Name: Insights: Jack Ma and Pony Ma Go Head to Head
Uploaded: 2020-01-30
Duration: 4 min 42 s
Description: Jack Ma runs Alibaba, and Pony Ma runs Tencent. (June 2018)

[MUSIC PLAYING] Jack Ma is the executive chairman and founder of the Alibaba Group, which is China's largest e-commerce company. Pony Ma is the CEO and founder of Tencent, which is China's largest gaming and messaging company. And now these two massively powerful, extremely well-run, and fast-growing Chinese internet companies are in direct competition with each other. And what's interesting about these companies is how much they have in common, and how different they are. Both are half a trillion dollar market capitalization companies that are far and away the two leaders of the Chinese internet industry. And each is dominant in what it does. Alibaba's a commerce and then later, a payments company. Tencent is a gaming and then messaging company through its extremely popular WeChat service. People very frequently compare Alibaba to Amazon, but that's a poor comparison. It's more like eBay in that Alibaba doesn't hold inventory. It is a platform for selling merchandise. It's really an advertising platform, not a retailer. Tencent, people want to compare to Facebook. It's far more like a combination of Activision Blizzard and other publishers of games, and Facebook, and PayPal, and a very large investment bank as well. The two top guys could not be more different from each other. Jack Ma of Alibaba is a gregarious, globe-trotting business celebrity who speaks excellent English. Well-known throughout the world has a true gift for gab in two languages, and is a sort of visionary, outspoken leader for Alibaba. Pony Ma, by contrast, is a reserved, introverted, quiet, steely engineer who rarely gives interviews to the Western media, and not so much to the Chinese media, either. And now where things get really interesting, this story of Ma vs. Ma, is that the two are starting to increasingly become competitive with each other. Largely because Tencent through WeChat has started to facilitate online payments. While payments is what Alibaba's strength was in through its e-commerce platform, more people buy goods from all over the world. Digital payments in China is a whole different ballgame from what people in the West can appreciate. The credit card never really was a big deal in China, which has only been a modern industrialized country for the past 20 years or so. So the Chinese went straight to smartphones and straight to digital payment, which is why this has become such a key battleground for Alibaba which has Alipay and Tencent which has WeChat Pay. Because of this emphasis on payments, both companies have identified retail as a key battleground in China. They're trying to do two things. They're trying to lock in payments partners with these retailers, and they're also trying to sell them technology. US business people always want to know when are Alibaba and Tencent coming to the United States? The short answer is, well, one, they're already here, and that each company, in particular, Tencent, has made many large investments in the United States. In another sense, the answer is no time soon. Neither company sees a huge advantage in trying to operate in the US market, which is a very mature economy with fierce competitors like Amazon, and Facebook, and Google. They see better opportunity in other Asian countries, in particular, in Southeast Asia, for example, which is an immature economy with immature retail and with a fast rising internet culture that is far more like modern China than it is like the United States. Alibaba and Tencent are two examples of companies that have been able to build a giant business while having China more or less to themselves in their key areas. But to focus on that too much would be to miss the point that non-Chinese companies and business people have a lot to learn from these innovative companies, and that the day may come when they aren't content to operate primarily in China or in Southeast Asia, and may well come to North America. We just don't know when that will be. 

Insights: Jack Ma and Pony Ma Go Head to Head

Uncategorized

Jack Ma runs Alibaba, and Pony Ma runs Tencent.

Jack Ma and Pony Ma Go Head to Head

Jack Ma runs Alibaba, and Pony Ma runs Tencent. (June 2018)

Jack Miles, the executive chairman and founder of the Ali Baba Group, which is China's largest e commerce company. Pony Ma is the CEO and founder of 10 Cent, which is China's largest gaming and messaging company. And now these two massively powerful, extremely well run and fast growing Chinese Internet companies are in direct competition with each other. And what's interesting about these companies is how much they have in common and how different they are. Both are half a trillion dollar market capitalization companies that are far and away the two leaders of the Chinese Internet industry and each dominant and what it does. Ali Baba is commerce and then later a payments company. Consent is a gaming and then messaging company through. It's extremely popular re check service. People very frequently compare Ali Baba to Amazon, but that's a poor comparison. It's more like eBay in that Alibaba doesn't hold inventory. It is a platform for selling merchandise. It's really an advertising platform, not a retailer. 10 cent. People want to compare to Facebook. It's farm or like a combination of Activision, Blizzard and other publishers of games and Facebook and PayPal, and a very large investment bank as well. The two top guys could not be more different from each other. Jack MMA of Ali Baba is a gregarious, globetrotting business celebrity who speaks excellent English, well known throughout the world, has a true gift for Gabin two languages and is a sort of visionary, outspoken leader for Ali Baba pony. Ma, by contrast, is a reserved, introverted, quiet Dele engineer who rarely gives interviews to the Western media and not so much to the Chinese media, either. And now, where things get really interesting, this story of Ma versus Ma is that the two are starting to increasingly become competitive with each other, largely because 10 cent through we Chat has started to facilitate online payments. While payments is what Ali Baba strength was in through its e commerce platform, where people buy goods from all over the world, digital payments in China is a whole different ballgame from what people in the West can appreciate. The credit card never really was a big deal in China, which has only been a modern industrialized country for the past 20 years or so. So the Chinese went straight to smartphones and straight to digital payment, which is why this has become such a key battleground for Ali Baba, which has Ali Pay, and 10 Cent, which has we checked because of this emphasis on payments. Both companies have identified retail as a key battleground in China. They're trying to do two things. They're trying to lock in payments partners with these retailers, and they're also trying to sell them technology. US. Business people always want to know. When our Ali Baba and 10 Cent coming to the United States, the short answer is, well, one, they're already here in that. Each company, in particular 10 Cent has made many large investments in the United States. In another sense, the answer is no time soon. Neither company's. He's a huge advantage in trying to operate in the U. S. Market, which is a very mature economy with fierce competitors like Amazon and Facebook and Google. They see better opportunity in other Asian countries, in particular in Southeast Asia, for example, which is an immature economy with immature retail and with a with a fast rising Internet culture that is far more like modern China than it is like the United States. Alibaba and 10 Center two examples of companies that have been able to build a giant business while having China Maur less to themselves in their key areas. But to focus on that too much would be to miss the point that non Chinese companies and business people have a lot to learn from these innovative companies and that the day may come when they aren't content to operate primarily in China or in Southeast Asia, and may well come to North America. We just don't know when that will be.