China-based WeChat Messaging App Now Tied to 200 Million Credit Cards

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By Jacob Maslow

Tencent (HKG: 0700) released the company’s latest financial results today, which indicate that the WeChat Messaging App now has more than 200 million users that have attached a credit card to their account.

The company posted net profits of $1.2 billion with revenue of $4.2 billion.

The company also owns several other services, which include Weixin and QQ. Current monthly active users for both services combined have reached 650 million. The company’s QQ messaging service currently has 639 million smartphone users.

Weixin is the company’s Chinese version of WeChat.

Weixin Pay and QQ Wallet are two services that are only available in China. The company’s payment option service allows users to pay their bills, make in-person transactions, buy items online and even supports off-line transactions much in the same way that Apple Pay works.

The main issue facing the company, despite its success, is how the company will fare in other markets outside of China. The company’s revenue for games alone and in app purchases rose by 27% to reach $2.2 billion. Mobile was a big driver for the company, but the company states that desktop PC sales through the QQ service are also included in the figures provided.

Total ad revenue for the company reached $770 million with the inclusion of the company’s several news portals and video website.

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