NETEASE, China's third largest online game operator and a leading web portal, said profit jumped nearly 50 percent in the third quarter as the firm gained from sales of games while online advertising boomed.

Net income was US$87.5 million, or 67 cents per share, a 49 percent jump from a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Sales in the third quarter jumped 64 percent to US$215.1 million.

Revenue from online games contributed US$187.7 million, a 62 percent surge from the year-earlier period, while ad income soared 88 percent to US$24.2 million.

NetEase is set to provide more high quality products for players to maintain its growth potential, CEO William Ding yesterday said in a conference call with analysts.

NetEase is licensed to run Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft in China, one of the world's most popular online games. It also has other self-developed games and competes with online game operators including Tencent and Shanda Entertainment.