Tencent buys Sequoia-, Morningside Ventures- and Google-backed SNS provider
Chinese internet behemoth – and the world’s third-largest internet company – Tencent Holdings has purchased social networking provider Comsenz for a reported $60 million, seeing backers Sequoia Capital, Morningside Ventures and Google exit their stakes in the Beijing-based company.
The move bolsters Tencent's position in the market across its portal, gaming and - most notably -QQ instant messaging services, the latter of which has nearly 1.5x the number of active accounts than China has internet users, claiming 612.5 million active QQ users by the end of June. Meanwhile, Comsenz' website claims more than 1.4 million online users via its open-source platform Discuz!
In August, Tencent also acquired a 10% stake in Russian internet-investment company Digital Sky Technologies (DST) for $300 million, widely viewed as a move that aimed to better position it both outside the PRC and to other global digital players, such as DST investee Facebook. Earlier this month, Tencent additionally announced a 61% rise in second-quarter profit from the same period last year, as well as net income at RMB1.92 billion ($283 million), compared to RMB1.19 billion ($175 million)a year earlier,
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