---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Internet
status: done
latency_ms: 106017
conversation_id: f644e986-a4af-4c74-a263-84a7f75e9c06
citations: 0
created: 2026-05-31 18:18:02Z
---

# Who are the key shareholders of Tencent?

## Tencent (700 HK) — Key Shareholders

Per CLSA's most recent dedicated Tencent note (*Tencent – HC O-PF: Accelerated game and ad growth*, 14 May 2025), the disclosed shareholder structure is [1]:

| Holder | Stake | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **Naspers (via Prosus NV)** | **26.9%** | Largest external holder. Held via Prosus NV, the Amsterdam-listed subsidiary spun out of Naspers in 2019; CLSA still labels the position under the parent "Naspers" tag. |
| **Ma Huateng (Pony Ma, Co-Founder & Chairman/CEO)** | **8.4%** | Largest insider/individual holder; founding control block. |
| **Free float (estimated)** | **~64.7%** | Public float — includes institutional + retail investors. |
| **Foreign shareholding** | **100.0%** | All shares are foreign-eligible (H-share equivalent / Cayman-incorporated). |

**Other reference points from the same report [1]:**
- Shares in issue: **9,528.0m**
- Market cap: **US$613.5bn** (as of 14 May 2025)
- 3M ADV: **US$2,385m**
- CLSA 12M target: **HK$645** (Outperform, ~24% upside at the time)

### Structural context (not from the CLSA shareholder block; widely-known public ownership history)

- **Naspers / Prosus** is the legacy of a US$32m investment by South African media group Naspers in 2001, which Naspers reorganised in 2019 by transferring its Tencent stake to its newly-listed Dutch subsidiary **Prosus NV**. Since 2021, Prosus has run a continuous on-market buyback funded by gradual Tencent stake disposals — which is why Naspers/Prosus ownership has drifted down from ~33% (pre-2021) to ~26.9% today.
- **Pony Ma (Ma Huateng)** is co-founder, Chairman, and CEO; his ~8.4% is the largest insider stake among the founding team.
- Other founders / executives (e.g., **Martin Lau**, President; **Zhang Zhidong**, co-founder) hold smaller individual stakes that fall within the free-float bucket in CLSA's disclosure schema rather than being broken out.
- Tencent has no government-affiliated strategic holder; the residual ~64.7% free float is dominated by global institutional investors (Vanguard, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, GIC, etc. — typical for an HSI/MSCI China heavyweight), with retail and Stock Connect Southbound flows on top.

### Bottom line

Tencent has a **two-pillar concentrated holder structure** — one external strategic anchor (**Naspers/Prosus, 26.9%**) and one insider/founder anchor (**Pony Ma, 8.4%**) — with the remaining **~65% as free float** distributed across global institutional and retail investors [1]. Note: this is CLSA's coverage block; for the long tail of institutional holders (Vanguard, BlackRock, GIC, etc.), the FactSet OWN_V5 institutional stakes table would be the next stop if a holder-by-holder breakdown of the free float is needed.

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**Sources**

[1] Tencent – HC O-PF (Accelerated game and ad growth) — CLSA (14 May 2025) — 607959476LinqAlpha.PDF

