Tencent’s quarterly revenue jumps 26%, helped by online gaming

Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings on Wednesday announced a 26% increase in quarterly sales, in part thanks to increased revenue from its online gaming business.

Revenue reached 133.67 billion yuan ($ 20.5 billion) in the quarter ended in December, against market expectations of 132.19 billion yuan, based on data from Refinitiv.

Tencent, which has benefited from an increase in the number of paying users for video games in China and international markets, said online game revenue reached 39.1 billion yuan.

Profits rose 175% in the same period to 59.3 billion yuan, largely due to fair value gains from companies in which Tencent has invested and sales of stakes.

Tencent faces growing competition from ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, and similar short video platform Douyin, which have made significant inroads into the video game industry.

ByteDance outbid Tencent last week to acquire Shanghai-based game studio Moonton Technology, which is best known for its Southeast Asian sensation, Mobile Legends.

Tencent is also locked in contentious battles with ByteDance, which accuses it of monopolistic behavior, while Tencent said ByteDance “illegally obtains personal information from WeChat users.”

Chinese tech giants have faced an unprecedented antitrust crackdown this year from authorities, which analysts say could target other internet giants after initially focusing on the billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba business empire.

Tencent founder Pony Ma met with Chinese antitrust supervisors this month to discuss compliance within his group, Reuters reported earlier, citing two people with first-hand knowledge of the matter.

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