Tony Zhang Zhidong (, born 1972), is a Chinese businessman who is the co-founder, former CTO and second-largest individual shareholder of

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the wo ...

, a Chinese internet conglomerate.

Early life and education

Zhang Zhidong was born in 1971. He was in the same class at

Shenzhen University Shenzhen University (SZU, Chinese: 深圳大学) is a municipal public research university in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The university is funded by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government. Location SZU comprises two campuses, Houhai ca ...

as Tencent's founder, fellow billionaire

Ma Huateng Ma Huateng (, born on October 29, 1971), also known as Pony Ma, is a Chinese billionaire business magnate. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Tencent, one of the most valuable companies in Asia, one of the largest intern ...

. He also has a master's degree from

South China University of Technology The South China University of Technology (SCUT; ) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. The university is co-sponsored by the China Ministry of Education and the Guangdong Provincial People's Government. The university is a mul ...

Career

According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'', Zhang Zhidong has a net worth of $24.1 billion, as of March 2021. Zhang was Tencent's Chief Technology Officer for 16 years until his retirement in September 2014.

Personal life

He lives in Shenzhen.

References

1971 births Living people Businesspeople from Guangdong Billionaires from Guangdong Shenzhen University alumni South China University of Technology alumni People from Dongguan Tencent people 21st-century Chinese businesspeople Chinese technology company founders {{Business-bio-stub