Tencent Selected for TIME's Inaugural List of The TIME100 Most Influential Companies

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Apr 28, 2021, 07:00 ET

SHENZHEN, China, April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent (Tencent Holdings Ltd, 0700.HK), a leading provider of Internet value-added services in China, was named as one of the world's 100 most influential companies by TIME, demonstrating the company's leading position in the consumer and industrial internet space due to its technology innovation, promotion of social values, and outstanding products and services.

The list honors Tencent as one of the companies making an extraordinary impact around the world and helping to shape our future. In TIME's writeup on Tencent, the magazine noted the role Tencent played in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic through its technology such as digital payments and using QR codes to show vaccination status. TIME also noted Tencent's continual growth, and its investments in innovative business startups around the world.

To assemble the list, TIME solicited nominations across sectors including health care, entertainment, transportation, technology and more from its global network of editors and correspondents, as well as from industry experts. Each company was evaluated on key factors, including relevance, impact, innovation, leadership, ambition and success.

"The result is a diverse array of 100 institutions, from the tech startup engineering a smarter way to recycle to the cryptocurrency firm reimagining the future of money to the pharma titans creating the vaccines of tomorrow (and today). Together, these businesses—and the leaders who steer them—are helping to chart an essential path forward," TIME says. Also on the list are influential companies from around the world, including Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Tencent has long been mobilizing resources and leveraging its technological strengths to drive sustainable innovation for the company and society. The company recently announced an initial investment of RMB 50 billion (USD 7.67 billion) to fund initiatives in areas including basic science, education innovation, rural revitalization, carbon neutrality, assisting with public emergencies, technology for senior citizens, public welfare, and sustainability challenges facing food, energy and water systems.

Last year, the company took a number of initiatives and showed its social responsibility in fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic, in China and around the world. Tencent donated and set up a RMB1.5 billion domestic Anti-Pandemic Fund and a USD100 million Global Anti-Pandemic Fund. Tencent also developed and leveraged its social media products, virtual meeting services and online tools and solutions to help fight the pandemic and facilitate business recovery.

In January, the company announced its commitment to moving toward carbon neutrality to help tackle climate change, making use of renewable energy, artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies to reduce its carbon footprint.

With the vision to promote technology innovation and cultural vitality, Tencent has been striving to integrate digital technology with rich sources of traditional culture, linking the traditional and the contemporary, the real and the virtual, and online and offline living. Its Neo-Culture Creativity strategy has placed original intellectual property development at the core of Tencent's creation of games, social media content, and other cultural products, with a commitment to allowing traditional stories, customs and history to be energetically revived in a modern context. For example, many of its popular online games incorporate local history, clothing and philosophy. In another example, Tencent has joined hands with museums and historical sites to promote cultural heritage through digital exhibitions and creative interactions on social media platforms.

Last year, the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH), a global academic institution in partnership with UNESCO, and Tencent signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation, aimed at promoting the integration of technology with human sciences and helping align the global digital cultural industry and academic research.

Science and technology breakthroughs will ultimately serve people and benefit society. In terms of promoting scientific and technological progress, Tencent set up the Xplorer Prize with an initial donation of RMB 1 billion from the Tencent Foundation in 2018, in a bid to encourage and support young scientists to engage in basic science and cutting-edge technology research.

Long aware of the synergy between children and the digital world, Tencent launched the "DN.A Program", or the Digital Natives Action program in 2018. This campaign rallies professional organizations to give children equal opportunity for internet access and digital literacy as they grow up, another step forward to fulfilling its Tech for Good mission.

Tencent's 99 Giving Day charitable fundraising event, established in 2015, has become a renowned online charity festival with the largest number of participants in China. In 2020, the flagship charity event raised over RMB3 billion within three days. Thousands of institutions and 10,000 companies took part in the campaign. Weixin and QQ, Tencent's popular instant messaging products, have made efforts to bridge the digital divide for the elderly and the disadvantaged. These are great examples of how technology can be used to help others and contribute to society.

From fighting the pandemic together to moving toward carbon neutrality, and from philanthropic initiatives to supporting technology innovation and breakthroughs, Tencent will continue building on a track record of leadership to reinvent this industry by exploring sustainable development and creating long-term value for society, as well as driving positive change in the future.

See the full list here: https://time.com/collection/time100-companies/

About Tencent:

Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Our communications and social apps Weixin and QQ connect users with each other, with digital content and with daily life services in just a few clicks. Our high performance advertising platform helps brands and marketers reach out to hundreds of millions of consumers in China. Our financial technology and business services support our partners' business growth and assist with their digital upgrades. Tencent invests heavily in talent and technological innovation, actively participating in the development of the Internet industry. Tencent was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1998, and has been listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since June 2004.

Media Contact: Ina, +86-10-64627321 ext.655; [email protected]

SOURCE Tencent