Tencent and Alibaba now compete face-to-face in almost every arena, if only to check – if not match and exceed – the formidable influence of the other. Philip Cunningham discusses the many endeavors where the two companies and their founders, Jack Ma and Pony Ma, contend for influence: from gaming to e-commerce to investment.

The escalating rivalry between Alibaba and Tencent and the two firms’ anti-competitive tactics appear to have drawn little regulatory scrutiny from the government. That may be in part because the Chinese government is so eager to grow its domestic tech sector that it is reluctant to interfere with two of its most successful firms.