Tencent earnings beat expectations on ad sales

Tencent Holdings’ (700.HKG) fourth-quarter profit exceeded analyst expectations thanks to rising advertising sales, Bloomberg reported. Net income rose 37% to US$557 million (RMB 3.46 billion) in the fourth quarter, China’s largest Internet company announced yesterday. That figure supercedes the US$534 million average of 11 different analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, primarily due to a sales increase of 53% reaching $US1.96 billion. “We are not in (a) rush to make money from Weixin,” President Martin Lau said, using the Chinese term for the free WeChat instant messaging service. However, the company is trying to commercialize WeChat to compete with Sina’s (SINA.NASDAQ) Weibo application and reduce its dependence on internet games.