Thursday, March 28

WeChat Owner Tencent’s Shares Surge Over 5%

Chinese Tech Major, Tencent Holdings shares in Hong Kong surged over 5 percent Thursday after it posted a record quarterly profit for the three months to March.

WeChat owner Tencent has its market capitalisation floating at over $22 billion as shares traded at 416.4 Hong Kong dollars ($53) during afternoon trade.

Even Company’s online games which are intensely popular like Honour of Kings have boosted revenues by 26%.

The company in its official statement said,

The growth in our payment solution business was mainly contributed by the rapidly increasing offline commercial transaction volumes and consumer cash withdrawal fees.

WeChat which resembles WhatsApp in functionality to a lot of extents has now become China’s biggest social network. The messaging app is an important source of revenue for Tencent as the company uses the platform as a way of getting those games out to users.

Interestingly, WeChat has extended its functionality beyond messaging too and allows services like booking of a taxi, food ordering and paying for goods online at its platform.

Meanwhile, many experts have expressed concerns that massive growth witnessed by Tencent might get hampered due to rising competition and investment in new areas like video streaming and payments which could force the company to spend more.

The Chinese firm has reported a 48 percent year-on-year rise in revenues and a 61 percent year-on-year rise in net profit for the quarter that ended March 31.