Tencent, WeChat and Offline Merchants Discuss Profit Sharing
BiaNews, 11/22/12
Lai Zhiming, GM of Shenzhen-based internet company Tencent's (0700.HK) Tenpay online payment service, said recently that the company is engaged in talks regarding profit-sharing between Tenpay, Tencent's WeChat (Weixin) mobile messaging application, and offline merchants. Tenpay currently processes an average of RMB 1.2 bln per day in payments, giving it more than 20% of China's third-party payment market by payment volume.
Tenpay has 500 mln registered users, and Lai said that the service has no near-term plans to raise financing. The next step for Tenpay, according to Lai's team, will be to implement online overseas purchasing through its partnership with American Express, following which the company could partner with another third party for mobile overseas O2O payments. Lai said that efforts would likely begin with American Express merchants in Hong Kong and other Southeast Asian regions. At present, Tenpay only offers trans-regional purchasing services for users who have undergone real-name account verification.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Tenpay, American Express Launch Overseas E-Payment Platform" MD 11/19/12 issue.
Keywords: Tenpay Tencent registered users 0700.HK online payment American Express WeChat Lai Zhiming revenue share mobile IM overseas
Sending
