Online games and services lift Tencent net

CHINA'S top online game operator Tencent Holdings yesterday reported a third-quarter net profit of 1.42 billion yuan (US$208 million), up from 737.1 million yuan a year earlier.

The firm said its net profit for the first three quarters nearly doubled from a year ago, boosted by strong revenue in online games and value-added services. Profit for the first nine months advanced 90 percent from a year ago to 3.65 billion yuan.

Total revenue surged 66 percent annually to 3.4 billion yuan. Online games surged 87 percent from a year ago, or 23 percent quarter over quarter, to 460 million yuan.

Revenues from mobile and telecommunications value-added services gained 19.8 percent annually to 446.2 million yuan.

"Tencent will pay less attention to mobile service as there will be less demand with the launch of 3G technology in the domestic market," said Liu Chiping, executive director of Tencent.

The company will launch two self-developed online games in 2010, Liu said at a conference call late Wednesday.

There were 485 million active accounts for the QQ instant messenger service by the end of September. Value-added service users grew 19.75 percent from the previous quarter to 47.9 million.

The value of China's online game market in the third quarter climbed 34.5 percent from that of a year ago to 7.17 billion yuan and will develop healthily in 2010, according to a recent report by Internet consultancy iResearch Inc.

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