Tencent's new investment plan will boost content creators

Tencent Holdings announced on Wednesday a 10 billion yuan ($15.1 billion) investment plan to form a content alliance, pledging to groom content creators through cash distribution, project investments, copyright purchases and intellectual property incubations.

The company also promised to share with content curators access to its multiple platforms, from social networking apps such as WeChat and QQ to information distributors such as Tencent news, Chief Operating Officer Ren Yuxin told the audience during the Tencent Global Partner Conference in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

"These efforts would allow people's original works to enjoy greater exposure and hence receive more good financial return," Ren said.

Content creators are greatly devalued as their income only accounts for roughly 10 percent of the sector's market value, while in the movie, gaming and music industry that number stood at 50 percent, said Lin Songtao, the company's vice-president.

In an open letter to its partners ahead of the meeting, Tencent chairman Pony Ma said digital content will be a "core value" that the company upholds in the future.

The announcement came as shares in Tencent's e-book subsidiary China Literature leaped 86 percent on its trading debut in Hong Kong Wednesday. The digital publishing arm is the country's dominant market leader in both the number of readers and writers, according to consultancy Frost & Sullivan.