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Tencent Q4 Revenue Surges, Fueled By Gaming And Messaging

Strong growth in revenue from online games and social network services in China helped Tencent Holdings ( TCEHY ) deliver stronger than expected revenue when it reported fourth quarter earnings Thursday morning. Tencent reported revenue of $4.7 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $4.3 billion and up 45% year over year in local currency. Profit fell short as Tencent continues to aggressively invest in video and mobile. Tencent reported earnings per share minus items of RMB0.76, up 21% from a year ago. Equal to 12 cents at the current exchange rate, EPS missed the consensus estimate by a penny. Tencent is among China’s Internet leaders along with e-commerce king Alibaba ( BABA ) and search leader Baidu ( BIDU ). Other China Internet leaders include  e-commerce company JD.com ( JD ) and gaming company NetEase ( NTES ). Tencent shares traded over the counter in the U.S., were up 2.5%, near 20, in morning trading in the stock market today . Its primary stock listing is in Hong Kong, where it is a component of the blue-chip Hang Seng index. Revenue from online games, its largest revenue source, rose 33% to $2.46 billion, primarily driven by growth from smartphone games. The result was helped by an expanded game portfolio as well as higher revenue from PC games, thanks to popular titles and new games launched in 2015. Revenue from its social network and messaging services rose 37% to $1.1 billion. The increase was mainly driven by growth in subscription revenue as well as higher revenue from virtual item sales.

Comcast, AT&T Not Always To Blame For Millennial Buffer Rage

Many millennials suffer from video buffer rage more frequently than road rage, says a survey by IneoQuest, a provider of quality monitoring and assurance services for Internet video companies. Fifty-one percent of the 1,000 consumers surveyed who watch streaming video have experienced “a state of uncontrollable fury or violent anger”  as a result of buffering problems, says IneoQuest. And more than one-third of those surveyed under age 35 have had meltdowns when video streaming stops. But the next time your Netflix ( NFLX ) movie or YouTube video streams inconsistently, don’t automatically  blame your Internet service provider such as Comcast ( CMCSA ), AT&T ( T ) or Verizon Communications ( VZ ), says Kurt Michel, senior marketing director at Mansfield, Mass.-based IneoQuest. The problem could be with the content itself and the server that is providing it;  the mobile device or PC; or there could be an issue with the CDN (content delivery network) that Internet video companies such as Netflix or Hulu use. CDN providers include Akamai Technologies ( AKAM ), Limelight Networks ( LLNW ) and Level 3 Communications ( LVLT ). According to IneoQuest’s study, in many cases viewers were not able to begin playing streaming content at all, with 27% of respondents claiming that buffering most often occurs before a video starts and 34% experiencing buffering in the first 15 seconds.  More than 40% of consumers say they will wait only 10 seconds or less before clicking out of a buffering video. Nearly a quarter of all consumers surveyed said buffering during live sporting events causes the most rage.

Apple iCloud Shifts Spending To Google From Amazon’s AWS: Report

Apple ( AAPL ) is shifting some of its iCloud infrastructure to Alphabet ( GOOGL ) unit Google from Amazon ( AMZN ) Web Services, according to a report Wednesday. The deal was made last year, with Apple agreeing to spend $400 million to $600 million at Google Cloud, according to CRN, citing sources. CRN set it wasn’t clear if that was an annualized rate or total spending amount. This would be a big coup for Alphabet’s Google, which has been trying to make a bigger mark in enterprise cloud services, taking on Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft ( MSFT ) unit Azure. Google in November hired VMware ( VMW ) co-founder and ex-CEO Diane Green to run its cloud operations.  Streaming music giant Spotify last month said it was shifting its infrastructure over to Google Cloud. Google and Verizon Communications ( VZ ) reportedly have been in talks on a hybrid cloud partnership. Apple has never officially confirmed that it uses AWS and Microsoft’s Azure. However, Morgan Stanley recently estimated that Apple spends $1 billion a year with Amazon’s AWS. Apple also is spending billions of dollars on data centers, suggesting it may seek to reduce its reliance on cloud services firms such as AWS.