Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced

2026-10-20T17:35:59Z

New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced

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{{short description|'''Chinese businessman; co-founder, chairman and chief executive of the internet company Tencent'''}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ma Huateng
| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1971|10|29|df=y}}
| citizenship = China
| education = Shenzhen University (BSc, 1993)
| occupation = businessman
| known_for = Co-founder, chairman and CEO of [[Tencent]]
| other_names = Pony Ma
| net_worth = US$44.67 billion (Forbes real-time estimate, 20 October 2026)
}}

'''Ma Huateng''' (born 29 October 1971), also known as '''Pony Ma''', is a Chinese businessman. He is one of the core founders of the internet company [[Tencent]], owner of WeChat, and is its chairman and chief executive.<ref name="fp_ma_huateng">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/ma-huateng.json Forbes profile record for Ma Huateng (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/ma-huateng/)] ''Forbes'', live record, read 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref><ref name="tc_board">Tencent Holdings Limited, [https://www.tencent.com/our-actions/governance/board-of-directors/ Board of directors] ''Tencent'', undated (accessed 20 October 2026), accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> On 20 October 2026 the [[Forbes]] Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Ma Huateng 44th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$44.67 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Online games.<ref name="fp_ma_huateng" /><ref name="ForbesRTB">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/rtb/0/position/true.json Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed] ''Forbes'', live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Ma Huateng 33rd, at US$53.8 billion.<ref name="ForbesAnnual">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/billionaires/2026/position/true.json Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read)] ''Forbes'', annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref>

== Education and early career ==
Ma graduated from [[Shenzhen University]] in 1993 with a BSc in computer applications. He then ran research and development for an internet paging system at China Motion Telecom Development, a telecoms supplier.<ref name="tc_board" /> Forbes says he started Tencent in 1998.<ref name="fp_ma_huateng" />

== Business career ==
Tencent's board page describes Ma as an executive director, chairman of the board and chief executive, responsible for strategic planning and management, and says he has worked for the group since 1999. It also notes that he is a director of Advance Data Services Limited, which holds a disclosable interest in Tencent shares.<ref name="tc_board" /> Forbes reports that WeChat has more than 1.4 billion monthly users. It says Tencent is one of the world's largest video-game publishers, known for titles such as ''Honor of Kings'', and holds stakes in Epic Games, Tesla and Spotify. It adds that Ma has been increasing investment in AI, including the Hunyuan family of models, and in 2026 hired the former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu to lead Tencent's AI efforts.<ref name="fp_ma_huateng" />

== Wealth ==
Forbes gives the source of his wealth as online games.<ref name="fp_ma_huateng" />

== Wealth history ==
[[Forbes]] has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 19 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2008. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.<ref name="ForbesAnnual" /><ref name="fp_ma_huateng" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Forbes estimates by list year
! Year !! World's Billionaires rank !! Net worth (US$ bn)
|-
| 2008 || 843 || 1.4
|-
| 2009 || 522 || 1.4
|-
| 2010 || 249 || 3.6
|-
| 2011 || 208 || 5.0
|-
| 2012 || 223 || 4.7
|-
| 2013 || 173 || 6.8
|-
| 2014 || 80 || 13.4
|-
| 2015 || 56 || 16.1
|-
| 2016 || 46 || 16.6
|-
| 2017 || 31 || 24.9
|-
| 2018 || 17 || 45.3
|-
| 2019 || 20 || 38.8
|-
| 2020 || 20 || 38.1
|-
| 2021 || 15 || 65.8
|-
| 2022 || 34 || 37.2
|-
| 2023 || 34 || 35.3
|-
| 2024 || 57 || 30.2
|-
| 2025 || 29 || 56.2
|-
| 2026 || 33 || 53.8
|}

== Philanthropy ==
In April 2016 Tencent announced that Ma planned to give 100 million of his Tencent shares to a charity fund. The fund was to support healthcare, education and environmental protection in mainland China and research in frontier technology and basic science worldwide.<ref name="tc_2016">Tencent Holdings Limited, [https://static.www.tencent.com/storage/uploads/2019/11/09/8bb5bf629df3365735a2d8997118a8f4.pdf Tencent chairman and CEO to donate 100 million shares of the Company towards philanthropic and charitable causes] ''Tencent (press release)'', 18 April 2016, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> The ''South China Morning Post'' valued the pledge at about US$2.1 billion.<ref name="scmp_ma2016">Bien Perez, [https://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech/article/1937134/tencent-ceo-pony-ma-pledges-us21b-shares-new-charity-fund Tencent CEO Pony Ma pledges US$2.1b in shares to new charity fund] ''South China Morning Post'', 19 April 2016, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> The announcement said Ma had led the founding of the Tencent Foundation in 2007. It also listed him as vice-chairman of China's Ai You Foundation, a board member of the One Foundation, a director of The Nature Conservancy's China chapter, and co-chairman of the Paradise International Foundation, which he set up with other Chinese entrepreneurs.<ref name="tc_2016" /> Tencent says that by the end of 2025 the company had given RMB15.6 billion (US$2.2 billion) to the Tencent Charity Foundation.<ref name="tc_found">Tencent Holdings Limited, [https://www.tencent.com/products/tencent-charity-foundation-2/ Tencent Charity Foundation] ''Tencent'', undated (figures as of end-2025), accessed 20 October 2026.</ref>

== Political activity ==
Tencent states that Ma served as a deputy to the 12th and 13th [[National People's Congress]].<ref name="tc_board" />

== Controversies and legal issues ==
In January 2025 the US Department of Defense added Tencent to its list of "Chinese Military Companies". In an announcement signed by Ma as chairman, Tencent said the listing was a mistake because it is not a military company or a military-civil fusion contributor, that the listing affects only US defence procurement, and that it would seek reconsideration and, if necessary, take legal action.<ref name="tc_cmc">Tencent Holdings Limited, [https://static.www.tencent.com/uploads/2025/01/07/ed277c23e9fe0fc870fb9f02350e7658.pdf Voluntary Announcement (inclusion in the U.S. Department of Defense list of Chinese Military Companies)] ''Tencent (HKEX announcement)'', 7 January 2025, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> No legal proceedings against Ma personally were found.

== International and political links ==
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."

=== Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements) ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Jewish communal charities ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Gulf states ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== China ===
Ma has served as a deputy to the National People's Congress (see Political activity).<ref name="tc_board" />

=== Russia ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== India ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Palestinian or Arab causes ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Home government ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Other international links ===
For the Pentagon's 2025 listing of Tencent and the company's response, see Controversies.<ref name="tc_cmc" />

== See also ==
* [[Tencent]]
* [[WeChat]]

== External links ==
* [https://www.tencent.com/ Tencent]

==Notes==
<references/>

[[Category:Businesspeople|Ma, Huateng]]
[[Category:Living people|Ma, Huateng]]
[[Category:Chinese billionaires|Ma, Huateng]]
[[Category:China|Ma, Huateng]]
[[Category:Internet|Ma, Huateng]]
[[Category:Video games|Ma, Huateng]]

Ma Huateng - Revision history

Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 21–50, 20 Oct 2026), all claims sourced