INTERNET: Tencent’s Ma Finds Philanthropy, Baidu’s Li Chases AC Milan

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Bottom line: Pony Ma’s big charitable donation reflects some restlessness with his Tencent empire, while Robin Li’s potential pursuit of the AC Milan soccer club reflects a recent interest by Chinese billionaires in sports club ownership.

Robin Li chasing AC Milan?

Two of China’s richest Internet entrepreneurs are in the headlines today for their personal spending, led by a huge gift from Tencent (HKEx: 700) chief Pony Ma as he follows many of his western peers into philanthropy. Meantime, Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) chief Robin Li may also be following several of his Chinese peers into  the realm of sports team ownership, with word that he may be one of the leaders of a group aiming to buy Italian soccer club AC Milan.

Neither of these stories will have much impact on Tencent or Baidu, since both involve each companies’ founder engaging in personal interests. But they do provide some insight into the personalities of these multi-billionaires, who still make most or all of the major decisions about their companies.

In the Tencent case, Ma’s new move into philanthropy mirrors a similar trend by major western company founders, most notably Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett. In many such cases, one could arguably say that these billionaires moved into philanthropy after becoming somewhat restless with running their original companies and looking for new challenges.

It’s probably slightly premature to say Pony Ma is becoming bored with his company, though his new announcement that he will give 100 million of his Tencent shares to charity certainly hints that he’s looking for something new to do. (company announcement; Chinese article) The shares will go into a foundation set up by Ma and be managed by professionals, similar to what many western philanthropists have done.

Based on Tencent’s latest closing price, the shares currently are worth about $2.1 billion, a nice sum to get started on some major charitable projects. Ma’s fortune is currently worth about $18 billion, so his gift represents a sizable though still relatively small portion of his total wealth. Perhaps we’ll see this new announcement eventually followed by a larger one that sees Ma give most of his wealth to charity, similar to a high-profile decision announced by Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg last year.

‘Me-Too’ Mentality

Next there’s Baidu’s Robin Li, whose rumored interest in the AC Milan soccer club has a certain “me-too” mentality, and also a feeling of trying to outdo some of his fellow Chinese billionaires who have made recent similar purchases. Reports first emerged late last week that AC Milan was up for sale, and that a group of Chinese buyers was trying to negotiate a deal. (English article)

The reports didn’t contain any names, but said the group included wealthy individuals from the media and new energy sectors, and wanted to close a deal to buy at least 50 percent of the club by June. Now a Chinese media report is citing an insider saying one of the 2 individuals pursuing the deal is surnamed Li, while another is surnamed He. That’s leading to the guessing that the first is Robin Li, while the other is He Xiangjian, founder of the Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) home appliance empire and also one of China’s richest men. (Chinese article)

The report in the influential China Business Network points out that AC Milan is currently valued at about 700 million euros, or  nearly $800 million, meaning Li and He could easily afford the $200-$300 million apiece each would have to pay for 50-70 percent of the club. The report notes that it is simply speculating about Li’s potential involvement based on information it has, though it notes that Baidu declined to comment on the situation.

If Li is indeed eying AC Milan, he would be following a growing list of major Chinese entrepreneurs who have recently ventured into sports team ownership, including Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) chief Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin, founder of the Wanda real estate empire. Based on the report and what I know about the personalities involved, I would suspect that Robin Li is indeed a member of the group pursuing AC Milan, and we could see a deal announced by their target deadline of June.

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