Chinese internet giant Tencent owns a 12 percent stake in Snapchat operator Snap Inc, company filings showed on Wednesday, the latest in a string of major investments in the United States by China's new tech heavyweights.
The details of the stake, revealed by Snapchat after badly received quarterly results, came as U.S. and Chinese firms announced $9 billion in new deals on the arrival of President Donald Trump in Beijing.
It helped the U.S. company recoup a slide of almost 20 percent after it reported third-quarter revenue and user growth well.
nap's largely privately owned structure, which reserves 95 percent of voting rights for its co-founders, made it likely Tencent was just accumulating a financial stake.
Tencent is the largest social media and gaming company in China and owner of the popular mobile application WeChat. It had previously invested in Snap through an affiliate in 2013, and has been referred as a "role model" by Snap's co-founder and Chief Executive Evan Spiegel.