Tencent Q3 Profit Surges

reported a 32 percent surge in its net profit in the third quarter. Tencent's quarterly net profit climbed to 7.45 billion yuan ($1.17 billion), versus a year-ago profit of 5.66 billion yuan. Its revenue gained 34 percent to 26.59 billion yuan from 19.81 billion yuan. The company's revenue from smartphone games jumped 60 percent year-over-year to 5.3 billion yuan from 4.5 billion yuan. Its online advertising revenue jumped 102 percent to 4.94 billion yuan in the quarter. WeChat had 649.5 million active users at the end of the quarter, while the mobile version of QQ had 639.1 million users. As of September 30, 2015, Tencent had net cash of RMB21,239 million. Mr. Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, said, "During the third quarter of 2015, we continued to deliver solid operational growth in our core platforms. Financially, our smart phone games business accelerated growth following the implementation of a new strategy that extends our product range. Our online advertising revenue continued to double year-on-year." Tencent shares fell 1.72 percent to close at $19.45 yesterday.