China's large internet companies post faster revenue, profit growth in Jan-July

BEIJING - China's large internet companies saw their revenue and profits expand at a faster pace in the first seven months of this year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

Revenue of these companies surged 26.3 percent year on year to reach 886.9 billion yuan (about $137.34 billion) during the period, MIIT data showed. The growth rate was 0.7 percentage points higher than that in the first six months.

Meanwhile, profits went up 28 percent from a year earlier to 84.29 billion yuan, with the growth rate expanding 0.6 percentage points from that in Jan-June.

Among different sectors, revenue generated from information services including online music, videos, games and news saw quicker growth, the data showed. The revenue of these sectors stood at 494.4 billion yuan in the first seven months, representing a year-on-year growth of 18.3 percent.

Large internet companies refer to enterprises that focus on the internet and related services with an annual business revenue of at least 5 million yuan.