Tencent stock jumped 5% on Wednesday after the Chinese gaming giant posted an 89% jump in quarterly profits, Reuters reports.

Tencent pocketed 38.5 billion yuan ($5.8 billion) between July and September this year to eclipse analyst estimates by nearly 25%.

The company’s total quarterly revenue increased 29% year-on-year to 125.45 billion yuan ($18.4 billion), powered by strong growth in Tencent‘s smart phone games.

In fact, Tencent‘s online games revenues reached 41.42 billion yuan last quarter ($6.3 billion), a 45% rise year-on-year.

“The increase was primarily due to revenue growth of our smart phone games, including domestic titles such as Peacekeeper Elite and Honour of Kings, as well as overseas titles,” said Tencent in a statement .

Tencent did see some reprieve from the affects of the coronavirus pandemic in the past three months. Advertising revenue — which had dwindled across global industry — gained 16% year-on-year.

Tencent attributed that success to rapid growth in demand for education, internet services, and ecommerce adverts. The company also said demand from real estate and automobile sectors had recovered from earlier this year.

Tencent investors spooked by Xi’s anti-monopoly plans

Tencent‘s post-earnings stock rally comes just as investors dumped more than $200 billion worth of equity on Tuesday, and one week after the curious suspension of Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial’s much-anticipated US IPO (which would’ve been the biggest in history.)

As noted by Bloomberg, share prices for Chinese tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba have dropped sharply since their government revealed new regulations to curb monopolies in the internet sector.

”China’s Big Tech will have to rethink their business models,” said one Beijing-based insider to Bloomberg . “The philosophy of internet companies is winner-takes-all, and especially for platform operators, they garner user traffic and build up ecosystems that are similar to each other.”

Tencent stock is still up 50% for the year-to-date, trailing the Hang Seng Tech index of top 30 Hong Kong-listed technology stocks by around 4%.

Jack Dorsey still Twitter’s CEO thanks to billion-dollar hedge fund deal

Jack Dorsey‘s reign as Twitter‘s CEO will continue, thanks to a new billion-dollar deal signed by the social media giant and two major investment firms.

The move will see tech-focused fund Silver Lake invest $1 billion in Twitter directly, while Elliott Management enters a “co-operation agreement” with Twitter to be disclosed at a later date.

Twitter will then use that money as part of a $2 billion share repurchase scheme, according to the related press release . Execs from both Silver Lake and Elliott Management will also be awarded seats on Twitter‘s board of directors.

Last week, Hard Fork reported that Paul Singer, the billionaire founder and CEO of Elliott Management, had been pushing to oust Twitter‘s founder. The fund had recently acquired a 4% stake in Twitter.

Singer had voiced concern over whether Dorsey’s other company, the fintech startup Square, was detracting from his ability to effectively lead Twitter.

Shortly after, Dorsey announced he no longer intended to move to Africa for six months in 2021, citing coronavirus anxiety. He’d originally tweeted those plans after visiting local fintech startups.

Elliott is now deep in Twitter — but how deep exactly?

Included in Twitter‘s press release is a rather curious section that serves as a disclaimer, promising that neither Elliott nor Silver Lake will comment on or attempt to influence Twitter in any way when it comes to its policies or rules.

“Elliott and Silver Lake further commit to , and emphasize the importance of , maintaining the independence and impartiality of the Twitter platform and its rules and enforcement,” it reads.

This makes sense after noting that Singer, a staunch Republican, is a controversial figure in finance. His firm is the world’s largest activist hedge fund, with a general strategy of making large investments in what it perceives as struggling companies, using that sway to force business decisions .

But Elliott Management is widely referred to as a “vulture fund,” as it specializes in purchasing sovereign debt of struggling nations, acting as a “rogue creditor.”

This has often resulted in Elliott Management buying defaulted debt of countries like Peru and Venezuela, later suing them when they can’t pay. This led the former president of Argentina to reportedly call Singer a “vulture lord,” and a “financial terrorist.” The fund‘s activity in the Congo has however been credited with exposing government corruption.

So while Dorsey keeps his job, the big question is what exactly is in that co-operation agreement between Elliott Management and Twitter — details that will only come to light once the related documents have been filed with the SEC.

Racehorse fund owned by accused OneCoin money launderer enters voluntary liquidation

Last week, the brother of the estranged OneCoin figurehead Dr Ruja Ignatova pleaded guilty to money laundering and fraud charges. He also accused the founder of a racehorse investment firm of stealing $110 million (€100 million) from the scheme .

Amer Abudlaziz’s investment firm Phoenix Thoroughbreds issued a statement yesterday “categorically” denying that it was funded by money stolen from the OneCoin scam, The Irish Field reports .

However, the US government says that in early 2017, $110 million (€100 million) was transferred from OneCoin to a Phoenix Thoroughbred account at an Irish bank.

While the specific bank account is not mentioned, it’s been confirmed that an Irish bank was used by a former lawyer (Mark Scott) to launder funds on behalf of the OneCoin scam. Last week, Scott was found guilty of money laundering and fraud and faces a 50-year prison sentence.

“Phoenix Fund Investments LLC categorically denies all allegations made against it, and its owner, Mr. Amer Abdulaziz, in legal proceedings against OneCoin and its conspirators in the US,” the statement reads .

Abdulaziz’s firm is ready to face whatever legal fight ensues too.

The fund says it “believes that the firm and Mr Amer Abdulaziz have acted according to the law at all times, and will vigorously contest all allegations of wrongdoing.”

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) issued a statement to The Irish Field saying it’s aware of the situation and working with the relevant authorities “as a priority.”

If the allegations against Abdulaziz weren’t concerning enough, it’s also since been reported that Phoenix Thoroughbreds misrepresented itself.

According to Racing Post , the fund was never regulated despite its claims that it was the “world’s first regulated thoroughbred fund.” It is also reported to have never operated as an investment fund either.

The fund has now entered a state of voluntary liquidation. Though it remains unclear if Phoenix Thoroughbreds took the decision to liquidate its organization as a result of the recent accusations in relation to OneCoin.