Chinese Internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd. managed to reach a record third-quarter profit, registering a slowing domestic economy, thanks to the popularity of online games and streaming original HBO shows, according to Bloomberg.
The company’s net income grew to 32 percent, reaching 7.45 billion yuan, which roughly translates to $1.2 billion, after the third quarter of 2015 ended. In an official statement released this Tuesday, the company also confirmed a 34 percent sales rose, reaching 26.6 billion yuan. This value surpasses analysts’ expectations, who were predicting 25.4 billion yuan.
Exclusive content might bring even more profit
Besides their main activities, games and social media, two of the main revenue sources for Tencent were the WeChat and QQ messaging platforms, which also helped founder Ma Huateng surpass 1 billion users. Tencent will soon add new and interesting content, like James Bond movies, as the company bought the exclusive rights for the complete Bond franchise, in China, expanding their portfolio with content from NBA, Sony Music entertainment and Time Warner. Even more, they’re planning to become a rival for Chinese giants like Alibaba and Baidu.
“The company is ready to deliver much stronger revenue growth. Advertising services will appeal to more than 600 million users for Tencent, and as they become more sophisticated with WeChat and QQ,” said Hong Kong-based Arete Research Service LLP’s analyst, Li Muzhi.
Mobile apps are a huge revenue source
As stated by Bloomberg, the WeChat app currently has almost 650 million active users monthly, while QQ’s mobile version reached 639 million users at the end of Q3 of 2015.
“Mobile game performances were pretty strong,” said Jeff Hao, a Hong Kong-based analyst at China Merchants Securities Holdings. “The company introduced some popular titles in the third quarter.”
Tencent is planning to add mobile payments options in the apps, making e-commerce transactions easier, not to mention increasing their revenues even more.
