Pony Ma

By Michael Schuman/Hong Kong

Pony Ma may be one of China's most eligible bachelors. Only 33, the tech entrepreneur has a $190 million fortune. But Ma is embarrassed by the text messages he has received from lovelorn Chinese girls. "I don't want to attract too much attention," he says. That's hard to avoid these days. Ma is the founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings, which operates China's largest instant-messaging service, with 355 million users. In June, Tencent made an IPO in Hong Kong. While many recent China issues have flopped, Tencent shares are up 58%. Ma quit his job at a paging company in 1998 and, with four friends and total combined savings of $120,000, started the company. Ma did just about everything himself, from designing websites to mopping the floor. Tencent's break came in 1999, when it launched its QQ instant-messaging service. Today, despite competition from Yahoo! and Microsoft, QQ boasts 74% market share in China. Profits rose 44%, to $40 million, in the first nine months of this year. But Ma hasn't abandoned his tech-geek lifestyle--except for one thing: "I don't sweep the floors anymore," he says with a laugh. --By Michael Schuman/Hong Kong