Chinese tech giant Tencent’s revenues accelerated in the first quarter as the world’s second-largest economy lurched back to life after the ending of the country’s zero-COVID policy, reports the Financial Times. The social media and gaming group on Wednesday reported an 11% rise in revenue to RMB 150 billion ($21 billion) in the three months to March, compared with a year ago. Its net profit rose 10% to RMB 25.8 billion.
The turnaround comes after Tencent’s revenue fell 1% last year, the company’s first annual sales decline on record, hit by Beijing’s tough zero-COVID policies that crimped advertising and spending on the group’s ubiquitous WeChat app.
The growth of rival ByteDance’s Douyin, TikTok’s sister app for China, had also been stealing advertising spending away from WeChat. Tencent signalled a resumption in online advertising spending, with revenues rising 17% in the first quarter compared with a year ago, as the group’s 1.3 billion WeChat users consumed a growing number of clips in the app’s Channels video stream.
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