30 Awesome Things You Probably Didn't Know About Ma Huateng

21 December 2018, 11:40 am EST By Ruby Karnick

Ma Huateng, often known by the name Pony Ma, is the founder, chairman and the chief executive officer of Tencent, one of the largest Internet and technology companies. Here are some interesting facts about the Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist:

In the year 2017, Ma surpassed Larry Page and Sergey Brin, becoming the ninth richest man in the world. This made him the first Chinese to enter Forbes' top 10 richest men list.
He is known for his style of low profile entrepreneur, in comparison to Jack Ma's outgoing personality.
Ma is often described as an "aggressive acquisitor," and is closely compared to Warren Buffett for their similarity in investments.
Mǎ Huàténg was born on October 29, 1971, in Badagand, Dongfang City, Hainan. He is said to be humble beginnings and that his family had been moving from place to place, until his father Ma Chenshu, got a job as a port manager in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong.
The name "Huateng" is the actual Chinese word for Horse and in literal translation to English means Pony. This is the reason behind his nickname Pony Ma.
In the year 1989, he was enrolled in Shenzhen University, where he graduated in Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.
He is the first generation Shenzhen migrant to have earned a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Shenzhen University, in the year 1993.
The CEO World Magazine as well as Forbes listed him as one of the "Most Powerful People in the World," in the year 2018.
His first job was with China Motion Telecom Development, as an in-charge of developing software for pagers. The company was a supplier of telecommunications services and products. His first salary is reportedly just $176 per month.
Before Tencent, he also worked in the research and development department for Internet calling services, for the Shenzhen Runxun Communications Co. Ltd.

Ma is a deputy to the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress and in the 12th National People’s Congress.
In the year 1998, he along with four of his classmates, co-founded Tencent, which is currently a multinational investment holding conglomerate.
The world's first Internet instant messaging service ICQ, is said to be the inspiration for Tencent's first product OICQ, or Open ICQ, which became very popular within a few months of its launch.
In order to develop the product, Ma sold 40 percent of Tencent's shares to Hong Kong’s telecom carrier Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) for $2.2 million in the year 2000.
His company Tencent provides other diverse services such as web portals, e-commerce, and multiplayer online games. It was reported that online games like Legend of Yulong and Legend of Xuanyuan boosted revenue up to US$ 5.1 billion, with a US$ 1.5 billion profit margin.
It is reported that he met his wife through his own chatting platform QQ, and that the duo chatted for many months before even meeting in person.
It was due to the lawsuit by AOL, to shut down the QICQ’s domain names QICQ.com and QICQ.net, that Ma changed the name of the software to QQ.
By the year 2004, Tencent, with a total of 74 percent in the market, became the largest Chinese instant messaging service.
As of December 2018, Ma is the second richest person in China, second only to Jack Ma, and the 14th wealthiest man in the world, as one among the self-made billionaires.
With this, Ma listed Tencent on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and raised $200 million in IPO, becoming one of the richest people in China's telecom industry.

Ma, with only a 9.7 percent ownership of Tencent, is not the largest shareholder. MIH Holdings, an offshore subsidiary of South African multimedia conglomerate Naspers, owns 34 percent of Tencent.
In the year 2004, Ma ventured into online gaming platform and started selling virtual goods to support the games published on that platform.
It is also reported that he chose the name Tencent for his company as a play on the Mandarin characters Teng and Xun, which means galloping and message.
His company Tencent owns 40 percent of Epic Games and also a minority stake in Activision Blizzard. It is also reported that the company first invested in Snapchat's parent Snap for a 12 percent stake and then bought 5 percent in Tesla Motors.
Time Magazine has named him as one of the world's most influential people in the years - 2007, 2014 and 2018.
In December 2015, Ma announced that Tencent is planning to set up "internet hospital" in Wuzhen with the focus of providing long-distance diagnoses and medicine delivery.
Similar to Bill Gates' Microsoft style, Ma created two teams of competitive engineers to come with a new product and the result was Weixin, launched in January 2011, the largest instant messaging platform in the world, used by 48 percent of all Internet users.
He reportedly owns property in Hong Kong and art pieces worth $150 million and also owns a redeveloped palatial residence of 19,600 sq ft in Hong Kong.
Initially, in an effort to keep Tencent afloat in the first few years, he along with his friends had to take up various roles ranging from Janitor to Website Designer.
In 2016, Ma transferred $2 billion worth of Tencent shares, to his charitable foundation, but that does not decrease his net worth as the shares are still under his name.