Tencent deal for phone firm halted

Tencent (0700) temporarily halted acquisition of Black Shark, a gaming phone firm founded by Xiaomi (1810), after an unsuccessful attempt, mainland media The Paper reported.

Black Shark chief executive Luo Yizhou would not comment. The company backed by Xiaomi launched a new round of layoffs recently, and the VR business was hit hard with a layoff ratio reaching 60 percent, insiders said.

The proposed acquisition was reported at the beginning of the year. It was seen as a key step for metaverse development of the tech giant. However, the approval was reportedly not granted and Tencent abandoned the acquisition in May.

Tencent had reportedly previously considered partnering with Black Shark in the form of an investment.

Black Shark, the Jiangxi-based company with about 200 employees, was jointly established by Xiaomi and former employees of Huawei and telecommunications equipment company Coolpad Group (2369) in 2017.

Separately, Tencent announced it would buy back 1.33 million shares at prices ranging from HK$262.8 to HK$268.2, spending about HK$353 million.

Arita Peng