Tencent Chairman Pony Ma Huateng has outstripped peer Jack Ma Yun, Alibaba's chairman, to become the richest man in China, according to estimates by Forbes on Monday.
Pony Ma's fortune reached $36.2 billion as of Monday, according to Fortune's real-time billionaires ranking, compared with Jack Ma's $35.6 billion and the $30.1 billion of Wang Jianlin, Wanda Group's chairman.
In May, Jack Ma surpassed Wang as the country's richest man.
Pony Ma's wealth mainly comes from Internet media, according to Forbes.
Pony Ma has witnessed a huge rise in its share price so far this year. The shares are up about 78 percent since December 23, 2016, according to media reports.
Hong Kong-listed Tencent closed up 2.95 percent at HK$320.6 ($41) on Monday, giving it a market capitalization of about $389 billion.
Tencent's success in many sectors including social media and entertainment contributed to its share price increase.
Morgan Stanley on Monday lifted its target price for Tencent from HK$310 to HK$370. Deutsche Bank also raised the target price to HK$327.
Morgan Stanley also forecast that its online games will maintain stable growth in the second quarter.
Tencent reported a 55 percent year-on-year increase in first-quarter revenue to 49.6 billion yuan in May 2017, mainly supported by strong online games, and it is about to release its half-year earnings report next week.
