He is a Chinese business mogul who is the founder, CEO, and chairman of Tencent companies. They are regarded as one of the biggest technological companies in the world. According to many business reports in China, Tencent is one of the most valuable entities in Asia. Without a doubt, Ma Huateng is among the wealthiest businessmen in the world with an estimated net worth of nearly 4 billion dollars as of 2020.
Early life education and career
Ma Huateng was born on October 29th, 1971 in Chaoyang, China. He was so close to his father, Ma Chensu, that he used to accompany him to work when he was young. He studied at the University of Shenzhen in 1989 and later graduated with a Bachelor of Science in computer science in 1993. He later succeeded in securing his first job at China Motion Telecom Development company earning an income of $176 per month. The income was not sustainable so he worked a second job at Shenzhen Runxun Communications as a researcher and developer of the internet calling services provided by the company. In 1998 Ma Huateng co-founded Tencent and successfully launched the company’s first product which was the first internet messaging service in the world. Within ten years after Tencent was launched, the internet started taking over the world and the company massively expanded its functions in different areas. This included online payments, digital advertisements, e-commerce, gaming, media, and entertainment. In the year 2009, Ma stated that he knew their product had a future and did not want anyone to tell him otherwise. His stubbornness has inspired and motivated young innovators in China into believing in their ideas and capabilities. In 2011, Ma Huateng’s company had another enormous breakthrough when it launched ‘WeChat’ an instant messaging application that became one of the most widely known instant messaging services over time. The success of this application is mostly attributed to its features of paid ringtones and an easy-to-use interface.
Personal and family life
Even though Ma is a famous individual, he leads a very simple life and avoids being in the limelight. A lot of individuals have always compared him to Jack Ma but the two have different personalities. Ma Huateng is a shy introverted individual while Jack Ma is the complete opposite, extroverted, and very vocal. Most of his peers call him by his nickname “Ma Pony’’ and this is because of his Chinese name which means “horse”. Huateng launched his charity foundation and in 2016, he donated 2 billion dollars. Huateng’s internet success has been scrutinized by the Chinese government which advocates for internet censorship. Nonetheless, Ma has always given his assurance of a positive viewpoint towards internet questioning which is crucial regarding the security of information.
Honors & achievements
Ma Huateng has been honored on numerous occasions. Time Magazine has featured him severally on their lists of the most influential individuals across the globe in 2007,2014,2016 and 2018. Forbes also featured him as one of the most powerful individuals in the world, in the year 2015. In 2017, Fortune magazine listed him among the top businessmen in the world. The CEOWORLD acknowledged him as the most powerful millionaire in the world in the year 2018. Ma has always been compared with one of the most successful investors in the globe, Warren Buffet. As of early 2018, Ma was the 14th wealthiest man across the globe and the richest man in his country. He was also the first Chinese businessman to be put on the Forbes list of the top 10 wealthiest people in the world. Clearly, Ma Huateng is an honorable and accomplished individual.
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