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00:00Tencent posting its slowest revenue gain on record. That's after lockdowns and a sweeping government crackdown wiped out growth. Remember this is the slowest revenue growth this company has seen since it went public in 2004 really seeing the impact of not just the crackdown on technology but also the slowing of the Chinese economy in general due to Covid zero policy created. And the question is now that 10 cents growth has slowed to this extent. What will make it come back. What do you need to see out of Beijing policy wise. You know and this is so important in retirement just the amount of pain that has been seen in a lot of these tech companies essentially and a lot of the Chinese stocks. I'll say broadly investors basically pulling out because of regulatory scrutiny. But how much of a draw then. I think an 80 percent draw down from its peak is enough to buy the dip actually. So Anna this is going to be fascinating when it comes to how low is super attractive. Yeah. See how fast through the crackdown on tech names are we. And what difference does lockdown make then Kailey. Because in other parts of the world of course big tech is benefiting from that kind of environment. But what's the China story. All right. Well let's get an answer to that question. Bloomberg opinion tech columnist Tim Culp and here's normally based in Taipei is with us in the New York studio today. Tim it's great to see you. I believe this is the first time you've been back in New York since before the pandemic hit. So when we look at Tencent which has seen growth slow now for seven straight quarters we're talking the lowest rate since 2004. What do you need to see from Beijing to bring that back. Well interesting we've been seeing some of the signs that we'd be wanting to look for from Beijing already. The last few days in fact the last couple of weeks signs coming out of Beijing from the central government saying hey we do actually need to support the platform economy. And this indication is essentially that the crackdown may be over. And so as Tencent reports today it's just reported about an hour ago we went through the numbers just now. We have an investor relations call coming up. People will be looking at the numbers less. I think this time and looking more at kind of passing the words that come out of executives mouths. What are they hearing from Beijing. Everyone's trying to read the tea leaves here. And so the executives are at the forefront of this problem. More challenge are the ones that we want to look at more closely to see what they want to tell us. But they're not gonna be too open. They're not going to share too much. They've also still got to keep you know Beijing onside. So it'll be very very interesting to read what they have to say. And I think investors will be kind of putting these numbers behind them and looking forward and kind of guessing. Is this the bottom in terms of of course the share price but in terms of revenue growth and of course the crackdown maybe things are going to be looking up from here. I'm glad you're with the share price. That's where I want to go next. This idea that you've seen such a big draw down already but has a lot of damage already been done in terms of relationships between China and the rest of the world. Sure the regulatory scrutiny is easing now but there is a possibility that it could ramp back up. So how much damage has actually been done. Yeah look a lot of damage has been done in terms of what's been going on within China internally. And not only the crackdown but of course the crackdown on Covid has been very severe in Shanghai Shenzhen. Now looking at Beijing. So there's definitely a macroeconomic effect with inside China. And it doesn't help if China's relationship with the rest of the world is not as robust as it could have been say five years ago. But you know one thing about 10 10 for example is it's a very internally focused company. Part of their problem part of that challenge is they don't get a lot of revenue from outside of China. They're trying to push overseas. They're trying to sell their games overseas a lot more. They're kind of having not great success. But you know there's still that opportunity. It's potential. So if you talk about the bottom there's always upsides to get more overseas revenue. And anything that kind of causes macro economic uncertainty is definitely a headwind for someone like Tencent.

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Tencent Revenue Slows on China Lockdowns, Crackdowns

Tencent Holdings Ltd. posted its slowest revenue gain on record, as sales missed the average forecast for the three months ended March, after a sweeping government crackdown and Chinese economic malaise. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Tim Culpan examines the results on Blomberg Television. His opinions are his own. (Source: Bloomberg)

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