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       Following successive reductions in JD.com (HK09618, stock price of 221.2 Hong Kong dollars, market value of 690.9 billion Hong Kong dollars), Hailan Home (SH600398, stock price of 4.5 yuan, market value of 19.438 billion), Sea Limited (SE, stock price of 89.97 US dollars, market value of 50.54 billion US dollars), New Oriental (HK01797, stock price of 18.6 Hong Kong dollars, market value of 18.643 billion Hong Kong dollars), Huayi Brothers (SZ300027, stock price of 2.73 yuan, market value of 7.57 billion yuan) and many other listed companies, Tencent once again triggered a "giant shock" in the market due to the news of the reduction of its holdings.

　　On the afternoon of August 16, there was market news that Tencent Holdings (HK00700, stock price of 303 Hong Kong dollars, market value of 2.91 trillion Hong Kong dollars) planned to sell all or all of its holdings in food delivery company Meituan (HK03690, stock price of 164.5 Hong Kong dollars, market value of 1.02 trillion Hong Kong dollars). Most of the shares, cashing out an 8-year investment.

　　Qixinbao shows that Tencent has invested over US$4 billion in Meituan in the past. Tencent currently holds a 17% stake in Meituan, which is worth $24.3 billion based on the current market value of Meituan.

Tencent has invested over US$4 billion in Meituan in the past. Source: Photographed by reporter Zhang Jian

　　After the news was released, on the afternoon of the 16th, Meituan’s share price suddenly plunged, once plummeting by more than 10%, and the intraday market value once fell below 1 trillion Hong Kong dollars. At the same time, Tencent Holdings once fell more than 2.5%.

　　However, for now, everything is just a false alarm for the time being. The "Daily Economic News" reporter learned from sources close to Tencent on the afternoon of the 16th that Tencent has refuted the rumors internally and has no plans to sell Meituan shares.

　　However, many analysts in the industry do not think this is groundless. In addition to Tencent's recent frequent reduction actions, it is certain that Tencent's investment strategy has changed.

　　"Tencent needs Meituan more than Meituan needs Tencent"?

　　In the past few years, the giant Tencent has cultivated a new batch of giants in addition to its own expansion.

　　According to the list released by the financial information platform Jinshi Data, as of May 30 this year, the market value of Chinese Internet companies ranked among the top five, "Tencent" - Tencent Holdings, Meituan, JD.com, accounted for three consecutive seats.

　　Among them, Meituan crossed the threshold of 100 billion US dollars in market value in May 2020, becoming the third member of the “100 billion US dollar club” in China after Tencent and Alibaba (BABA, stock price of 94.2 US dollars, market value of 249.4 billion US dollars). .

　　Looking back at the past of Tencent and Meituan, Qixinbao shows that since the merger of Meituan and Dianping in October 2015, and before the listing of Meituan from 2016 to 2018, Meituan completed a $3.3 billion E round led by Tencent, $30 billion in strategic financing and $1.5 billion in Pre-IPO financing.

　　It is worth noting that in April 2018, behind the acquisition of Mobike by Meituan, there was also an active boost from Tencent.

　　After the listing, Meituan completed a private placement of $10 billion in April last year, of which Tencent subscribed about 11.35 million shares in the placement. Three months later, Meituan updated the follow-up announcement: Tencent’s subscription was completed, and the capital increase is expected to be US$400 million, which will be mainly used for technological innovation, including research and development in cutting-edge technology fields such as unmanned vehicles and drone delivery, and general corporate purposes.

　　According to statistics, Tencent has invested over US$4 billion in Meituan in the past. According to Meituan’s financial report, Tencent currently holds about 17% of Meituan’s shares. According to the current market value of Meituan, Tencent’s shareholding is worth $24.3 billion. In other words, Tencent’s investment in Meituan has benefited 6 times.

　　In addition to the cash support, Tencent and Meituan have also cooperated closely in various fields.

　　For example, Meituan has created a wealth of usage scenarios for WeChat Pay in the field of life services. Geng Zhijun, vice president of Tencent’s WeChat business group, said in 2018 that Meituan Dianping has now become Tencent WeChat Pay’s largest market share in offline catering. square.

Meituan has created a wealth of usage scenarios for WeChat Pay in the field of life services Image source: Every reporter Zhang Jian (data map)

　　Regarding the cooperation between Tencent and Meituan, Lin Yue, chief consultant of Lingyan Consulting, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter on WeChat that on the one hand, "Meituan takeaway", "eat, drink and play", "movie performance events" and so on have gained WeChat traffic , including the interconnection of maps.

　　On the other hand, after the merger of Meituan and Dianping, the collaboration with Tencent on WeChat wallets, mini programs, WeChat card packages and other matters and products has achieved fruitful results. Super platform."

　　Zhuang Shuai, an expert in the retail e-commerce industry and founder of Bailian Consulting, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that in terms of finance, Meituan's contribution to Tencent is still great.

　　In addition, at the business level, Meituan has contributed to Tencent's mini-program business in terms of mini-program usage habits and GMV, while Tencent's help in adding new users to Meituan is not very big. "Community group purchases are a business contribution. But this cannot be said to be brought by Tencent, after all, it is an open business model, so Tencent’s contribution to Meituan’s inbound traffic is not that great.”

　　"That is to say, Tencent needs Meituan more than Meituan needs Tencent." He concluded.

　　Whether to reduce Meituan or not, the timing is very important

　　Going back to the end of last year, on December 23, 2021, Tencent announced that it would distribute about 460 million shares of JD.com to shareholders in the form of a mid-term dividend. After the dividend, Tencent’s shareholding in JD.com will drop from 17% to 2.3%, and it will no longer be the latter’s largest shareholder.

　　Both Tencent and JD.com announced that the transaction, which was planned by JD.com investor and chairman and CEO of Hillhouse Capital Group, Zhang Lei, came to a turning point. Tencent’s actions at that time triggered a chain of conjectures from the outside world: Meituan, Pinduoduo, etc. are among the Internet companies held by Tencent. Will the reduction of holdings be put on the agenda?

　　In response to the rumors of Tencent’s reduction in Meituan, Li Zhiqi, vice chairman of the Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce and chairman of the International Think Tank for Revitalization, said in an interview with a reporter from “Daily Economic News” that the more likely it is that Tencent will reduce its holdings in Meituan, the more likely it will be Confirming the judgment of the outside world at the beginning of the year, Tencent's transformation strategy is being implemented step by step, which is a relatively continuous behavior.

　　He told reporters that from an investment point of view, if Tencent reduces its holdings of Meituan in the future, to a certain extent, it will consider giving shareholders and investors a return, and the timing of this return is very important. It is obviously a smarter arrangement to choose "exit" when the business format is mature. In the few years under the influence of the epidemic, including consumer service investment businesses such as Meituan and JD.com, the income has basically peaked, and the choice to cash is also "take it as soon as you see it."

　　The reporter noticed that the final income of Tencent’s reduction of JD.com will be presented in Tencent’s 2021 annual report.

　　According to the financial report, Tencent recorded a net other income of 86.2 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2021. Mainly non-IFRS adjustment items, such as the deemed disposal and net gain from disposal of certain investment companies (including the deemed disposal gain of RMB 78 billion arising from the resignation of the board representative and JD.com being no longer an associate company) ).

　　As for the way of reducing holdings, Li Zhiqi believes that it is a relatively win-win choice to take care of the interests of shareholders and recover funds to support the later larger transformation and the implementation of new investment projects. When choosing to reduce its holdings in a healthy developing company like Meituan, Tencent must also consider its own evaluation and reputation after its investment exits.

　　"The way to reduce the holdings must be negotiated simultaneously with Meituan, including choosing who to 'take over' and be its replacement. Meituan's situation is different from that of JD.com. JD.com has gradually seen the possibility of greater profits, but the United States The group is still in a loss-making period, and it still needs sustainable funds behind it, so it will be different from the strategy of transferring to JD.com. JD.com is more of a way to benefit the original shareholders, including large and small households, but for Meituan to come In other words, it may be necessary to find a more stable and reliable blood transfusion method." Li Zhiqi analyzed the possibility of Tencent's reduction of Meituan.

　　Tencent's investment style changes

　　Half a year after Tencent reduced its holdings in JD.com, on June 29, JD.com announced that it had renewed a three-year strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent. According to the agreement, the two parties will carry out business cooperation in areas such as physical e-commerce portals, cloud technology and cloud services, membership systems, online conferences, enterprise services, smart retail, and advertising.

　　Looking back at the previous two rounds of cooperation, in March 2014, Tencent announced that it would invest US$214 million in cash to acquire 15% of its shares in JD. In the next five years, JD.com, as Tencent's preferred e-commerce partner, will gain exclusive first-level and second-level shopping portals for WeChat and QQ.

　　In May 2019, JD.com and Tencent renewed their three-year strategic cooperation agreement for the second round. Tencent continued to provide JD.com with prominent primary and secondary entrances. continue to cooperate in the field.

　　In today's changing external environment, after Tencent reduced its stake in JD.com, the third round of the cooperation agreement between the two parties focused on cooperation in areas such as technological innovation and supply chain services.

　　This has released two signals: the form of cooperation between enterprises and the direction of future investment are no longer what they used to be, but under the new Internet cycle, two interlocking gears are still rolling forward.

　　Li Zhiqi judged that cooperation by controlling or holding a larger proportion of shares may gradually withdraw from the stage. This kind of complete control and influence is not a wise choice under the current strong regulatory wind, and companies must accelerate their adaptation to the new policy environment.

　　"Especially the sustainable social value innovation method proposed by Ma Huateng (Tencent Group Chairman and CEO) indicates that Tencent is undergoing relatively profound changes, which will naturally reflect its use of capital, and Tencent will also It's getting clearer," Li Zhiqi added.

Image source: Photo by reporter Dong Xingsheng (data map)

　　It is worth mentioning that, in addition to JD.com, since October 2021, Tencent has successively reduced its shares in listed companies such as Heilan Home, Sea Limited, and New Oriental. According to China Business News, as of the first quarter of this year, the fair value of shares in listed companies held by Tencent Holdings has dropped from 982.8 billion yuan at the end of 2021 to 606 billion yuan.

　　Regarding the change in investment trend, Li Zhiqi said that in fact, not only Tencent, but also platform companies such as Alibaba and JD.com are also making similar arrangements, which can be simply summarized as a strategic change in investment trend from “soft to hard”.

　　"In the past period of rapid Internet growth, giants mainly relied on the related layout of the consumer Internet to gain growth. However, with the changes in national strategies and regulatory policies, everyone's investment direction is more towards chips, AI, etc.," he said.