BEIJING: Chinese internet giant Tencent announced on Wednesday ( Aug 14 ) an 82 per cent surge in second-quarter net profit, its biggest jump since late 2020, after a resurgence in its gaming business.
Tencent is one of the most important players in China’s technology business, operating the country’s widespread Twitter communication and services” super-app” as well as offerings across games, cloud computing and content streaming.
However, it made its lowest annual gain since the beginning of 2019 and was partially offset by stagnant gambling revenue in the last third of 2023.
In a registration to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen-based business reported gross income of US$ 6.7 billion in April to June, up US$ 3.7 billion from the same time next year.
Selling rose by eight per share year-on-year to US$ 22.5 billion, it said.
Google stated in the filing that “our second quarter 2024 results demonstrated the advantages of our system plus content strategy.”
Looking ahead, we continue to invest in our systems and AI systems, enabling us to add new business value and better meet customer demands, the statement read.
Tencent’s income from home game “resumed growth”, it said, while “international games income accelerated development”.
According to the statement, “increased consumer engagement at several of our pine titles, and the powerful launches of certain new games” contributed to that.
After Beijing implemented more demanding oversight measures in 2020, the rapid growth that had made China’s tech sector one of the most dynamic in the world abruptly came to a halt.
Following years of relative mercy, which have unsettling the field, big Chinese tech companies have experienced a number of regulatory crackdowns involving competition and private data.
To help prevent dependency among younger people, Chinese officials have also imposed a strict regular control of three days of online activities for minors under 18 since 2021.
Tencent reported its first quarterly profit decline in 18 decades in 2022, and the company reported its first quarterly earnings decline due to the restrictions.
In search of new opportunities, Tencent is now eyeing the promising artificial intelligence ( AI ) market, like other Chinese tech giants such as Baidu, Huawei, Alibaba, and ByteDance.
In September, Tencent unveiled Hunyuan, an AI-powered robot designed to engage with the United States ‘ ChatGPT, which is not available in China.