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According to Tencent, whose services include instant messaging service QQ, microblogging site Tencent Weibo - which is similar to Twitter - and online games, WeChat has close to 300 million users.
BBC: Tencent
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Developer Activision has teamed up with Chinese internet service provider Tencent on the free-to-play title.
BBC: Call of Duty to launch in China as free online title
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Its instant messaging service, Tencent QQ, has more than 600 million users.
BBC: Call of Duty to launch in China as free online title
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And China's internet start-ups, such as Tencent (a social-networking service) and Alibaba (an e-commerce company), have had a genius for copying Western business models and adapting them to the Chinese market.
ECONOMIST: Innovation in China
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When upstart smartphone company Xiaomi launched a mobile-chat service in 2010, Chief Executive Lei Jun told a conference in May, it expected Tencent to take a while to launch a rival service.
WSJ: China's Tencent Outperforms Its Western Peers
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Some people have multiple microblog accounts: Tencent has its own QQ-branded Weibo service.
FORBES: Putting A Price On Sina Weibo, China's Answer To Twitter
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Tencent had previously indicated it would let the service remain free and try to monetize the platform by offering value-added services like online games and mobile shopping.
FORBES: Gov't, Rivals Assault Tencent WeChat
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WeChat's user base includes much of China's smartphone-owning middle class, a highly attractive target for advertising, but Tencent says it is still improving user experience and has no plans to make money off the service yet.
WSJ: China's Tencent Outperforms Its Western Peers