The Secret Chinese Company That Owns Everything

The INSANE story of Tencent - a controversial MagnatesMedia business movie looking at one of the most valuable companies in the world. This business has many accusations against it - from being used for surveillance and censorship, to anti-competitive monopolistic business strategies & crushing the competition. It's a crazy rags to riches entrepreneurial story, going from only $1000 and the brink of bankruptcy to becoming one of the richest most powerful companies ever. This is the rise and fall of a business empire. This is the untold history of Tencent.

If you look at the world’s most valuable companies, you won’t be surprised to find the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and Google. But one name does stand out: Tencent. The company is worth more than the likes of Facebook, Mastercard, and Samsung, and yet if you asked the majority of people what Tencent does, you’d be met with a confused look. The truth, is that Tencent does everything. Because whilst Tecent’s mascot is a friendly-looking penguin - a more accurate animal to embody this conglomerate would be a giant octopus, with tentacles reaching into almost every industry you can think of, all over the world. Whether you realize it or not, you almost certainly use products or services Tencent is involved with.

However in Tencent’s home country of China, it’s a very different story; everyone is aware that Tencent dominates their lives. And that’s because in China, Tencent has achieved the seemingly impossible: one app to rule them all. Tencent created an app called WeChat that's been dubbed ‘the everything app’ because almost all of China’s 1.4 billion population use this app for an average of 4 hours every day, more than the average American user spends on all social media apps combined.

And the reason people in China use WeChat so much is because it’s basically every app you can think of rolled into one. Its essentially Facebook, PayPal, Whatsapp, Netflix, Google, Spotify, Uber, Yelp, Tinder, Zoom, YouTube, Deliveroo, Amazon and lots lots more all in one single app. You pay your bills through it, call your friends through it, and essentially live your entire life through it. However one single company having access to literally all your data - from your exact location to your entire bank history to every message and call and search you’ve ever made - it’s a lot. And then it gets worse when you realize that the line between where Tencent ends and the Chinese government begins, is blurry. Meaning, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has access to all that information as well, making WeChat one of the most powerful surveillance tools ever.

Plus, private messages and images that are sent through Tencent’s apps like WeChat are scanned to see if they need to be censored - if you say anything the Chinese government doesn’t want you to, you could end up in jail, or disappear. The Chinese government has even openly confirmed that it can access deleted WeChat conversations.

Tencent has used its vast wealth and resources to expand into many industries. They are also the largest gaming company in the world - with revenue significantly higher than any competitor. Gaming is just one of countless different industries Tencent operates in. Also Tencent’s Payments division is nearly as big as PayPal’s entire business. And its reported WeChatPay generates over 1 billion payment transactions per day - more than Visa and Mastercard. But it’s only recently that the West has started to realise the influence Tencent - and thus China - actually have... In this business documentary, we'll answer questions like: What is Tencent? What does Tencent do? How did Tencent and other Chinese businesses get so big?

The Secret Chinese Company That Owns... Everything?
Tencent - The Craziest Company You Don't Know About
The Penguin That Changed China Forever
The Chinese Company That Owns Everything
The Secret Chinese Company That Owns Everything

00:00:00 Prologue
00:10:21 Chapter 1: QQ & The Mysterious Founder of Tencent
00:21:12 Chapter 2: Microsoft vs Tencent
00:24:19 Chapter 3: Out Of Control
00:33:38 Chapter 4: WeChat: One App To Rule Them All
00:44:11 Chapter 5: Surveillance, Censorship & Control
00:53:25 Chapter 6: Tencent vs TikTok
00:56:27 Chapter 7: Empire
01:05:45 Mini Break: Please Subscribe to MagnatesMedia
1:06:11 Chapter 8: Tencent vs China
1:13:08 Thanks to Shipstation!
1:14:12 Chapter 9: The Future of Tencent

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[MagnatesMedia]

This project has consumed my life for the last few months 😂 But hopefully you’re gonna enjoy this one, as I really think Tencent is such a fascinating business - it’s one of the world’s most valuable and influential companies, and yet most people know very little about it…

Tencent is often surrounded by controversy - including extreme surveillance, censorship, and brutally cloning & crushing competitors. And many people are concerned by just how many companies Tencent is now involved with.

And yet in many ways, this is also an incredible success story… Tencent went from having only $1000 in their bank account & being on the edge of bankruptcy, to becoming a gigantic global empire & creating ‘the everything app’ that Chinese people live their entire lives through.

There’s a lot to cover here, so get comfy, and join me on this journey through Tencent’s crazy history. :)

P.S. Ideally watch with headphones and on a laptop / TV if possible. Enjoy!

[Borzah]

Your videos are basically Netflix level at this point

[Methamid]

It's too qualitative not to be paid off, quality content tends to disappear but you're one of these few content creators able to produce real and useful content. Thanks for the work

[jacobjacobsen]

20:28 "Then I'm Penguin mom." Insane levels of rizz right there

[SquashyNO.]

It's not just the size and power of the company that's scary, it's the fact that they did it so incredibly quickly and were able to fight off large corporations while doing so. can you imagine if they keep following the same strategy how big they could get in the next decade!?

[cortmelor]

As someone who also fell into a short content quick dopamine trap, it’s unheard of to keep me watching a video on youtube for this long. I genuinely did not realize this video was over an hour long, it was so easy to follow and understand everything.
Thank you for an amazing content!

[ReaverSenpai]

I am so sorry your channel is being attacked. Your content is beautiful and it would be a crime if it was all lost.

[philtse]

Well...I'm a Chinese citizen based in the city of Chongqing... I can tell you this, most Chinese people know the fact that has been shown in this video... But the majority of the country doesn't seem to care... You might think they are brain washed... But I think it's not that simple... China is so different from other parts of the world, you need to take really close look at it to get really basic understanding of the country...

[joebloe]

Governments dont need an app to watch you.
Your phone IS the app.

[meta]

As a Chinese, I can say that they started to put ads and fees to withdraw money, and have things annoy the hell out of people, and they never listen when people complain, but we have to keep using it because there’s no other in the competition

[ChronologicalLogic]

I don't usually donate, but this has been such a phenomenal video that I feel like I should give back for my over the years consumption. Thank you for the research and the hard work you put into this; I'm always looking forward to the next video. Cheers!

[joethekidct]

I initially thought this video was about a Chinese rapper that was only 20% as good as our own fifty cent 😂

[PeachyOmai]

I just wanna say, I'm so grateful that I accidentally bumped into this video of yours and started to know about your channel. I've looking for videos like this for so long. Thanks for your dedication and this incredible content

[genrasputin]

This movie was so good it feels illegal to watch it for free. Thank you to Magnates Media for taking your time to put out the best, very useful content. We couldn't ask for a better documentary channel. You deserve the best.

[lew]

This is probably the first and the last YouTube channel where I spend over an hours on a single video.
Fascinating stories along with top notch editing aside, I really appreciate your narration that evolves over time since your first videos.
A clear voice over is what kept many non native English speakers me included from watching most similar lengthy contents on YouTube.
YOU are the legend.

[dnvdxgp]

Thumbs up not for the idea, but for the hard work these guys dedicated to their objective and did not give up. Unbelievable perseverance.

[sigmashorts]

I'm turning on notifications that If this channel is banned or anything I'm going to support this channel

[adittasaha]

10 years later: Netflix acquired Magnets media for 3.5 billion dollars

[jcoltea]

I started casually watching this fully expecting to click off after a few minutes, over an hour later I’m completely engrossed in the narrative. Absolutely incredible job

[CrisURace]

what creeps me out is tencent having almost same logo as linux :))