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Tencent’s Pony Ma says cost-cutting will continue in 2023 and pins hope on short video as major growth driver: report

  • Ma reviewed Tencent’s cost cutting efforts in staff meeting and hit out at employees for a lack of urgency
  • Tencent’s founder said the internet giant must focus on core businesses in 2023 and that short video is key to the future

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Tencent Holdings’ founder Pony Ma Huateng handing out hong bao at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen in 2019. Photo:Handout
Iris Dengin ShenzhenandAnn Caoin Shanghai
Pony Ma Huateng, founder and chief executive of Tencent Holdings, said in an internal town hall meeting last week that the internet giant must focus on core businesses in 2023 and that short video is the key to the future, according to parts of the speech published by Chinese media outlet Jiemian on Thursday.
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In the year-end meeting for company employees, Ma reviewed Tencent’s cost cutting efforts and hit out at employees for a lack of urgency when it comes to improving efficiency, according to the report. “Please don’t tell me the possible chances,” Ma said. “How big can a noncore business grow into, and if it grows big, so what?”, he was reported as saying.

Ma said Tencent, which has been divesting some of its investment portfolio, has to get into a habit of cutting costs and finding core areas instead of seeking expansion and scale. “In the past, when we saw others were adding weight, we also tried to increase in size, but what we added was just fat, and we were still unable to defeat others,” Ma was quoted as saying.

Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Tencent employee, who declined to be named for having no authority to talk with the media, confirmed the authenticity of Ma’s remarks.

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