET COMPANY). HIS OPINIONS ARE REGULARLY FEATURED IN GLOBAL MEDIA: THE ECONOMIST, BBC, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, FORBES, QUARTZ, TECHCRUNCH, TECHINASIA, CAMPAIGN ASIA, EMARKETER, ADAGE. MATTHEW'S COMPANY CHINA CHANNEL ORGANIZES CHINA’S LARGEST WECHAT MARKETING CONFERENCE SERIES FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES. HE WORKS PRIMARILY WITH INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSES TO HELP FORM AND IMPLEMENT THEIR WECHAT PLATFORM STRATEGY. CO-HOST OF THE CHINA TECH TALK PODCAST PRODUCED TOGETHER WITH CHINA'S LARGEST ENGLISH LANGUAGE TECH MEDIA, MATTHEW HAS BEEN BASED IN CHINA NOW FOR OVER 13+ YEARS. PARTS OF THIS REPORT ARE ADAPTED FROM KEYNOTE SPEECHES DELIVERED BY MATTHEW BRENNAN AT THE ALSMA APAC REGIONAL CONFERENCE, NOV 2017 SIEM REAP & THE MADE BY CHINA CONFERENCE, DECEMBER 2017 COPENHAGEN. FOR SPEAKING AVAILABILITY: [email protected] FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES: [email protected] LINKEDIN: HTTPS://CN.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/MATTHEW-BRENNAN TWITTER: @MBRENNANCHINA