Tencent profit surges 90% as it touts AI revenue boost and ramps up spending
Tencent on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter beat on top and bottom line driven by a surge in gaming and advertising revenue.
Tencent on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter beat on top and bottom line driven by a surge in gaming and advertising revenue.
The company also notched a ramp-up in capital expenditure, which more than tripled in 2024, as it presses ahead with boosting its focus on artificial intelligence amid intense competition from Chinese rivals like Alibaba. Tencent touted a hike in AI-related revenue in areas such as cloud computing and advertising.
Here's how Tencent did in the fourth quarter of 2024 versus Refinitiv estimates:
Revenue: 172.4 billion Chinese yuan ($23.9 billion), versus 168.9 billion yuan expected.
Profit attributable to equity holders of the company: 51.3 billion yuan, compared with 46.03 billion yuan expected.
Revenue rose 11% year-on-year while profit was up 90% versus the same period in 2023.
Tencent is known as one of the world's biggest gaming firms. Domestic games revenue in China rose 23% year-on-year to 33.2 billion yuan in the fourth quarter. Tencent said this hike was due to a low base in the prior year's period, as well as growth in some of its hit games, including Honour of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite.