In 1989, Ma Huateng (often known as ‘Pony Ma’) jumped into the sea – a Chinese expression meaning that he first went into business. Then a young student, Ma chose to study computer science at Shenzhen University in a time of political and social turmoil in China.
Nobody in the country has jumped into the sea and survived more profitably than Ma. As the founder of Tencent, the gaming and messaging sensation, he is worth around $13bn. Still only 43, he reached multibillionaire status in a record time – Tencent first opened for business just 16 years ago, in 1998. The rocket-like ascent of Ma – he was born Ma Huateng but whimsically adopted the English word ‘Pony’ to go with his surname – depicts the most spectacular career in China’s enormous and growing world of digital technology.
Ma and a few university friends started Tencent as a messaging service for desktop computers. Originally called OICQ, the name was changed to QQ in deference to an Israeli company with a similar name. Guided by Ma, Tencent was way ahead of the game.
“Long before Facebook came along, Tencent basically created the whole social networking thing”, an investment banker with ties to the company told American magazine Fast Company.
Collecting a stream of revenue through hundreds of millions of transactions, Tencent started by offering advertising alongside paid-for games and free messaging services. Then in 2004, when Tencent went public in Hong Kong, it started selling everything from virtual goods, extra storage space and ring tones alongside its gaming platform. China’s communication-hungry youth rushed the service, and today it has around half a billion users.
So far, Tencent has carved out a separate niche from its giant rival Alibaba, which functions rather like eBay crossed with Amazon. (That said, Tencent does have a hugely popular e-finance function, which subscribers in their millions use to buy and sell mainly small items.)
As both Chairman and CEO, Ma walks a tightrope. He has been able to survive and prosper in the face of tough government regulations that ban, on pain of imprisonment, any messages deemed to be against the national interest or even slightly subversive. Tencent is believed to employ an army of censors who ensure that the company doesn’t fall foul of the government’s strict rulings.
The almost reclusive Ma avoids all personal publicity – indeed, nobody outside his closest circle is even sure where he lives. But in a recent address he made it clear that he remains a scientist at heart.
“At Tencent we may be businessmen”, he told a summit meeting at his headquarters. “But we are still chasing our IT, our science. We are still striving to create something really cool, things we couldn’t even imagine without our new technologies. I’m still clinging to this enthusiasm.”
Not one to sit still, Pony Ma also appears determined to beat Alibaba at its own game. According to Forbes he has bought stakes in two firms – logistics company China South City and e-commerce group JD.com – which look set to take Tencent straight into e-commerce territory.
The company’s business rivals will need to be wary. Ma’s success up to this point has been swift, and looks set to continue.