In China, Tencent’s WeChat Threatens Alibaba’s Alipay

Move over Alipay. Here comes WeChat.

In China’s massive mobile payment market, WeChat operator Tencent is nearly catching up with Alibaba’s affiliate Alipay, the market leader. By successfully turning the WeChat messaging app into an everyday payment tool, Tencent more than quadrupled its mobile payment market share to 37% in the fourth quarter from just 8% in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to research firm Analysys International.