TAIPEI— Tencent Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Pony Ma emphasized his commitment to working with regulators amid heightened government scrutiny over China’s powerful technology companies, as strong growth in mobile gaming and payments propelled the social-media and entertainment giant to its most profitable year yet.
Mr. Ma’s message Wednesday, made during a quarterly earnings briefing, comes as Beijing steps up antitrust efforts against China’s tech sector, where companies have collected massive amounts of user data.
Tencent was among several companies fined by antitrust regulators this month for failing to properly report past acquisitions. Meanwhile, the State Council’s antitrust committee has been gathering information about Tencent’s online payments service WeChat Pay—alongside rival Ant Group Co.’s Alipay—since last year due to their dominance in China’s payments market, according to officials familiar with the investigation.
“We are working closely with the government and the regulators on our compliance,” Mr. Ma said through translation, when asked about China’s antitrust regulations.
This month Mr. Ma met with Chinese antitrust regulators from the State Administration for Market Regulations after he requested to see them, people familiar with the matter said.
