With a market capitalization of $107 billion, Chinese Internet company Tencent is bigger than Yahoo, Twitter, and LinkedIn combined.
And yet, you probably know very little about it.
It was the same with me until a week or so ago.
That's when I flew from Beijing to Shenzhen in the southeast of China, and paid Tencent a visit.
Disclaimer: I was only in Beijing because Tencent paid for me to fly to China to be on a panel. I paid for my airplane ticket to Shenzhen, however.
After a 3 hour, 1215 mile flight from Beijing, I landed in Shenzhen
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
I could tell right away that the place had a hazy, polluted look
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
The airport could have been any major market airport in the US
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
(Except the luggage carts were free)
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Outside, a Tencent representative joined me and we grabbed a cab.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
We drove through Shenzhen.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Shenzhen is on the southeast of China, very close to Hong Kong and Macau
Google Maps
Until 1979, Shenzhen was just a sleep fishing village.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Then China's government designated it a "Special Economic Zone," allowing foreign investment
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Now it's a major city, with 10 million people and GDP of $175 billion
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
In the past few years, it's become known as the place where Apple gadgets are made by Foxconn
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
That's a horse statue, leaping out of a glass tower.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
My local guide told me young people covet Foxconn jobs, because they pay more and have longer hours
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
But I wasn't in Shenzhen to see Foxconn
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Like these student visitors, I was here to see Tencent.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
That's the Tencent tower. Different than the Googleplex, eh?
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is the atrium where I entered the building.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Tencent was founded in 1998.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
It's biggest success is a massively popular Web portal, QQ.com.
QQ.com
But it also has a search engine called Soso.com
Soso.com
Lately, Tencent's biggest hit has been messaging app WeChat – 微信 in Chinese.
WeChat
WeChat is huge. An editor at QQ.com's tech section, says half of his traffic comes from a mobile app, because it was once promoted by WeChat.
BI Intelligence
Back in the atrium, I ran into these two, mascots for QQ.com. They are QQ girl (L) and QQ boy (R)
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is QQ in a costume.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
We headed up an elevator to see people at work.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Behold! The legal department at Tencent.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Tucked into a corner, there was a cool little break area with these exercise machines.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
I tried balancing myself on this one.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
For a more passive break there is this couch
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is the view out the window of the window
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
The break room had a vending machine…
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
…and you could buy stuff using a QR code reader in your WeChat app.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
We passed a meeting room. Pretty standard!
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Back to the elevator. I couldn't get over that the HQ was a skinny tower, not a campus like the tech companies I know (other than Bloomberg).
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
We stopped at the cafeteria for some photos.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
We got out on Tencent's exhibition floor for visitors.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
The QQ mascots were all over the place. (Fun to see a globe centered on China, not the USA)
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
The hall had lots of awards Tencent has won for being a good place to work.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
There was video from big events QQ holds for its employees to go to, including concerts.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Big execs will get dressed in costumes for some of these shows.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
My favorite video was one showing Tencent Chrismas parties over the years.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
They started small…
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
…got more elaborate…
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
…became professional productions…
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
…got epic…
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
…and now they involve costumes…
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
…and even fake snow.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is Tencent's slogan. Apparently, Google had a similar one before it left China.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Here it is in Chinese.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
There were monitors showing Tencent's products, like this one for a charity.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Soso, the search engine, has a Google Maps-like product. It even has Street View.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is Tencent's games porta.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is a model of Tencent's new headquarters, not built yet.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Tencent is a huge business, generating $2.5 billion revenues last quarter.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
It's market cap is just over $100 billion.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Another workout center!
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is Tencent's "mission."
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This corner of the exhibition floor was dedicated to Tencent's commitment to the Chinese Communist Party
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is an org chart showing Party members in the company
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This is the highest ranking Party member at Tencent.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Here's QQ wearing a hammer and sickle and winking.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
This chart shows the number of Party members working at Tencent going up over the years.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
It was weird seeing all this stuff, but remember, in the US, car dealerships will fly HUGE flags out front.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Next we went to a cafe outside.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
It doubled as a gift store.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Lots of QQs in horse costumes.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
And a QQ girl all in pink.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Some action figures inspired by Tencent games.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
The store was packed with visitors taking photos.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
As we left, this band of uniformed security guards walked by in formation.
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
That was it for my trip to Tencent…
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
But check out my stroll through Hong Kong
Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tencent-tour-2013-11?op=1#ixzz2mJg6Xwdc
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario