Ma Huateng is the founderand CEO of Tencent Holdings, one of the most important telecommunications companies in China(Petruso,2006).In 2007 Time magazine called him one of the world's most influential people(Alon& Zhang, 2013). In 2013, he was the fourth richest person in China, and 223rd richest person in the world with a net worth of US$ 6.8 billion(Forbes,2013).The most famous product of Tencent, QQ, is an instantchatting software, whose number of user is more than 700 million and is still growing rapidly(Alon& Zhang, 2013).
After graduated from Shenzhen University, Ma was employed by ShenzhenRunxun Communications Co., Ltd. as a software engineer(Petruso, 2006). There his job gave him an awareness of the possibility of practical software’s research and development.He and four friends founded Tencent in 1998(Petruso, 2006). They felt sodifficult at the beginning as they lacked experienced employees and financial health(Petruso, 2006). What’s more, the free download of QQ attracted many young users, which created problems for them because Tencent could not afford the servers or server space(Petruso, 2006). Ma tried to sell QQ or invited more investors but he failed(Petruso, 2006). Fortunately, before it was too late, American venture capitalists invested 2 million American dollars to keep Tencentafloat(Petruso, 2006). In my opinion, Ma is so successful not only because the reputation or awards he achieved but also his characteristics.First, He is so courageous. It was not so easy for so young a person to make a decision to carve his own businessbecause Internet and computer had not gained great popularity among normal people in China at that time but he did it.Second, his persistence is a significant factor which needs to be taken into consideration as well. Nobody can reach the sky in a single bound. As for Ma, it is the same. He faced numerous failures and difficult situations but he did not give up. He persisted, and went ahead, leaving most of his competitors far behind. Third,his intelligence and wisdom are also important to his success. He can always think of new ideas to keep a balance between free and paid services to ensure Tencent’s profit without losing too much customers' interest.
What’s more, his strong social responsibility does make him more successful. He and his company started a Tencent Charity Foundation in 2006 and really achieved significant success in providing support to disaster areas and establishing school. The total number of the donation from Tencent itself and from people donating through this foundation is more than 50 million RMB, which impressed me a lot. His strong social responsibility really helps him leave a positive appearance to society.

References
Alon, I.,&Zhang, W.X. (2009).Biographical Dictionary of New Chinese Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders.111-112.Camberley: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Einhorn, B.,& Stone, B. (2011, August 4). Tencent: March of the Penguins. Businessweek.4.
Petruso,A. (2006).Chief Executive Officer of Tencent Holdings.Retrieved fromhttp://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2006-Le-Ra/Ma-
Pony.html
Forbes List(2013).Profile of Ma Huateng on Forbes. http://www.forbes.com /profile/ma-huateng/