Mix of games and social media boosts Chinese firm

Tencent is reaping the rewards of marrying social media with mobile gaming.

China’s largest corporation has posted its fastest revenue growth in seven years and a record profit that surpassed estimates by 35%, thanks to its marquee hack-and-slash title Honour of Kings.

Investors bet in 2017 that some of the company’s boldest investments would finally pan out, creating one of the world’s most richly valued companies in the process. It tapped the spending power of some 200m players of Honour of Kings and other phone hits, helping mobile games revenue surpass that of desktops.