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Ma Huateng (马化腾)

Founder & CEO

Tencent Holdings

POSITION

Founder & CEO

COMPANY

Tencent Holdings

COUNTRY

China

Website

Tencent Holdings

SCENE

Lifestyle & Culture

What makes Ma Huateng a Global Shaker?

Ma Huateng (马化腾) is the founder, chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings (腾讯). Tencent has been recognized as one of the most valuable companies in Asia, one of the most innovative companies in the world, and one of the world’s most valuable technology conglomerates. The company offers many products and services, and all have been ranked among the world’s best.

His flagship product, WeChat, is the world’s biggest social media platform with more than a billion active users. WeChat, unlike its western counterpart Facebook, has become a one-stop destination for things beyond social media, making it an immensely powerful platform for advertising and content circulation.

Ma Huateng, or “Pony Ma” as he is famously called, is China’s richest man (as of March 2019). Nevertheless, he has been quoted as saying,”Wealth won’t give you satisfaction; creating a good product that’s well received by users is what matters most.”

Compared to his more outgoing counterpart, co-founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma, Pony Ma has a low-profile entrepreneurial style that’s more in line with his engineering background.

“Pony Ma is like a scorpion,” one analyst told a Money correspondent. “He doesn’t talk much but he is always thinking about strategy. He hides in the back and is very focused, and then he strikes.”

Involved in politics, Pony Ma is a deputy to the 5th Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress and serves in the 12th National People’s Congress.

Last updated: May 3, 2019