China’s Tencent Paid an Employee Almost Double What Apple’s Highest Paid Earned

Chinese tech firm Tencent, owner of the messenger app WeChat, was recently revealed to have paid some impressively high salaries last year, with ranges that would put even Apple to shame.

The company reportedly paid an unnamed employee $40 million in salary and bonuses last year, according to Mashable. The amount was significantly higher from the firm’s top salary in 2015, which was $35 million.

The figures, detailed in the company filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, also showed that at least three other Tencent employees earned between $29.7 million and $33.8 million in 2016.

To compare, Apple’s senior retail VP, Angela Ahrendts, the tech giant’s highest paid exec, made $22.9 million in the same year.

Amazon also close with $35.6 million, which was paid to Web Services CEO Andrew Jassy, while IBM CEO Ginni Rometty made $32.7 million in 2016.

While it was not identified exactly who Tencent’s top-earner was, observers believe it could either be the company’s chief operating officer, Mark Ren Yuxin, vice president Zhang Xiaolong, or chief information officer Xu Chenye.

Each exec plays a different yet equally important role in the firm. Ren manages the online games division of the business, Zhang heads WeChat, while Xu, a founding member of the company, takes care of PR and community relations.

The news may actually not be a surprise for most since the company’s CEO Pony Ma has been known for his generosity, as revealed by the report Hurun Research Institute released last year. A different study, which was conducted by job portal Zhaopin and Peking University, further highlights Tencent’s positive reputation, naming it the most sought after firm to work for in China in 2016.

Tencent, currently Asia’s biggest company by value with a market capitalization of $279 billion, recently just became the 10th biggest public corporation in the world, joining the ranks of Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc., according to Bloomberg.

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