Chinese company Tencent picks up five percent of Tesla

March 28, 2017 --The race to develop electric autonomous cars might have just become more interesting: Chinese internet giant Tencent has acquired a 5 percent stake in Tesla, becoming the fifth largest shareholder of the US electric car maker. The Shenzhen-based company, known for messaging app WeChat, paid $1.78 billion for 8.2 million shares through a recent stock offering and open-market purchases, according to a regulatory filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The investment – the largest by a Chinese company in the market of self-driving vehicles and related services – provides Elon Musk's Tesla with an additional boost as it prepares to launch its mass-market Model 3 electric sedan this year. "Tesla is a global pioneer at the forefront of new technologies," a Tencent spokesperson said Tuesday, MarketWatch reported. "Tencent's success is partly due to our record of backing entrepreneurs with capital; Elon Musk is the archetype for entrepreneurship, combining vision, ambition, and execution."