Tencent sees its market cap swell into world's top 10

Ma Huateng, chairman of Tencent and deputy of the National People's Congress, answers reporters' questions ahead of the fifth plenary session of the 12th NPC in Beijing on Friday. FENG YONGBIN/CHINA DAILY

China's tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd has become the world's tenth biggest publicly traded company by market value, overtaking Wells Fargo Inc, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Tencent, the Chinese internet titan best known for its WeChat messaging service and gaming apps, gained 1.6 percent on Wednesday at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, vaulting its capitalization to $279 billion, just a shade above that of US lender Wells Fargo Inc.

Founded in 1998, Tencent is the only Chinese company in the list of 10 biggest companies by market value, while American counterparts dominate the rest of the list. Six of the world's top 10 are now technology companies, including the top four.

Tencent Holdings Limited went public on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2004. Its stock has climbed 43 percent over the past year and more than 20 percent in 2017 alone.

Ma Huateng, CEO of Tencent, was named the third wealthiest man in China, according to Forbes' 2016 China Rich List.