Tencent eyes investing more to build WeChat mobile payment service

BEIJING (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's biggest social network and online entertainment firm, said on Wednesday it might invest more to build up its WeChat messaging app mobile payment service should the opportunity arise.

In the first quarter there was a drop off in funding of subsidies to promote taxi calling apps, which used WeChat Payment to settle bills and so encouraged new users to sign up to the service, Tencent executives said on a conference call after the company posted its first quarter earnings results.

This led to a drop in sales and marketing expenses in the three months ended March versus the previous year, the company said.

Tencent first-quarter revenues were higher than analysts had forecast, as a drive to sell more advertising on its social networks and entertainment services began to pay off.

(Reporting by Paul Carsten, editing by Louise Heavens)