Tencent CEO Pony Ma pledges US$2.1b in shares to new charity fund

Pony Ma Huateng, the chairman and chief executive of internet giant Tencent Holdings, is poised to move up the ranks of China’s most generous philanthropists with his plan to form a new personal charity fund in which he pledged 100 million shares of the Hong Kong-listed company.

The shares that Ma intends to donate would amount to US$2.1 billion, based on the closing price of Tencent’s shares on Monday, when the plan was announced.

That would rival the reported US$3 billion worth of share options that Alibaba Group executive chairman Jack Ma Yun and executive vice-chairman Joseph Tsai used to establish their twin personal charitable trusts in April 2014.

A Tencent spokeswoman told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday that company founder Ma would donate his 100 million shares in tranches, which means the value of the shares would be based on the dates of transfer to the proposed charity fund.

Ma owned a total of 833.26 million shares of Shenzhen-based Tencent as of April 15, according to the company’s filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

“After 10 years of exploration and participation in philanthropic activities, I increasingly feel a better way to continue giving back to society is to do it over a longer term and in a more organised way,” Ma said on Monday.