Tencent's profits soar
August 17, 2016
Tencent announced Wednesday that its earnings soared by 47 percent in the second quarter. Net profit for the three months to June rose to 10.74 billion yuan ($1.62 billion, 1.4 billion euros) year on year.
In the same period, revenue jumped by 52 percent, the technology company said in its latest earnings report.
Tencent noted the profit hike was attributable to a rapidly growing WeChat user base, with millions more joining China's biggest messaging service of late.
Making inroads in the corporate world
Monthly active users for WeChat - known as Weixin in Chinese - reached the 806-million mark in the second quarter, up from 600 million users in June of last year.
Tencent's messaging service "further penetrated into communication scenarios at work," the company said, with 20 million active users now registered on its platform for enterprises.
Tencent's profit jump was also due to its strong online games business, which grew by 32 percent in the most recent quarter, aided by popular existing offerings such as Cross Fire Mobile and Honor of Kings.
The internet giant announced in June it had agreed to buy Finnish game maker Supercell Oy, creator of "Clash of Clans," from Japanese mobile technology firm SoftBank. Tencent said the deal would be completed by the end of the year.
hg/jtm/ (AFP, Reuters)