Tencent Holdings founder Pony Ma Huateng pledged US$7.7 billion toward curing societal ills and lifting China’s countryside out of poverty, echoing Xi Jinping’s priorities at a time Beijing is tightening its grip on internet giants, Bloomberg reports.
The billionaire chief executive on Monday pledged to set aside 50 billion yuan for a “sustainable social values” program, in what would be one of China’s largest corporate charity initiatives. Tencent promised to tackle issues ranging from renewable energy and scientific education to health care and rural revitalization – a centerpiece of Xi’s over-arching policy framework. The company intends to fold its existing foundation and philanthropic activity into a new unit to oversee the initiative, which also encompasses carbon neutrality, the provision of food, water and energy, and general public welfare.
The program coincides with a period of intense scrutiny over the growing power and influence of China’s largest corporations from Tencent to Alibaba Group Holding, which received a US$2.8 billion fine for allegedly abusing its market dominance. Regulators are now said to be eyeing Tencent, China’s largest publisher of games and content for a billion-plus people on WeChat. Last week, the Shenzhen-based company pledged to comply with antitrust laws and eradicate monopolistic practices.
“Tencent should continue to respond to the ever-changing needs of the public and of the era, so as to develop and prosper together with society as a whole,” Ma said in a memo to employees published online.
Tencent’s ear-marked budget could rank among the world’s largest corporate philanthropic endeavors – total U.S. charitable giving from individuals, non-profits and corporations surpassed US$449 billion in 2019, according to the Giving USA foundation. The Chinese company has only just completed one of the year’s biggest Asian dollar-bond deals and had about US$23 billion of cash and equivalents at the end of December.
