Tecent’s Martin Lau on its relationship with Snap

“When we look at Snap’s business we continue to feel there’s a lot of engagement with the end users,” president and executive director Martin Lau told analysts.

“That’s why we have taken up more shares and tried to establish a closer relationship, and over time we’re trying to see whether we can do something more strategic with them,” he said.

Tencent announced a 10 percent stake in the parent company of Snapchat last week, becoming one of its largest shareholders. The company first invested in Snap back in 2013.

It’s another vote of confidence in Snap after it posted a huge revenue miss for the latest quarter.

“We actually invested in Snap in the very early days of its growth,” Lau said on the call. “So I think there’s a long history in terms of engagement with the company, and along the years we have always been impressed with the progress, with the innovative nature of the company and the founders and we have a very good relationship with them.”

He said that Tencent has been a long-term shareholder and recently saw the opportunity to acquire shares at a “pretty attractive price.”

Snap shares have plunged about 40 percent since its IPO earlier this year and fallen 25 percent in the last month alone.

In 2015, Tecent rival Alibaba invested $200 million in Snap — representing the two giants first shared investment, according to CB Insights.

Tencent runs the WeChat messaging app, as well as online payment platforms and games. Monthly active users on its WeChat and Weixin platforms hit 980 million in the latest quarter.