China's Tencent Holdings Ltd., which operates online games and the popular WeChat messaging service, said Wednesday its quarterly profit rose 59 percent due to strong growth in its mobile business.
The company based in the southern city of Shenzhen earned 5.8 billion yuan ($949 million) in the three months ended June 30, or 0.63 yuan (10.2 U.S. cents) per share. Revenue rose 37 percent to 19.7 billion yuan ($3.2 billion).
Tencent and other Chinese Internet services are spending heavily to expand mobile services as the country's Web surfers shift to going online wirelessly through smartphones and tablet computers.
Tencent's online games revenue rose 7 percent over the previous quarter, driven mostly by higher revenue for smartphone games integrated with WeChat. Revenue from social networks rose 15 percent over the previous quarter, also driven by mobile services.
"We deepened user engagement on mobile across our social, games and media platforms," said chairman Ma Huateng in a statement. "Our online advertising business grew particularly strongly."
Tencent also has expanded into online video, taxi hailing services and online finance. It bought a $215 million stake in March in JD.com, the country's second-largest online sales platform.
Jean Smart, Ariana Grande, Michael Keaton among hosts for “SNL” season 50
Fresh off her Emmys win, Jean Smart will kick off the landmark 50th season of "Saturday Night Live."
NBC on Thursday announced the lineup of hosts for the season, which premieres Sept. 28. Joining Smart on the first show will be Jelly Roll as the musical act. He was also at the Emmys, singing during the ceremony's in memoriam segment.
It will be Smart's first time hosting "SNL."
Comedian Nate Bargatze will host on Oct. 5, with Coldplay as the musical guest.
Ariana Grande will host Oct. 12, with musical guest Stevie Nicks.
"Beetlejuice" star Michael Keaton will host on Oct. 19, the last show before Halloween, and Billie Eilish will be that night's musical guest.
The host on Nov. 2 will be "SNL" alum John Mulaney, with breakout sensation Chappell Roan as the music guest.
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