Hong Kong — Naspers's Chinese associate Tencent says investments in content and technology will weigh on margins after Asia’s most valuable company posted quarterly profit that topped projections. Plans by the Shenzhen-based company to keep spending on areas including artificial intelligence and video may weigh on short-term profitability, but it expects the investments will anchor long-term growth. Tencent reported net income almost doubled to 20.8-billion yuan ($3.3bn) in the three months ended December, beating the 16.6-billion yuan expected by analysts. Tencent’s business revolves largely around its vast social networks WeChat and QQ, the twin platforms through which more than 1-billion people consume games, news and online entertainment while paying for a plethora of real-world services. CEO Ma Huateng is now angling to grab a larger slice of an advertising pie dominated by Alibaba, while investing in new areas such as financial, retail and computing services. "Tencent needs to...
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