Pony Ma, the founder of China's Tencent Holdings Ltd, has announced plans to donate 100 million company shares, worth more than $2 billion, to a new charity fund in one of China's biggest philanthropic pledges ever. Ma, whose fortune is estimated to be about $18.8 billion, said the donation would go towards supporting medical, educational and environmental causes in China. In a statement issued on April 18, 2016, he said "After 10 years of exploration and participation in philanthropic activities, I increasingly feel that there is a need for a more longer-term, efficient and organized way to give back to society." Pony Ma's pledge was probably the second biggest ever in China and bodes well for philanthropy in the country, said Wei Peiran, a non-resident research fellow at Harvard University's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation who has studied charitable giving in China.