Tencent splurges with
$220 million worth of shares in surprise birthday
giveaway
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[November 11, 2016]
By Sijia Jiang
HONG
KONG (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd is giving its
employees more than HK$1.7 billion ($220 million) worth of company
shares to help celebrate its 18th anniversary.
Asia's most valuable listed company will give every employee 300 company
shares to mark its foundation on November 11, 1998, it said on its
official WeChat account on Friday afternoon.
The giveaway accompanies an online shopping frenzy in China on Friday
with sales celebrating Singles Day led by Tencent rival Alibaba Group
Holding Ltd.
With Tencent stock at HK$200 apiece - making it the most valuable
company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange - the giveaway is worth
HK$60,000 ($7,735) to each of the firm's 31,557 employees.
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Tencent founder and chairman Pony Ma has been giving away virtual "red
envelopes" with amounts ranging from 188 yuan to 1,888 yuan on WeChat on
Friday. Tencent prepared 30 million yuan worth of gift money for its
current and former employees and contractors to thank them for their
contribution and mark its "coming-of-age", according to the WeChat post.
"(Alibaba founder) Jack Ma's employees are busy sweating over-time, Pony
Ma's employees are busy counting cash" - a popular joke circulated among
Tencent employees and on Chinese internet.
Alibaba on Friday smashed its own sales record 15 hours into the 24-hour
discount shopping event that is now the world's largest shopping
bonanza.
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![](../images/111116pics/busine49.jpg)
Tencent Chairman and CEO Pony Ma attends a philanthropy forum in
Hong Kong, China September 23, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
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Alibaba is expected to rake in more than $20 billion in sales by the end
of the day after overtaking last year's total of $14.3 billion on Friday
evening.
The date of Tencent's foundation coincides with that of the festival
also known as "Double 11" that has become a key barometer of Chinese
consumer sentiment. Alibaba first launched the event in 2009 to
encourage consumers without a partner to treat themselves.
The shares will be given to Tencent employees in three equal batches in
three years starting from next week, according to an internal email seen
by Reuters.
($1 = 7.7571 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Sijia Jiang; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Ruth Pitchford)
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