Tencent chairman and CEO Pony Ma laid out plans to up investment in various verticals where it sees expanding opportunities, alongside a CNY50 billion ($7.8 billion) investment in an organisation handling the company’s corporate social responsibility and charitable activities.

In its Q1 earnings statement, Ma explained a global digital transformation remained nascent and Tencent plans investment in areas with the greatest long-term potential.

These sectors include business services, enterprise software, games and short-form video.

President Martin Lau stated Tencent is upping staff numbers and infrastructure to drive uptake of business services, and making long-term investments to develop large-scale, high-production value games.

Funding for the new Sustainable Social Value Organisation will be covered by investment gains and focus on areas including basic science, education innovation, rural revitalisation and carbon neutrality.

Q1
Net profit increased 65 per cent year-on-year to CNY47.8 billion, driven by what Ma branded “meaningful value appreciation” in its investment portfolio, and growth in its gaming and fintech units. Revenue rose 25 per cent to CNY135.3 billion.

Mobile games revenue climbed 19.4 per cent to CNY41.5 billion; PC client games was flat at CNY11.9 billion; online advertising increased 23 per cent to CNY21.8 billion; and fintech and business services rose 47 per cent to CNY39 billion.

Monthly active users of messaging service WeChat and Chinese version Weixin grew 3.3 per cent to 1.24 billion, while the number accessing messaging platform QQ on a phone fell 12.6 per cent to 606.4 million.