Tencent CEO Ma Huateng: 100 million out of 500 million red envelopes were used to pay taxes

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In between attending the two sessions to discuss the case, Tencent Chairman and CEO Ma Huateng also attended a media meeting and answered questions from media reporters on many issues such as whether WeChat red envelopes are taxed, new social products, WeChat's overseas plans, etc. Let's take a look at what Ma Huateng said.

1. What special innovative practices does Tencent currently have?

Ma Huateng: WeChat's scan and shake functions represent vision and touch respectively. They use sensors and cameras to identify surrounding conditions. In the future, they will be connected to many offline public services. This is very different from the Internet in the past.

2. What is WeChat’s next overseas plan?

Ma Huateng: The competition among WeChat, WhatsApp, Line and other companies has basically settled. Our content industry has developed well overseas. Since we entered the mobile game operation in the second half of last year, we have spent a lot of energy on the layout of global mobile games, which is our main business.

3. What do you think about the fact that Alibaba’s market value is greater than the total of all other companies?

Ma Huateng: We have all been working steadily for more than a decade and have made great contributions in our respective fields. Market capitalization is temporary. Our market capitalization was not large more than a decade ago. The key is to do well in the next wave.

4. Is Tencent interested in developing in Taiwan?

Ma Huateng: Our market share in Taiwan is not that high. LINE has a higher market share than us. Tencent has also invested in Taiwanese game companies. We should take it step by step and lay a solid foundation first.

5. Will China become the world’s innovation center?

From a global perspective, the United States is far ahead, and many new models were born in the United States. However, in the fields of culture and animation, Asia is ahead of Europe and the United States. WeChat and LINE are both Asian innovations.

6. Will WeChat red envelopes be taxed?

Ma Huateng: B2C red envelopes need to be taxed. For example, out of the 500 million red envelopes sent through CCTV, 100 million need to be taxed, which is 20%. Pure C2C red envelopes do not need to be taxed because the amount is very small, but it is hard to say in the future. This year during the Spring Festival, I sent out more than 200,000 red envelopes myself, most of which were sent to colleagues.

7. When talking about the relationship between Tencent and startups, Ma Huateng said: In the past, everyone thought Tencent could do everything, and we also took a detour. In the past two years, we have changed a lot, cutting more and more businesses and giving them to other customers. Tencent's architecture is suitable for basic and architectural services, and it is not suitable for us to do anything too deep. In the past, we thought that as long as it was related to us, we could not let go, but now we think more openly.

8. In terms of social innovation, Ma Huateng said: There is still a lot of room for anonymous social networking and vertical social networking, and anonymous social networking is not suitable for Tencent. Previously, Tencent invested in Same, a small app that seemed to have no potential, but had a sense of the future. Tencent will still invest in such products.

9. Regarding big data, Ma Huateng said: This field is still mostly gimmicks and still needs more exploration.

10. Regarding Internet healthcare, Ma Huateng said: We have done a lot of research in this field, which is quite complicated. The online systems of hospitals are very complicated, and they may have several suppliers, so it is difficult to make them Internet-based. This is related to the entire system, and it is not that easy. We should start with the simplest one, as Internet healthcare is still in its infancy.

11. Regarding O2O, Ma Huateng said: In the past, people said that e-commerce and offline business were incompatible, but later they found that the Internet can also be used offline. How to make some membership loyalty programs and how to better attract users can all be tried through the mobile Internet. For example, the cooperation between Tencent, Baidu and Wanda can not only provide offline services, but also interact with customers online.

12. Regarding the issue of private cars, Ma Huateng said: The government is still very supportive of the Internet reform of traditional industries, but the attitude of the regulatory authorities is certainly cautious. For example, smart travel, everyone has not reached a consensus. In addition to taxis, can freight and other issues be solved through mobile Internet? When I was abroad, I also used Uber and asked the driver whether he would run away.

13. Regarding China's cultural industry, Ma Huateng said: I am very optimistic about China's cultural industry. At present, the volume is still small, but in terms of film, television and music, China will have great development. The core of the content industry is copyright. Tencent has called for the protection of intellectual property rights in many fields. Music, literature and animation will become more and more formalized. I think there is a lot of room for development.

14. Regarding blind people using the Internet, Ma Huateng said: Tencent has been paying attention to the issue of blind people using the Internet without barriers for a long time. There are actually relevant standards abroad, but not in China. Currently, Tencent has actually hired some blind people to do product experience.

15. Regarding WeChat and QQ, Ma Huateng said: Tencent hopes to use WeChat and QQ platforms as connectors to connect all information and services.