Tencent's Ma sells $387m shares, filings reveal

Tencent's Chief Executive Officer Pony Ma (front) attends a meeting at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province Nov 19, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

The chairman and chief executive of Tencent Holdings Ltd has cashed in shares worth HK$3 billion ($387 million) in the Chinese Internet firm this month, according to regulatory filings made with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Pony Ma, who co-founded Tencent in 1998 and helped turn it into one of the world's most influential Internet firms, sold a total of 25 million shares between Dec 2 and Dec 5, at prices ranging between HK$118.61 and HK$119.97.

A Tencent spokeswoman said the sale was related to Ma's "personal wealth management". Ma himself was not immediately available to comment.

Local media had reported that Ma recently bought into China's Ping An Insurance Group via a private share placement.

The placement raised a total of HK$36.5 billion and involved up to 10 investors, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Executive Chairman Jack Ma, according to one source close to the transaction.

The Tencent shares Pony Ma sold accounted for less than 0.5 percent of the company's outstanding stock. Even after the sale, Ma remains Tencent's largest individual shareholder with a 9.87 percent stake.

Ma last sold Tencent shares in 2011, although on a smaller scale. The stock price was down 0.26 percent at the close of trading on Wednesday in Hong Kong, while the benchmark Hang Seng index was 0.16 percent higher.

Ma, 43, was named China's third-richest person with an estimated $14 billion fortune, according to the Hurun Report, which compiles an annual list of China's wealthy.