Tencent’s disappointing second-quarter earnings rippled through markets from Hong Kong to Johannesburg, where major shareholder Naspers saw its shares plunge as much as 10 per cent and dragged down the entire index. But perhaps the bigger shock was that its status as a Chinese “national champion” could not protect it from the whim of Beijing.
China’s second most valuable company reported a 2 per cent drop in profits on Wednesday attributable to shareholders to Rmb17.87bn ($2.59bn). Shares in the company behind WeChat, China’s dominant social media platform, and the hugely popular Honour of Kings video game have been battered this year. Tencent’s market value has dropped about $170bn since January, and the stock fell a further 3 per cent on Thursday.
The hand of government was particularly visible in the 19 per cent quarter-on-quarter drop in income from video games, with the company hit by a revamp at the state regulator that has effectively frozen the commercial launch of new games. Beijing also forced Tencent this week to pull Monster Hunter: World, a title that had already signed up more than 1m pre-orders, just days after it was launched for failing to pass content requirements.