The current health crisis and on-going lockdowns around the world had brought in several opportunities for tech companies including the gaming industry to leverage on. Tencent is currently the biggest game developer in China. The gaming giant surpassed the Alibaba Group Holding as its shares rose above HK $500 on Wednesday. Consequently, Tencent has also become Asia’s most valuable company. Unsurprisingly, the rising revenues have benefitted the Tencent Holdings CEO who owns a 7 per cent stake in the firm. Huateng gained around $757 million as he sold nearly 14.6 million of his Tencent shares in 2020.
Who is Ma Huateng – The Richest Person In China?
Ma Huateng is often also known as Pony Ma. Huateng is a native of southern Guangdong province in China. He majored in Computer Science from Shenzhen University. He then worked as a Software Developer with a telecommunication services supplier. Huateng later co-founded Tencent Holdings with Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan, and Zeng Liqing in the year 1998. Known for keeping a low profile unlike his contemporary Jack Ma, Pony Ma became the country’s second-richest person in 2013. He also emerged as the richest Chinese person in the year 2014 Alibaba went public in the United States.
Flouring Tech Industry Amidst the Covid Pandemic
According to a NDTV article, Vey-Sern Ling, an Intelligence Analyst at Bloomberg has predicted, “Tencent’s online games segment will probably perform strongly through the Covid-19 pandemic, and most of its other businesses are relatively unscathed.” Notably, as Tencent surpassed Alibaba, a Groupon-like Chinese shopping app, Pinduoduo (often referered to as PDD) also doubled its value this year. It led to Colin Huang, CEO of PDD, replacing Hui Ka Yan of China Evergrande Group among the Top 3 wealthiest Chinese persons.
Read: Gaming Industry Flourishes in COVID-19 Lockdown
The COVID-19 pandemic has further intertwined technology into the lives of millions around the world. The current tech trends have also been reflected in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Chinese Tech Executives currently occupy four out of top five positions among the country’s wealthiest individuals. The list includes Pony Ma, Jack Ma, Colin Huang, Hui Ka Yan, and Ding Lei of NetEase Inc. No, the two Chinese entrepreneurs aren’t related to each other. As Jack Ma and Pony Ma are often compared and appear in the news stories together, many wander if the two are related to each other in any way because of their common surname. However, the truth is the two tech leaders are not related to each other. “Ma” is simply a quite common surname in China.
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