China’s undisputed leader in games and social media Tencent paid a rich price for a controlling stake in Supercell, the Finnish maker of popular smartphone distraction Clash of Clans. The $8.6 billion deal almost doubled Supercell’s valuation to more than $10 billion in just a year. Tencent is no stranger to overseas deals, but this is its biggest. What’s important here?
1. Tencent just became a lot bigger
Already worth $200 billion on the public markets, Tencent will capture 13% of the $100 billion global games market this year thanks to Supercell and Clash of Clans, says researcher Newzoo. This should cement its global number one spot in online games.
