Ma Huateng, known as Pony Ma, is a Chinese entrepreneur born on October 29, 1971 (53 years old) in Chaoyang, China. He is the founder and director of Tencent, a Chinese multinational company offering internet services, artificial intelligence, and recognized as one of the most prominent companies in video game development.
A man of few public appearances and a full name that doesn’t resonate much in Europe or outside Asia, Ma—together with his reign at Tencent—is positioned as the “digital king of China.” Ma, who bears the nickname Pony because his surname, when translated, refers to the animal species, leads the digital market with WeChat, a service app for messaging, payments, taxis, deliveries, and more. With over a billion active users, Huateng is a low-profile figure who dominates digitalization.
Mysterious, enigmatic, unknown—some of the words used to describe Pony Ma, the Chinese magnate and one of the richest people in China, though not so popular on this side of the world. Social media, video games, e-commerce, messaging services are among the sectors housed by Tencent, the empire Ma founded with a partner in 1998.
How did Ma enter the business world?
Ma studied computer science at Shenzhen University, and 27 years after his birth, he launched Tencent onto the market. Before founding the company with some friends, he had a brief experience in the telecommunications world. A year after the company was created, Ma and his colleagues launched Tencent QQ, a messaging service that gradually grew, although the first three years saw no profit. Years later, the company went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Over all those years, the company steadily grew. In the process, Pony Ma—of little relevance in the public and business world and rarely making appearances—became a member of China’s National People’s Congress due to his strong affiliation with national security. Alongside his team of advisors, Ma’s statements always point toward controlling and regulating China’s internet.
WeChat and a silent but successful strategy
With a total of 784 million users reached in 2012, Pony Ma went beyond the success of Tencent’s QQ messaging service and launched WeChat, an app with similar features but additional services such as social media, online payments, e-commerce, taxi service, and more.
The clearest and most tangible evidence Ma saw during WeChat’s launch was the massive user adoption, with over 200 million active users just a few months after its market introduction. One important factor to consider is that Ma, along with other digital industry giants, received government support to promote internet security efforts.
Another key aspect of Tencent is its strong presence in the video game sector. In addition to holding shares in Spotify and Tesla and dominating Supercell—a mobile game developer—it controls Riot Games, another game-focused company developing entertainment for electronic devices.
With administrative support from the government, Tencent, under Pony Ma’s leadership, knows how to manage cybersecurity challenges with a quiet strategy led by a discreet businessman who sets clear goals. Tencent’s expansion has been largely due to domestic growth fueled by incentives for promoting the national tech industry.
Pony Ma meets consumer needs and boosts domestic market demand—two key rules that fit perfectly into the daily operations of one of China’s richest men. He currently ranks second among China’s billionaires, with a fortune estimated at $48.8 billion.
The company’s current success comes from online games and advertising. In 2024, Tencent’s net profits increased by 68%, with an 8.4% rise in annual revenue and growth in social media and online gaming. As for Pony Ma, his wealth continues to rise thanks to his investments in international firms.
In recent years, Chinese companies and entrepreneurs have emerged in global markets and made headlines. Ma’s particularity lies in his quiet approach—without being on everyone’s lips, he has built an empire called Tencent, which leads the digital sector in China and spans industries that grow every day.