Alibaba Is No Longer China's Most Valuable Tech Company

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA, the Chinese e-commerce behemoth valued at more than $240 billion, has to be the country's most valuable tech company, right?

Alibaba may in fact be the most valuable Chinese tech company listed on an American exchange. However, Tencent just overtook Alibaba to become China's most valuable tech firm.

Tencent is the massive tech conglomerate whose holdings include WeChat, a majority stake in the video game company Supercell and various other ventures across media, gaming and entertainment.

According to BBC, Tencent is now valued at $249 billion based on its Hong Kong-listed stock. The company reported on Wednesday its quarterly results, which include a 47 percent surge in profits.

Shares of Tencent gained more than 5 percent during Thursday's session to close at 203.00 HKD after hitting a 52-week high of 205.00HKG earlier in the trading session.

"Revenues jumped, platforms are booming and it runs the Twitter and Facebook of China," BBC quoted an un-named IG analyst as saying. "Investors are hoping that, like Facebook, they can turn active users into revenues."

CNBC also confirmed Tencent is now more valuable than Alibaba, but the American media source pegged Tencent's valuation at a slightly lower $246.35 billion market cap.