Tencent Q3 net profit up 32% as mobile payment presence grows

Third-quarter net profit at tech firm Tencent Holdings grew 32% to RMB7.45 billion (US$1.17 billion) as revenue jumped 34% to RMB26.59 billion despite slowing economic growth in China, The Wall Street Journal reported. Revenue from smartphone games was RMB5.3 billion, up 60% from a year earlier—a sharp acceleration from the second quarter’s 11% pace. Active users on the company’s increasingly ubiquitous social networking and payment platform WeChat grew to 649.5 million in September from 600 million in July, while active users of QQ’s mobile chat app increased to 639.1 million from 627 million. As of September, more than 200 million WeChat and QQ user accounts were also bundled with bank accounts, Tencent said.