Profit growth to 185 billion VND, promoting AI and digital transformation

(Ho Chi Minh City, May 6, 2025) - VNG Corporation (VNG) announced its Financial Report for the first quarter of 2025, recording net revenue of VND 2,232 billion and adjusted net profit from business operations increasing sharply, reaching VND 185 billion. In the first three months of the year, VNG continued to focus heavily on AI and enterprise solutions, actively accompanying the national digital transformation.

Mr. Le Hong Minh, Founder & Chairman of VNG emphasized: "Over the past 20 years, VNG has continuously innovated to serve users and create sustainable value. We believe that new growth drivers such as the globalization of the gaming sector, Zalo platform, AI and Digital Finance will open up the next decade of breakthroughs for the company. By balancing stable growth in core areas and cautious innovation, we are gradually building VNG to become a leading technology enterprise in Vietnam's digital transformation journey."

VNG Campus headquarters in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: VNG.

Highlights Q1/2025

In the context of a volatile global economy, VNG recorded strong profit growth, thanks to an effective operating strategy, cost optimization and continued investment in new potential factors.

• Net revenue: reached 2,232 billion VND, stable compared to the same period last year.
• Adjusted net profit from operating activities ¹ : reached 185 billion VND, a sharp increase from the 1 billion VND mark of Q1/2024.
• Net loss after tax: VND 15 billion, improved 52% compared to Q1/2024.
• Contribution to the State budget: 392 billion VND. In March 2025, VNG became a member of the National Data Association (NDA) Executive Committee.
  

(1) (Loss) Adjusted net operating income is a non-GAAP financial metric calculated by removing the effects of changes in deferred revenue and related expenses, and non-operating items, from the reported operating loss.

Comprehensive AI Acceleration

In the first quarter of 2025, VNG continued to make great strides in implementing its AI strategy. Zalo AI successfully trained a large language model (LLM) with the same capacity as GPT-4, helping Vietnam become one of the first three Southeast Asian countries to own its own LLM. In the VMLU Vietnamese LLM Ranking Report 2024 published on January 10, the KiLM-13b-v24.7.1 model developed by Zalo scored 66.07 points, second only to Meta's Llama-3-70B.

AI is deeply integrated into the product, with features like text-to-speech, voice-to-text, voice dictation, and message translation—making technology more accessible to users, from young to old. Currently, 20% of Zalo users use these features regularly every month. Kiki Info, a chatbot built on LLM, also recorded nearly 500,000 questions within just a few days of its launch.

In the AI ​​infrastructure segment, GreenNode - the AI ​​Cloud business segment - has collaborated with NVIDIA to organize a series of in-depth seminars on AI in the Finance - Banking industry (in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City), clearly reflecting the market demand for AI solutions. In addition, GreenNode AI Lab introduced GN-TRVN - the first dataset that supports AI to understand and extract information from Vietnamese data tables, paving the way for practical and easy-to-deploy "Made in Vietnam" AI applications.

Promoting digital economy

In the first 3 months of the year, the Online Games segment reached 1,666 billion VND in bookings ² , of which the international market accounted for 20%. As one of the 4 titles released in the first quarter, The Play of Genesis made its mark in the Taiwanese market in the tactical RPG genre, quickly becoming VNGGames' most discussed title in this region with a level of interaction and player engagement that surpassed previous titles.

In the Vietnamese market, VNGGames also cooperated with VTVCab and ON Live Esports to produce and broadcast the League of Legends National Championship (VCS), marking the close combination between Esports and national television. PUBG Mobile VN recorded a 71% increase in revenue compared to Q1/2024, becoming the first quarter with the highest revenue since its launch. The game also recorded more than 500 million interactions on platforms, an increase of 114% over the same period. PUBG Mobile VN's TikTok channel officially reached 7 million followers - the highest globally - thanks to VNGGames' creative localized content strategy.

Cooperation signing ceremony and launching MU Luc Dia VNG. Photo: VNGGames.

The key game MU Luc Dia VNG (in cooperation with Webzen and Kingnet) recorded more than 100,000 active users on the first day of launch. In the near future, Lineage 2M (released in Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries through cooperation with NCSOFT) is expected to be the next growth lever of VNGGames.

In the digital payment sector, Zalopay recorded a total payment volume growth of up to 60% and a 152% increase in revenue from financial services in Q1 compared to the same period in 2024. The newly launched "International QR Scan" feature in Singapore allows users to pay at more than 120,000 points of sale without having to convert foreign currency or open an international card. At the same time, Zalopay also supports scanning and payment via VNPAY-QR code, allowing users to accumulate coins with every transaction and convert them into vouchers and gifts according to their preferences.

Zalo maintains its position as the leading communication platform in Vietnam with nearly 78 million monthly active users ³ and nearly 2 billion messages sent every day ⁴ (up 5% year-on-year). In Q1/2025, there were about 5,355 mini apps of partners and businesses operating on this platform, up 302% year-on-year.

(2) Bookings is a non-GAAP performance indicator used by VNG to evaluate the performance of the Online Games segment. This indicator reflects the total amount of money spent by users during the period applied for calculation.

(3) Monthly active users, determined by the number of active users during the last 30 days of the calculation period.

(4) Average daily number over the last 30 days of the calculation period.

Accompanying national digital transformation

Zalo continues to be an essential digital infrastructure in public administration, social security and healthcare. From central to local levels, state agencies are promoting the application of Zalo Official Account and Mini App to connect with people and provide public services. In early April, the Ministry of Public Security launched the official Zalo OA Page - an official information channel, continuously updating information on security and order, disseminating laws and warnings about crimes. In Hanoi, the Traffic Police Department received nearly 8,000 traffic violation reports via Zalo OA; while the Mini App of Thai Binh Provincial Police attracted more than 10,000 visits after only one month of implementation.

Zalopay also cooperates with the Center for Research and Application of Population Data and Citizen Identification (RAR) - Ministry of Public Security to deploy electronic identification authentication and research on integrating payment gateways on the VNeID platform. This cooperation aims to promote cashless payments for social security services, expand access to safe and transparent financial services for people and contribute to modernizing administrative management.

Deploying Zalopay electronic identity authentication on VNeID platform. Photo: Zalopay

In the field of data, VNG became a member of the Executive Board of the National Data Association, actively contributing to the completion of the data legal framework, and cooperating with global partners such as ST Telemedia and NVIDIA to develop international standard digital infrastructure for Vietnam.

Social Responsibility

In addition to business activities, VNG always fulfills its social responsibilities well. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025), Zalo launched an interface with the theme "Proud of Vietnam", attracting 1 million users in just the first 24 hours. This has contributed to spreading the patriotic spirit of Vietnamese people on cyberspace, together towards the glorious milestone in the history of the Nation.

In order to support natural disaster prevention, in early 2025, Zalo coordinated with the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention to send more than 35 million cold warning messages to people in the northern provinces. In the medical field, many hospitals have deployed Zalo OA and Zalo Mini App pages with tens of thousands of followers, helping to reduce waiting time and improve the quality of medical examination and treatment.

On February 12, the Dream Creation Fund under the auspices of VNG cooperated with the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund to donate classrooms, sanitation facilities and teaching equipment to Sa Tong Kindergarten No. 2 (Dien Bien), demonstrating VNG's long-term commitment to creating learning and development conditions for children in disadvantaged areas.

Strategic vision

Previously, at the end of April 2025, VNG announced its 2024 Annual Report, reflecting a year of focusing on strengthening core competencies and pursuing focused innovation. The company has invested heavily and achieved positive results in strategic pillars such as AI, Zalo, Electronic Payment and Online Games.

At the age of 21, VNG is looking forward to a decade of in-depth growth, balancing business efficiency and long-term investment. With a solid technology foundation, a prudent capital allocation strategy and a sustainable growth target, the company has recorded positive adjusted operating profit in 2024 - an important milestone on its journey to become a leading technology enterprise with regional influence. These efforts also demonstrate VNG's strong commitment to accompanying Vietnam's digital economic development orientation according to Resolution 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo.

See the full VNG 2024 Annual Report here: https://bctn2024.vng.com.vn/  

Source: https://www.vng.com.vn/news/press-release/vng-quy-1-2025-tang-truong-loi-nhuan-len-185-ty-dong-day-manh-ai-va-chuyen-doi-so.html