China’s Tencent buys Google-backed social-networking firm Comsenz

Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's leading provider of internet and mobile and value-added telecommunications services, yesterday acquired Comsenz, a Google-backed social-networking firm for more than $60 million.

Guangdong-based Tencent, which runs one of the largest web portals in China and Beijing-based social-networking provider Comsenz yesterday jointly announced their merger, theough which Comsenz will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Tencent.

Comsenz is backed by internet giant Google and private equity firms Sequoia Capital and Morningside Ventures.

In April 2010, Tencent made a long-term strategic investment of $300 million in Moscow-based Internet-investment group, Digital Sky Technologies, majority owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. (See: China's Tencent gains backdoor stakes in Facebook, Zinga via $300-million DST investment)

This strategic investment by Tencent in DST gave it a back-door entry to two US companies - social networking giant Facebook and the world's largest social game developer Zynga Game Network Inc.

Tencent has three main streams of revenues - internet value-added services, mobile and value-added telecommunications services, and online advertising.

Tencent runs various online platforms, including Instant Messaging QQ, web portal QQ.com, QQ Game portal, multi-media social networking service Qzone and wireless portal.