Tencent Earnings Rise as Ma Invests in Content to Lure Users
- Asia's biggest Internet company posts 45% jump in sales
- Battle with Alibaba, Baidu for content is fueling spending
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Tencent Holdings Ltd. posted a 22 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit as Asia’s biggest Internet company increased spending on content to draw users to its new smartphone games and drive ads on social networks.
Net income was 7.16 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in the three months ended December, the Shenzhen-based company said Thursday. While profit was below expectations after Tencent boosted spending on videos, sales climbed to 30.4 billion yuan, beating analyst estimates for 27.8 billion yuan.