(FILE)

Ma Huateng (Pony Ma), who created instant-messaging software QQ, ranks seventh on this year's Fortune magazine's "40 Under 40" rankings of the hottest rising stars in business. Last year, he was in 18th place.

Fortune said Ma, 39, was "one of the wealthiest but most low-key men in China."

Ma graduated from the Computer Department at Shenzhen University in 1993. In following years, he worked for Runxun Communications Development Co. Ltd., eventually becoming director of the R&D department. In 1998, by inventing QQ, now China's most-used chat software with more than 500 million active users, he founded the Tencent Computer System Co. Ltd. Leading China's online game and instant message markets, Ma's company had revenue of $1.3 billion in the first six months of this year, up 65 percent from 2009. He is 249th in Forbes' 2010 List of the World's Richest and sixth on the Forbes' China Rich List.