Tencent Holdings Ltd., also known as Tencent, is the holding company of a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate. The company was founded in 1998 and has subsidiaries globally marketing a wide range of Internet-related services and products, including in entertainment, artificial intelligence, and other technologies.
Recently, Tencent was rumored to be acquiring a gaming phone manufacturer from China, Black Shark. This step is for Tencent's desire to dive deeper into the world of the Metaverse. Tencent's potential Black Shark purchase has previously been reported by local media 36Kr.
According to sources familiar with the plan, Tencent has started talks to buy the Black Shark. One source said smaller companies, investors including Xiaomi Corp, will pivot to making virtual reality or VR headsets after their parent company reaches an agreement, quoted from Bloomberg, Wednesday (12/1/2022).
According to a report by Kr Asia, Tencent will buy Black Shark for US$420 million. The deal will produce games and content for hardware makers.
Neither Tencent, Black Shark, and Xiaomi representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg said.
Kr Asia wrote that this news marks Tencent's first investment in a hardware maker related to its Metaverse business.
Tencent is known to be interested in the Metaverse. The tech company recognizes that Metaverse is part of the future of operations and will slowly shape the way people live, work and interact digitally.
In a Q3 2021 earnings call, Tencent Chairman and CEO Pony Ma said the company would build its own Metaverse through 'multiple paths'. Games are one of the easiest ways to make that happen.
In September 2021, Tencent is known to have applied for two trademarks 'Kings Metaverse' and 'TiMi Metaverse'. This refers to the popular mobile game Honor of Kings and one of its subsidiary video game studios, TiMi.
The gaming sector has also been dived by Tencent for a long time. The 36Kr report said the company became an investor in more than 67 video game companies in 2021 alone.
