Tencent announces a restructuring as challenges rise

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings announced on Sunday its first restructuring in six years, as it faces increased challenges from tighter government regulations.

A Tencent sign is seen during the fourth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, December 4, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song

The Shenzhen-based and Hong Kong-listed company will integrate the original seven business groups into six, including a new one on cloud and smart industries, the company said in a statement.

Tencent will “further explore the integration of social, content and technology that is more suitable for future trends, and promote the upgrade from consumer internet to industrial internet”, it added.

Tencent will also set up a technology committee.

Tencent, hit by China’s intensified crackdown on online gaming, has reported its first quarterly profit fall in nearly 13 years.

The main business of Tencent, which was founded in 1998, is video games but the company also runs China’s dominant social network, WeChat, with more than 1 billion users.

Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Richard Borsuk

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