Internet giant Tencent to sharpen focus on advertising, new tech investments after record year
Tencent Holdings, Asia’s largest company by market value, plans to sharpen its focus on advertising and major technology investments like artificial intelligence, after posting record-high net profit and revenue last year on the back of its smartphone games business.
“We launched a number of successful self-developed and licensed games, and solidified our position as the leading games company globally,” Tencent chairman and chief executive Pony Ma Huateng said on Wednesday.
At the end of December, Tencent’s Honour of Kings smartphone game achieved a domestic record of more than 50 million daily active user accounts, the company said.
Ma said Tencent “will not hurry or over-exploit the potential of social media advertising” on its popular platforms QQ and WeChat.
Shenzhen-based Tencent posted a 43 per cent increase in net profit last year to 41.1 billion yuan (US$5.9 billion), up from 28.8 billion yuan in 2015, as its games revenue grew 16 per cent year on year and advertising turnover rose 19 per cent.
The steady growth of Tencent’s QQ and WeChat platforms has helped expand distribution of its games and advertising to a large population
Total revenue soared 48 per cent to 151.9 billion yuan from 102.9 billion yuan a year earlier.