Huateng "Pony" Ma

Tencent’s WeChat social network has 700 million users and is as ubiquitous in China as Facebook is outside it. That helps make Ma the 10th-richest person in tech (Tencent’s shares rose 20% last year) and someone with a major influence on shaping the habits of China’s growing middle class. Already Tencent’s WeBank is extending loans to Chinese consumers not well served by state-owned banks. Tencent’s dominance has come with concessions: Researchers say WeChat is increasingly monitored by the government. It will remain Ma’s balancing act to keep both users and censors happy.