close

China's Tencent shares dive post 'spiritual opium' critique of online games

Tencent joined rivals NetEase Inc. and XD Inc. in a steep selloff after an outlet run by the Xinhua News Agency published a blistering critique of their industry.

Zheping Huang | Bloomberg
Tencent loses $62 bn in 2-day rout, wiping out value of fintech business
Premium

Tencent Holdings Ltd. dived as much as 11% Tuesday after an offshoot of China’s official news agency decried the “spiritual opium” and “electronic drugs” of games, prompting the country’s largest corporation to declare the possibility of banning kids under the age of 12 from playing altogether.
The twin developments stoked fears Beijing will next set its sights on online entertainment after reining in the e-commerce, ride-hailing and online education industries. Tencent joined rivals NetEase Inc. and XD Inc. in a steep selloff after an outlet run by the Xinhua News Agency published a blistering critique of their industry. The Economic Information Daily cited a student as saying some schoolmates played Tencent’s Honor of Kings -- one of its most popular titles -- eight hours a day and called for stricter controls over time spent.
That sent ripples through the world’s largest mobile gaming arena. Th
Or

Also Read

Tencent's quarterly profit jumps 175%, above Wall Street forecast

Meet the former Paytm execs who are building a pocket money app for kids

Chinese regulator orders Tencent to give up exclusive music licensing

Tencent boss meets China antitrust officials as scrutiny widens: Report

China set to clear Tencent's $3.5 bn deal to acquire search engine Sogou

UST to hire 10,000 people globally in 2021 to meet digital skills demand

Amazon, Microsoft, Google grab 63% of $42 bn Cloud infra market

Google says its new Pixel phones feature processor designed in-house

StanChart H1 pretax profit leaps 57%, announces $250 million buyback

'Anti-aging freak' gets $817 million haul in Japan's hottest stock

First Published: Aug 03 2021 | 2:21 PM IST

Explore News

To read the full story, subscribe to BS Premium now, at just Rs 249/ month.

Key stories on business-standard.com are available only to BS Premium subscribers. Already a BS Premium subscriber?LOGIN NOW

Register to read more on Business-Standard.com