[Update] WeChat Tops Alipay as China’s No.1 Mobile Payment Method for Offline Shopping, Pony Ma Says

(YicaiGlobal) Jan. 18 — WeChat Wallet has overtaken Alipay as China’s No.1 mobile payment method for offline shopping, Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent Holding Ltd. [HK:00700], said in a team meeting. Ma is rewarding the WeChat Wallet team with a CNY100 million (USD14.6 million) special bonus.

WeChat Wallet is Tencent’s electronic payment service. It allows WeChat’s 768 million users to make mobile payments and transfer money to contacts. It began the rollout of overseas payment services in 2015 and supports transactions in several currencies including Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar and Korean won. Its services are available in more than 20 countries and regions, including Australia, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau.

Alipay, operated by Alibaba GroupHolding Ltd. [NYSE:BABA], offers a similar service. It has about 450 million users registered with their real names and launched overseas payment services in January 2015.