Tencent is now the most valuable company in Asia

Congratulations are in order to Pony Ma and co. He and his cohorts at Tencent now head the most valuable company in the entirety of Asia. Its worth, according to its market cap: US$256 billion (as of this writing).

Tencent took the crown from another Chinese tech company: state-owned telecom China Mobile. But Tencent’s ascent wasn’t a foregone conclusion; Korean smartphone giant Samsung had also been in the running to overtake China Mobile, and with a valuation of more than US$254 billion, it isn’t that far off. But the company’s massive recall of the Galaxy Note 7 hurt its stock badly enough that Tencent was able to grab the top spot. Tencent’s domestic rival Alibaba was also in the running, but it’s still worth about US$10 billion less than Tencent as of this writing.

Tencent still has a long way to go before it can tango with Apple, which at a valuation of more than US$700 billion is far and away the world’s most valuable company. But it isn’t far at all from the rarefied air of the global top ten. At its current price, Tencent is only about US$10 billion down on global healthcare firm Novartis, which currently holds the global number ten spot.

Tencent’s value is built primarily on the back of its massive gaming operations (Tencent operates many of China’s most popular PC and mobile games) and its dominant social media platforms (WeChat and QQ). It became China’s biggest tech company less than a month ago, and investors continue to be bullish on Tencent’s stock, which has risen more than 40 percent so far this year.