Pony Ma, commonly known as Ma Huateng, is a wealthy Chinese entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings, the Chinese gaming technology giant and holding firm renowned for its instant messaging software WeChat as well as mobile gaming.
Ma is worth $46.8 billion as of January 2021, ranking him thirty-first just on Forbes Real Times Billionaires List. According to Bloomberg, the majority of Ma’s Fortune comes from a 7.4% interest in Tencent, one of Asia’s most valuable corporations with a market value of more than $561 billion.
Ma Huateng’s Childhood
Ma Huateng was born on in the month of October 29, 1971, in Chaoyang, China. Ma Chenshu, the youthful Ma, accompanied his father, Ma Chenshu when he accepted a position as a port director in Shenzhen, outside Hong Kong.
Huateng studied at Shenzhen University in 1989, & graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1993.
Ma Huateng’s Professional Life
The career of Ma Huateng started at China Motion Telecom Development. He allegedly made $176 each month. He also worked at Shenzhen Runxun Communications CO Ltd with the development and research of internet calling services at the same time.
Huateng later co-founded Tencent in 1998. Ma launched the firm after seeing a demonstration for ICQ, the world’s first online instant messaging service created in 1996 by an Israeli corporation.
Huateng commented to China Daily in 2009:
“If I have seen father, it is through standing just on shoulders of giants; we felt our product used to have a future, but we really can not afford it at the time.” (Source: China Daily)
In the year 2000, Ma resorted to the US investment company IDC and Hong Kong’s telecommunications carrier Pacific Century CyberWorks, which paid $2.2 million for 40% of Tencent shares. Furthermore, negotiations with telecom carriers that agreed to split message fees accounted for 80% of the company’s income.
Honours and Achievements of Ma Huateng
‘Time’ has already recognised Ma Huateng. He was named to their list of the world’s most important people in 2007, 2014, & 2018. Forbes included him on its list of the world’s most influential people in 2015. In 2017, Fortune named him one of the highest global business leaders.
In 2018, he was named one of the “Most influential individuals in the world by CEOWORLD Magazine. He has often been likened to Warren Buffett, one of the world’s most successful investors.
Conclusion
Ma is the wealthiest man in China as well as the 14th richest in the world, with a total wealth of roughly $51.1 billion since about March 2018. In the month of November 2017, Ma Huateng was the first Chinese entrepreneur to be named to Forbes’ list of the world’s top ten wealthiest persons.
His net worth momentarily eclipsed that of Larry Page & Sergey Brin (individually) in November 2017, making him the ninth wealthiest man on the planet and the inaugural Chinese national to join Forbes’ top ten richest list. Later that year, Fortune named him one of the year’s top businesspeople. CEOWORLD magazine named him one of the “Most influential individuals in the world in 2018. In 2018, Ma was a member of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress and a delegate to the 12th National People’s Congress.
