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Pony Ma Trivia Questions

How much do you really know about Pony Ma? Below are 8 true or false statements. Click each one to reveal the answer and explanation.

1.

Pony Ma studied computer science at Shenzhen University, not a top-tier global school.

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Easy
✓ TRUE

True. He graduated from Shenzhen University with a degree in computer science, a relatively modest alma mater for a tech billionaire.

2.

Pony Ma was born in Guangdong province, the same region as fellow billionaire Jack Ma.

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Medium
✓ TRUE

True. Both were born in Guangdong province, though Jack Ma is from Hangzhou originally; Pony Ma is from Chaoyang, Shantou.

3.

Pony Ma once sold his own QQ number to raise startup capital for Tencent.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

This is false; Pony Ma never sold his QQ number. He famously kept number 10001 for himself as a personal symbol.

4.

Pony Ma's favorite video game is 'League of Legends,' which Tencent later acquired Riot Games to own.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

False. While Tencent owns Riot, Pony Ma has stated he rarely plays games himself, focusing more on business strategy.

5.

Pony Ma is a trained classical pianist and performed at Tencent's annual gala in 2018.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

False. No public record exists of him playing piano; he is known for his reserved, non-performative demeanor at company events.

6.

Pony Ma once rejected an early acquisition offer from Microsoft for Tencent, valuing it at just $1 million.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

True. In 1999, Microsoft offered to buy Tencent for $1 million, but Pony Ma refused, betting on the company's future growth.

7.

Pony Ma's English is so fluent that he once gave a keynote speech at a global tech summit without a translator.

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Hard
✗ FALSE

False. Pony Ma is known to be shy and avoids public English speeches; he typically uses translators or speaks Mandarin at international events.

8.

Pony Ma personally coded the first version of QQ's instant messaging server.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

True. In Tencent's early days, Pony Ma wrote core code for the OICQ (later QQ) server, handling user connections.

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