Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Tencent boss and China’s richest man Ma Huateng became the next victim of a recent Chinese government article. The country’s richest man had to lose a fortune worth US $ 3.2 billion or Rp 46 trillion in one night alone.
This stems from an editorial by a news outlet of the official unit of China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency. The article strongly criticized the addiction to playing games experienced by children, even equating it with spiritual opium and electronic drugs.
Although the article was eventually removed from the website, it is still available in print. “Some students spend eight hours a day playing Honor of Kings. No industry or sport can thrive by destroying an entire generation,” the article reads.
Honor of Kings itself is a game published by Tecent specifically for China. Outside of China, this game is called Arena of Valor. As a result of the article, both Tencent and its founders became victims.
Tencent shares closed 6% lower Tuesday in Hong Kong, having previously slumped as much as 11% when the article was first published.
In addition to Ma Huateng, another Tencent founder, Zhang Zhidong, also lost a fortune of US $ 1.1 billion (Rp 15.7 trillion). A Tencent spokesman did not comment on the matter, quoted by Forbes, Wednesday (4/8/2021).
Apart from Tencent, other gaming giant NetEase was also affected by the article. Its Hong Kong shares plunged nearly 16% before trimming losses to close about 8% lower.
The founder of NetEase, William Lei Ding, also suffered the same fate as Ma Huateng. He lost his fortune of US $ 2.3 billion (Rp 33 trillion). NetEase did not respond to requests for comment on this incident.
According to DZT Research’s chief researcher, Ke Yan, the sell-off reflects investors’ concern over the Chinese government’s actions on the gaming companies.
“The wording in the Xinhua editorial is very negative and the market is really nervous over potential regulatory action,” Ke Yan said.
After the article appeared, Tencent in its official WeChat account, stated the company’s efforts to protect minors. Tencent said it has reduced the maximum gaming hours for minors on weekdays from 1.5 hours per day to 1 hour per day.
Other measures include banning elementary school students from making in-game purchases and also taking more stringent measures to prevent minors from using adult accounts.
(roy/roy)
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