Chinese Messaging Giant Tencent Takes $1.8 Billion Stake in Tesla

The news is not the financial investment, which is more than Tesla raised in public markets a few weeks ago, but the partnership opportunities it offers to both Tencent and Tesla as they take on larger and equally well-funded rivals.

Given the role that Didi, the Chinese on-demand transportation company, played in thwarting Uber's ambitions in China, the Tencent-Tesla partnership implies that both enterprises have strategic ambitions that go well beyond their current size or recognition. JL

Anne Moffat reports in Bloomberg:

Tesla raised as much as $1.4 billion through a stock and debt offering earlier this month, more than initially sought, as it looked to cushion its balance sheet amid heavy spending to introduce the lower-priced Model 3. Tencent’s Chairman Ma Huateng envisions his company developing AI technology for driverless cars in the future.
Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. purchased a 5 percent stake in Tesla Inc. as the electric-car maker run by Elon Musk races to bring his critical Model 3 sedan to market later this year.
Shenzhen-based Tencent paid about $1.8 billion for 8.17 million shares through Tesla’s recent stock offering and via open-market purchases, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday. The acquisition makes Tencent, the owner of the WeChat messaging app, Tesla’s fifth-largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Elon Musk is the archetype for entrepreneurship, combining vision, ambition, and execution,” Tencent said in an email. “Tesla is a global pioneer at the forefront of new technologies including electric vehicles, assisted driving, shared vehicles, digitizing real-world information, sustainable energy generation and scalable energy storage.”
Tesla raised as much as $1.4 billion through a stock and debt offering earlier this month, more than initially sought, as it looked to cushion its balance sheet amid heavy spending to introduce the lower-priced Model 3. Tencent’s Chairman Ma Huateng envisions his company developing AI technology for driverless cars in the future.
Shares of Palo Alto, California-based Tesla rose 1.9 percent to $275.42 as of 8:15 a.m. in New York, before the start of regular trading.