Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that, on the last trading day of July, Hong Kong stocks fell across the board. The Hang Seng Technology Index plummeted by nearly 5 percent, and Tencent Holdings fell by 4.36 percent. Tencent’s stock price approached the HK$300 mark again, almost returning to the level five years ago. Just over a year ago, Tencent’s per-share price approached a historical peak of HK$750. However, now it has fallen by nearly 60 percent. its market value has evaporated by about HK$4.4 trillion (around US$560 billion). In the past two years, Tencent’s share price has been continuously declining due to the combined effects of multiple factors such as China’s anti-monopoly movement, the government restrictions on online gaming for minors, and China’s strict COVID-19 combat policies, as well as the reduction of shares held by the largest shareholder. Tencent’s financial numbers are indeed slowing over the years, according to its 2021 report. The latest growth rate is the lowest in recent years. Since the end of June, Tencent has launched a share repurchase program. The total scale of this program has reached RMB 3.9 billion (around US$578 million). Tencent Holdings has repurchased a total of about HK$10.01 billion (around US$1.28 billion) dollars this year. Tencent has been China’s largest internet company.
Source: Sohu, July 31, 2022
http://www.sohu.com/a/573053386_115433I