Benzinga | Jan 6, 2022 06:27AM EST

Tencent's WeChat Continues To Grow Amid Government Crackdown

Tencent Holdings Ltd's (OTC:TCEHY) WeChat super app posted remarkable growth in services from e-commerce to payments and search over the past year, amid China's government crackdown, Bloomberg reports.

* Daily active users of WeChat mini-programs grew ~12.5% year-on-year to 450 million in 2021.

* WeChat's native search function, a feature once touted as Tencent's answer to Baidu Inc's (NASDAQ: BIDU) dominance, added 200 million monthly users Y/Y.

* Related Content: China's Tech Crackdown Dampens Tencent's Growth In Q3, Misses Consensus

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* The number of mini-programs offered by overseas merchants jumped 268% over the past two years; online commerce transaction volume surged 897%.

* Monthly active users of WeChat Search jumped to 700 million in 2021, up 40% Y/Y.

* WeChat Pay team tripled to 1,200 people from 400 in 2016; it now has more than 1,800 bank and financial institution partners.

* Live-streaming e-commerce sales grew 15x in 2021.

* Price Action: TCEHY shares closed lower by 4.48% at $54.80 on Wednesday.