Tencent boss expresses discontent over China’s zero-Covid policy

Pony Ma, co-founder and CEO of Hong Kong-listed Tencent, has voiced his frustration over China’s strict zero-Covid controls, which might have affected the company’s financials.

The Chinese internet titan recorded a revenue of 135.5 billion yuan (US$20.37 billion) in the first quarter of 2022 – a miniscule increase from 135.3 billion (US$20.34 billion) yuan last year, according to Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post.

Tencent co-founder and CEO Pony Ma / Photo credit: GMIC blog

In an unusual move, Ma shared on his WeChat feed a viral opinion piece dissecting the economic costs of the zero-Covid measures while calling out Chinese internet users for dismissing the economic crisis.

Ma posted a brief excerpt from the article that accused Chinese internet users of taking online companies like Tencent for granted, saying that they would prefer seeing businesses go broke rather than cut jobs or let their employees do overtime, reported Bloomberg, which also verified the WeChat post.

“This is a really vivid description,” Ma said. “But of course, if their meal orders come 10 minutes late, they would be cursing the delivery guys,” he added, quoting the opinion piece.

See also: Tencent’s financial health in 5 charts

Zhang Mingyang, the author of several Chinese history books, wrote the piece called “Apart from Hu Xijin, no one else cares about the economy.” His column refers to the former editor-in-chief of Global Times, a state-owned tabloid.

Previously, Hu said that the economic costs of pandemic control should not outweigh benefits to public health. However, he called Zhang’s work “sensationalist clickbait” after it went viral on Chinese social media.

Leading Chinese officials have issued a strong warning against any criticism of its zero-Covid strategy, which the World Health Organization deems unsustainable. The strategy, which applies maximum suppression efforts against the spread of the virus, has severely affected both local firms and foreign companies that rely on China’s suppliers and markets.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = 6.65 yuan