Martin Lau

The president and executive director of Chinese internet giant Tencent, Martin Lau is also the main public voice of the company. He joined Tencent as its chief strategy and investment officer in 2005, was promoted to president the following year, and appointed executive director in 2007. Tencent, one of the world’s largest companies, has been valued at close to US$1 trillion; it owns brands including WeChat and QQ, and is the world’s largest gaming company and China’s largest music provider; additionally, it has interests in everything from video streaming to AI medicine.

Born in Beijing, Martin Lau grew up in Hong Kong and was educated in the US. Before joining Tencent, he worked as an executive director at Goldman Sachs and a management consultant for McKinsey. He is a board member at various tech companies, including e-commerce giant JD.com, software developer Kingsoft, e-commerce platform Meituan and transportation platform DiDi.