Business & Enterprise
Household Name
Ma Huateng
born 1971
Co-founder of Tencent and creator of WeChat
Household Name is level 4 of 4 in the China Hall of Fame: known and loved across the country, whatever the body of work behind it. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
The co-founder of Tencent, the company behind the QQ messaging service and WeChat, used by more than a billion people.
Ma Huateng co-founded Tencent in Shenzhen in 1998. Its QQ messenger and later WeChat, which combines messaging, payments and services, became central to everyday life in China.
Tencent is also one of the world's largest video game companies.
Tencent is also one of the world's largest video game companies.
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