China's Tencent Strengthens Bet on Snapchat & AR Through Major Purchase of Snap Inc. Stock

While Snap's third quarter financial reports disappointed Wall Street, China's Tencent took the opportunity to expand its investment in the social media company.

In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Snap disclosed that it was notified this month by Tencent of its purchase of more than 145 million shares of Class A common stock, as originally reported by TechCrunch.

"We have long been inspired by the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of Tencent and we are grateful to continue our longstanding and productive relationship that began over four years ago," read a statement included in the SEC document.

"For its part, Martin Lau, Tencent's President, informed us that Tencent is excited to deepen its shareholding relationship with us, and that it looks forward to sharing ideas and experiences."

Tencent, the parent company of China' popular WeChat messaging app, has had a long history of investment in Snap Inc. The company also participated in a 2013 Series B round of investment totaling $60 million, and was even identified, alongside Google and Facebook, as a suitor interesting in acquiring the company.

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Cover image via Snapchat/YouTube