Tencent ratcheted up its competition with Alibaba, claiming leadership in two key areas and signalling a further year of investment and acquisitions.

腾讯(Tencent)加大了与阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的竞争力度，声称在两个关键领域占据了领先地位，并表示未来一年继续进行投资和收购。

The Shenzhen-based company, which has a market capitalisation of $560bn, has been on a buying and investment spree, building a portfolio¹ of 600 companies in which it has stakes or owns. This week alone it has acquired shares in gaming company Ubisoft, German online bank N26 and a Chinese news aggregator.

这家总部位于深圳、市值达5600亿美元的公司近年大举收购和投资，入股或全资拥有600家公司。仅在本周，它就投资于游戏公司育碧(Ubisoft)、德国在线银行N26和中国一家新闻聚合网站。

Announcing a near-doubling of net income to Rmb20.8bn ($3.18bn) in the final quarter of the calendar year, Martin Lau, president and executive director, said on Wednesday the social media company now led the Chinese market in video and payments, in terms of monthly and daily average users.

腾讯总裁兼执行董事总裁刘炽平(Martin Lau)周三宣布，该公司上一个日历年最后一个季度的净利润增长近一倍，达208亿元人民币（合31.8亿美元）。他还表示，在月度和每日平均用户数方面，这家社交媒体公司目前在中国的视频和支付市场处于领先地位。

Tencent has rolled out an aggressive subsidy² programme in an effort to woo merchants and investors³ to its payment platform, following a similar move by Ant Financial, the payments affiliate⁴ of Alibaba. Tencent warned of a negative short-term impact to profits as a result of the heavy spending.

腾讯推出了一项咄咄逼人的补贴计划，以吸引商家和投资者进入其支付平台，此前阿里巴巴的支付业务关联公司蚂蚁金服(Ant Financial)也采取了类似举措。腾讯警告称，这方面的巨额支出将对短期利润带来负面影响。

While Tencent topped analysts⁶’ expectations on earnings⁷ it fell short on revenues, up 51 per cent at Rmb66.39bn on the back of online gaming. Operating margins⁸ rose to 39 per cent, from 32 per cent in the same period in 2016.

尽管腾讯盈利超出分析师的预期，但其营收增长未达到预期，在网络游戏的支持下增长51%，至663.9亿元人民币。经营利润率从2016年同期的32%升至39%。

The company also put investors on notice that 2018 would be another year of spending. Mr Lau identified five sectors⁹: video, payments, cloud computing¹⁰, artificial intelligence and smart retail¹¹, which combines ecommerce and bricks and mortar¹² shops.

该公司还提醒投资者称，2018年将是支出的一年。刘炽平列举了5个行业：视频、支付、云计算、人工智能，以及结合电子商务与实体店的智能零售。

He pointed¹³ to opportunities in the market, adding “obviously we have strong profit growth so we can really afford to make such investments. We feel every dollar invested today will generate more for the future.”

他提到了市场的机遇，并补充道：“显然，我们有强劲的利润增长，所以我们真的有财力进行这样的投资。我们认为，今天投下的每一美元，未来都将带来更多利润。”

The spending sprees by Tencent and Alibaba, which has also been ploughing money into retail and other sectors, comes as the previous wave of big spenders have had their wings clipped and are now divesting¹⁴ assets.

阿里巴巴也一直在向零售和其他领域投入资金。就在腾讯和阿里巴巴进行大手笔支出之际，此前的一波大买家已经折翼，目前正剥离资产。

Bankers and investors differentiate¹⁵ the tech groups’ spending, which is backed by strong balance sheets, from the strategy of previously¹⁶ acquisitive companies such as Anbang and HNA, which were often seeking trophy¹⁷ assets such as hotels and football teams.

银行家和投资者将这家科技集团以强大资产负债表为后盾的支出，与安邦(Anbang)和海航(HNA)等此前热衷于收购的公司的战略区分开来，后者过去经常收购酒店和足球队等炫耀性资产。

The battle in payments comes at an awkward time for Alibaba, which is restructuring its relationship with Ant by switching its profit-sharing arrangement for a 33 per cent equity¹⁸ stake.

对阿里巴巴而言，这场支付之战发生在一个尴尬的时刻。阿里巴巴正在重组其与蚂蚁金服的关系，将利润分享安排转换为持有蚂蚁金服33%的股权。

Pony¹⁹ Ma, Tencent chairman and chief executive, insisted the competition was “healthy”. In the case of payments, this meant helping²⁰ foster a market that is far and away the biggest in the world.

腾讯董事长兼首席执行官马化腾(Pony Ma)坚称，竞争是“健康的”。在支付方面，这意味着帮助培育一个遥遥领先的世界最大市场。

Benjamin Wu, analyst⁵ at Pacific Epoch²¹, welcomed Tencent’s continued spending, saying that while it would lower margins it would also accelerate expansion.

弘亚世代(Pacific Epoch)的分析师Benjamin Wu对腾讯的持续支出表示欢迎。他表示，尽管这会降低利润率，但也将让腾讯加速扩张。

He added the company and Alibaba would follow different paths, with the latter looking more overseas. “We think Tencent can spread its payments to lower-tier cities [in China], like tiers 5 and 6, and get faster expansion,” he said.

他接着说，腾讯和阿里巴巴将走上不同的道路，后者将更多目光投向海外。“我们认为，腾讯可能将其支付业务覆盖到国内较小城市，比如五、六线城市，从而加快扩张速度，”他说。