FOCUS-Tencent Shifts Focus To Majority Deals Overseas Gaming...

and her mother, C.U., claim the companies failed to take steps to keep minors using their platforms safe, and that Snap and Instagram encouraged addiction in children. They are seeking unspecified damages. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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"I have no doubt making the BDR compulsory for licensees, giving police more agility and the courts more scope to place problem drinkers on the BDR will lead to a reduction in alcohol-related harm and crime."

Tencent in September raised its stake in Ubisoft in a deal that made the Chinese firm the single biggest shareholder of the top French games developer, with a stake of 11% which can be further increased to as much as 17%.

Also, with Beijing strictly restricting game approvals at home and still suspending approvals for games of foreign IPs, Tencent is forced to move towards gaining control of foreign game companies and their IPs, said the four sources.

Tencent's growing focus on overseas assets and markets is in sharp contrast to its much slower dealmaking pace at home since the regulatory clampdowns intensified, and the divestment of a clutch of domestic portfolio companies.

Jay Bothroyd received a cap in 2010 while playing for Cardiff while David Nugent got one in 2007 while at Preston. But it will be a huge surprise when the day comes again that an outfield player from outside the top division gets selected for England at a major tournament. 

Imagine a current Wigan Athletic player receiving his first England cap while playing in League One last season. Then imagine the same player getting called up for the World Cup while playing in the second tier after promotion. 

Starting in early 2020, S.U. came into contact with adult men through Roblox, who encouraged her to sign up for Discord, Snapchat and Instagram to communicate with them, according to the lawsuit.
None of the companies required parental consent, and Discord did not verify S.U.'s age even though it said it did not allow users under 13 years old, the lawsuit said.

Apart from the core gaming sector, Tencent is also looking to snap up global assets, in particular in Europe, related to the so-called metaverse, said one of the sources and another source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Tencent's pursuit for bigger stakes in gaming firms comes as other tech giants such as Microsoft, Sony and Amazon are snapping up gaming assets and related intellectual properties, said three of the sources.

The likes of Kerry Dixon, Matt Le Tissier, Rod Wallace, David Hirst and Tony Cottee all achieved double figures in terms of goals in the top flight during the 1989-90 season -  though Bull who scored 27 in the old Second Division, was rewarded.

The Ubisoft deal comes just after deep-pocketed Tencent in June acquired Copenhagen-based Sybo Pkv games, the developer of hit mobile game Subway Surfer, and in August took a 16.25% stake in Japan's "Elden Ring" developer FromSoftware.

But with big public debates over the likes of Harry Maguire and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and with a host of fringe players hoping to make the squad, there is bound to be one selection that raises some eyebrows. 

In Europe, except for its purchase of majority stake in "Clash of Clans" mobile game maker Supercell for $8.6 billion in 2016, Tencent has for years mostly cut minority deals including its purchase of 9% of British gaming firm Frontier Developments.

He scored his first against Scotland in May 1989, before adding two more in a friendly against the old Czechoslovakia, before scoring against Tunisia which ultimately convinced Bobby Robson to take a gamble on the Wolves star.

However, it is now aggressively seeking to own majority or even controlling stakes in overseas targets, notably in gaming assets in Europe, the four people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Tencent's pursuit of bigger stakes in its existing gaming portfolio or new targets would give the company a bigger say in such firms' businesses and also help it secure the intellectual property rights of popular games, said the four sources.

Tencent's new strategy indicates how China's tech titans are looking to emerge from the regulatory shadows after two years of crackdown and uncertainty that weighed on their sales at home and triggered a massive selloff in their stocks.

"We believe Tencent will continue to make reasonable investments to acquire quality gaming content and talents and deepen partnerships with top-tier studios worldwide in order to step up its investments and presence in overseas markets," said Citi analysts in a report in early September.

Elsewhere, Tencent also seeks to increase its investment in and make deeper forays into Southeast Asia as it sees the region - home to 650 million people - as having potential to replicate the success of China's internet boom, said two of the sources.