Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent said second quarter net profit rose 37%, beating market estimates, on higher demand for its videogames as coronavirus-related lockdowns kept people indoors.
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Tencent added to Friday’s sharp decline to start the week, helping lead weakness in technology shares after the US’s move to ban residents from doing business with the company’s WeChat app.
Index heavyweight Naspers dropped 4.4% after US President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders prohibiting US residents from doing business with the Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat apps.
The Trump administration’s move to ban US residents from doing business with Tencent’s WeChat app rippled through Chinese markets, erasing $46-billion from the Internet giant’s market value.
South African business leaders are growing increasingly concerned that the government doesn’t have the will or capacity to overcome the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
Apple surged over 10% to a record high on Friday after reporting blockbuster quarterly results, helping the iPhone maker eclipse Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company.
Apple’s newest services have yet to generate meaningful revenue, making it harder for the largest technology company to expand beyond the iPhone and other hardware.
Tencent proposed on Monday to buy all of the shares it doesn’t already own in Chinese search engine Sogou, taking the company private and delisting its shares from the New York Stock Exchange.
The biggest US technology companies have gone on a buying spree this year, waving off intense scrutiny from competition watchdogs and critics who say they’ve bolstered their power by snatching up nascent rivals.
Shares of Intel slumped and its rivals surged on Friday after the US chip maker signalled it may give up manufacturing its own components after falling far behind schedule developing its newest technology.