New | Tencent profit surges 21 per cent for 2015 thanks to growth in online games, advertising revenue
Internet giant reports 2015 net profit of 28.81 billion yuan
Chinese internet powerhouse Tencent Holdings is looking at a year of intense investment activity, covering social media and smartphone games to advertising and financial products, after posting solid earnings last year.
“We aim to continue delivering superior experiences to our users by investing in our own platforms and cooperating with category leaders to cultivate a rich Internet Plus ecosystem,” chairman and chief executive Pony Ma Huateng said yesterday.
Ma referenced the ambitious initiative by the mainland Chinese government, which aims to push greater efficiency in traditional industries as these integrate internet applications and other new information technology.
Tencent’s mergers and acquisition deals mainly focused on game studios
In that regard, Tencent’s popular social network QQ and mobile-messaging platform Weixin -- marketed as WeChat outside the mainland -- have become essential online tools used by many consumers and businesses in the world’s second-largest economy.
QQ had 853 million average monthly active users last year, while the combined average for Weixin and WeChat was 697 million.
The Weixin Pay function generated bank-handling fees related to consumer-to-consumer transactions, such as digital red packets, of more than 300 million yuan (HK$358.92 million) in January alone, Ma said.
He pointed out that Tencent had no plans to spin off WeChat, following the company’s strategy to pursue more investments and innovation.