What Is Pony Ma Huateng's Net Worth?
Ma Huateng is a Chinese internet entrepreneur who has a net worth of $38 billion. Ma Huateng, nicknamed "Pony," is the founder, president, chief executive officer, and executive board member of Tencent Holdings, Ltd., one of the most significant telecommunications companies in China. Ma's work at Tencent made him one of the richest people in the world. Huateng was named one of "Time" magazine's most influential people in 2007, 2014, and 2018, and "CEOWORLD" magazine included him on its "Most Powerful People in the World" list. "Forbes" ranked him #8 on its "Richest People in Tech" list (2017), #27 on its "World's Most Powerful People" list (2018), #4 on its "China's 100 Richest" list (2022), and #34 on its "World's Billionaires List" (2023).
Net Worth Details
The majority of Pony Ma's net worth comes thanks to is 7.4% stake in China's largest instant-messaging service, Tencent Holdings. His stake is controlled through Advanced Data Services. Ma donated $2.3 billion worth of Tencent shares to a charitable foundation in 2016. He owns $150 million of Hong Kong property. In 2022, Tencent Holdings reported revenue of $86 billion.
Early Life
Ma Huateng was born on October 29, 1971, in Chaoyang, Shantou, Guangdong, China. His father worked as a port manager in Shenzhen, and as a child, Ma accompanied him to work. Huateng attended Shenzhen University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in applied engineering and computer science in 1993.
Career
After earning his degree, Ma took a job with China Motion Telecom Development, where he was put in charge of creating software for pagers and reportedly earned less than $200 per month. He went on to work for Shenzhen Runxun Communications Co. Ltd., where again he was engaged in research and development. In 1998, Ma and four of his classmates founded Tencent, "a world-leading internet and technology company that develops innovative products and services to improve the quality of life of people around the world." According to the company's website, Huateng "has been leading the strategic development, overall direction, and management of Tencent." In 1999, the company launched a product named OICQ (aka Open ICQ), which was inspired by Ma's involvement with a presentation for the Internet instant messaging service ICQ. OICQ became very popular in China and brought success and wealth to the company. Tencent soon expanded to become the largest instant communication service network in China. Along with its expansion, Tencent added more employees, and eventually Ma was named chief executive officer, executive board member, and chairman of the board. Tencent grew in popularity quite quickly, fueled by its popular instant messaging service and by the introduction of such popular online multi-player games as "League of Legends." Billed as "the Chinese AOL," Tencent now encompasses web portals, e-commerce, and multiple social networks as well.
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After AOL acquired ICQ in 1998, the company claimed that the name OICQ violated ICQ's trademark and filed an arbitration against Tencent. In late 2000, Tencent changed the product's name to QQ. In 2000, the Hong Kong telecom company Pacific Century CyberWorks and the American investment firm IDC paid $2.2 million for 40 percent of Tencent's shares. In 2004, Tencent added an online gaming platform to its offerings and sold virtual goods for the games, and the following year, the company launched a C2C platform called Paipai.com. In 2010, Huateng put together two teams of engineers and recruited them to create a new product. One team created WeChat, a text messaging/group chat app that became the world's largest instant messaging platform. In 2015, Ma announced that the company had plans to build an "internet hospital" in Wuzhen that would provide medicine delivery as well as long-distance diagnoses.
Personal Life
Ma and his wife, Wang Dan-Ting, have a daughter, Ma Manlin. Huateng goes by the nickname "Pony" because the English translation of his surname means "horse." Huateng served as a deputy to the 5th Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress and as a delegate in the 12th National People's Congress. At a Singapore technology conference, Ma spoke about censorship, stating, "In terms of information security management, online companies from any country must abide by a defined set of criteria, and act responsibly. Otherwise it might lead to hearsay, libel and argument among citizens—not to mention between countries. That's why the need for online management is increasingly urgent."
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