What’s new: Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. on Wednesday reported its revenue grew 29% year-on-year to 115 billion yuan ($16.6 billion) in the second quarter, while its profit rose 37% to 33.1 billion yuan.
Monthly active users of its popular WeChat instant messaging platform grew 6.5% to 1.2 billion, while revenue from its core game business jumped 40% to 38 billion yuan. Revenue from fintech and business services, the company’s second biggest revenue source, rose 30% to 30 billion yuan.
“Since the beginning of this year, the Covid-19 pandemic has swept the world, disrupting our daily work and life routines,” Tencent said. “During this challenging time, we utilized our platforms and technologies to help users adapt to the new normal via online tools, to support enterprises in conducting digital upgrades, and to broadly contribute to economic recovery.”
What’s happening here: The latest revenue growth was slightly faster than the 26% year-on-year gain Tencent reported in this year’s first quarter, while profit growth was up sharply from the 6% it reported in the first quarter.
As China’s top game company, Tencent benefited in the first half of the year as many people turned to such entertainment while being forced to spend much of their time at home during the outbreak.
Tencent’s online game business has also been bouncing back over the past year after China lifted a freeze on approval of new game titles that was in effect for most of 2018 and put a major damper on the industry.
Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com) and editor Gavin Cross (gavincross@caixin.com)
