The origin of QQ: An accident made Tencent.

The Origin of QQ: A Chance Event That Shaped Tencent

In the summer of 1996, three young Israelis—Vesg, Vadi, and Goldfinger—got together and decided to develop a piece of software that would take full advantage of the instant communication features of the Internet, enabling fast and direct exchanges between people. This gave birth to the design concept of ICQ. Initially, it was created for them to stay in touch with each other online in a timely manner for their own communication needs. One might say it was almost like a personal "toy." They also established a small company named Mirabilis, which provided ICQ services to all registered users.

Later, America Online acquired ICQ for $287 million. By May this year, its user base had already surpassed the 100 million mark, with an average of 10 million users online daily. Each user spent an average of three hours online.