Ma Huateng, known as Pony Ma, co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Tencent, is ranked No. 33 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list with a net worth of $53.8 billion. Tencent owns WeChat, one of the world’s largest messaging platforms.
Ma Huateng was born on October 29, 1971, in Chaoyang, Shantou, in Guangdong, China. When his father got a job as a port manager in Shenzhen, he moved there with him, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and applied engineering from Shenzhen University in 1993.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 33, with $53.8 billion
- Later estimate: Wikipedia cites Forbes at $63 billion as of November 2025
Early Career
Ma’s first job was at China Motion Telecom Development, writing software for pagers, for a reported $176 a month. He also worked at Shenzhen Runxun Communications on internet calling services.
Founding Tencent
- 1998: he co-founded Tencent with four classmates
- February 1999: the team launched OICQ, a Chinese-language instant messenger inspired by the Israeli service ICQ; it had more than a million registered users by the end of 1999
- 2003: Tencent launched its own portal, QQ.com, and moved into online games
- 2004: it was the largest Chinese instant messaging service, with 74% of the market, and Ma listed the company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
In 2010 Ma created two competing teams of engineers to build a new product, imitating Microsoft’s approach. After two months one team presented a messaging and group-chat app, WeChat, which launched in January 2011. By 2015 it was described as the largest instant messaging platform in the world.
Recognition and Public Roles
Time magazine named him one of the world’s most influential people in 2007, 2014 and 2018, and Forbes listed him among the world’s most powerful people in 2015. He has been a deputy to the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress and a delegate to the 12th National People’s Congress.
Why It Matters
Tencent’s games, payments and WeChat platform make it one of the largest technology companies in China, and Ma’s stake in it is the source of his fortune.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: The headquarters of Tencent in Shenzhen (file photo, 2016; Ma Huateng is not pictured). Photo: そらみみ / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
