Trump administration debates allowing Tencent to keep its gaming stakes, FT reports

March 3 (Reuters) – The White House is debating whether to allow Tencent to keep its stakes in major video game groups as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in China in April, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Top officials have held internal meetings to assess whether Tencent’s investments in U.S. and Finnish gaming firms pose a national security risk, the newspaper said, citing several people familiar with the deliberations.

A meeting among several cabinet officials scheduled for Tuesday to review the issue was postponed due to scheduling issues, FT said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The White House and Tencent also did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Hong Kong-listed Tencent holds a stake in U.S. video game developer Epic Games, the creator of “Fortnite”, and owns Los Angeles-based Riot Games, the developer of “League of Legends.”

In 2016, it bought a majority stake in Supercell, the Finnish mobile-game maker behind “Clash of Clans”, for about $8.6 billion.

(Reporting by Fabiola Arámburo in Mexico City; Editing by Sumana Nandy)