A great quarter for Tencent and Alibaba despite storm clouds
China’s two biggest internet companies have announced healthy results. Reuters reports:
Tencent Holdings Ltd posted record quarterly profit on Wednesday, smashing market expectations, as the social media and gaming giant booked a rise in the value of its investments while fintech and cloud revenues helped make up for declines in games. Even so, revenue grew at its slowest-ever rate, as heightened regulatory scrutiny hobbled its gaming operations.
From Bloomberg via Yahoo:
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. posted sales and earnings that topped estimates as the Chinese e-commerce giant overhauled shopping recommendations to defy a slowing economy.”
These results come on the same day as new economic data indicates China’s economy continues to slow. Some of the evidence:
- “Chinese dream readjusted: why aspirations dim” is a Financial Times piece (paywall) on the effects of slowing growth, including growing pessimism. One interviewee says: “It won’t be like in the past, when living standards improved every year, they may be stagnant or even drop. But the middle classes haven’t changed their mindset yet.”
- “China’s economic activity cooled last month as growth in factory production, investment and retail sales slowed,” reports MarketWatch.
