The Chinese messaging app WeChat grew to 438 million active monthly users in the second quarter, from 236 million a year earlier, according to the latest results from its own Tencent. WeChat's popularity helped Tencent's quarterly revenues grow 37 percent year-on-year and 7 percent on a sequential basis to CNY 19.75 billion. Its net profit surged 59 percent from a year ago to CNY 5.84 billion.
Tencent reported a 75 percent increase in online advertising revenue compared to the first quarter to CNY 2.06 billion, thanks to activity around the World Cup and its partnership with e-commerce group JD.com. The company also saw strong demand for mobile gaming and the sale of mobile items on its social networks, helping VAS revenue rise 9 percent quarter-on-quarter to CNY 15.7 billion. Monthly active Qzone accounts stood at 645 million, but fee-based VAS subscriptions declined 11 percent year-on-year to 88 million.
