Tencent reports its first-ever revenue drop as regulations and COVID-19 bite

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Tencent Holdings reported on Wednesday its first ever quarterly sales fall, hurt by a lack of game approvals and regulations that limit playing time, as well as COVID-19 lockdowns and a weak economy that squeezed ad sales.

Tencent, the world's largest video game company and the operator of the WeChat messaging platform, said revenue fell 3% to 134.034 billion yuan ($19.78 billion) for the three months ended June 30.

Analysts on an average expected 134.6 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

($1 = 6.7756 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Josh Ye; editing by Jason Neely)

By Josh Ye