Christopher Tsai

Christopher Tsai
Born Christopher Tsai
(1974-12-20) December 20, 1974
Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
Alma mater Middlebury College (B.A. Philosophy, International Politics)
Occupation Investor,
President and Chief Investment Officer, Tsai Capital
Board member of Untapt[1][2]
Spouse(s) André Stockamp[3]
Children 2
Parent(s) Gerald Tsai
Marlyn C. Tsai
Website Tsai Capital

Christopher Tsai is a Chinese-American businessman and investment manager.[4][5] Tsai is currently the President and Chief Investment Officer of Tsai Capital Corporation, a New York-based investment management firm.[6]

Early life

Tsai was born in 1974 in Greenwich, Connecticut to billionaire financier and fund manager Gerald Tsai, and model and actress Marlyn C. Tsai. Tsai attended Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut and graduated in 1993. Tsai began his career in finance at the young age of 11, working for his father, where he was tasked with analyzing investment opportunities for the Tsai family foundation. At age 16, Tsai took a course at New York Institute of Finance on securities analysis.[7]

Education

Tsai attended Vermont's Middlebury College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and International Politics. He is a member of the Middlebury College Arts Council and previously served as a Young Alumni Advisor [8][9]

Career

Christopher Tsai is President and Chief Investment Officer of Tsai Capital Corporation, an SEC-registered, global equity manager headquartered in New York City. He founded the company in 1997 at the age of 22 and serves as Chairperson of the firm's Advisory Committee [7][8][10]

Tsai's investment philosophy and style are conservative, methodical, research-intensive, and long-term fundamental-based. Tsai Capital invests in businesses they believe are high-quality, growth companies that offer significant upside potential and a margin of safety at the time of purchase. Firmly believing that wealth is created by compounding capital over long periods of time—minimizing the risk of capital loss and maximizing return—Tsai Capital looks for companies with predictably sustainable growth and tries to shelter investments from storms.

In 2014, Tsai launched Tsai Ventures, the venture capital arm of Tsai Capital.[10] The seed and early stage venture capital arm of Tsai Capital Corporation seeks entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas and a big market opportunity. Tsai Ventures invests primarily in finance, media and travel markets and helps leverage its network to build relationships for entrepreneurs.

Tsai has used his long-term philosophy to pick his investments as well. Using a discounted-cash-flow valuation methodology, Tsai chooses stocks that are inexpensive and sticks with them as long as their business model remains sound.

CrowdTangle, a Tsai Ventures portfolio company, was acquired by Facebook on Nov. 11, 2016. CrowdTangle is a four-year-old tool used by publishers like Vox, BuzzFeed, and Mic to see what's trending on social media and to track how their content is shared in real-time. Founded in 2012, CrowdTangle had raised $2.2 million in venture funding from Tsai Ventures and other venture capital firms.[10][11]

Art collection

Tsai is an avid art collector and first focused on contemporary Chinese art, which he accurately predicted would rise in value. Tsai is the world's largest collector of works by Ai Weiwei.[12]

Tsai attributes his love of art to his father who collected works by Alexander Archipenko, Alexander Calder and Joan Mitchell. Through the Stockamp Tsai Collection, Tsai regularly contributes artwork to museums. These museums have included the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.[5][13]

Prior to deciding to build a collection around Ai, Tsai collected contemporary Chinese art broadly, beginning in 2003.[5] Tsai traveled to China and acquired some 50 works by artists including Fang Lijun, Liu Xiaodong, Xie Nanxing, Zhang Huan and Zhang Xiaogang.[12] In September 2004, Tsai published an article in Worth Magazine arguing that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued.[12] In 2005, Tsai reiterated that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued, particularly when compared with contemporary Mexican artists.[14]

Tsai adheres to a well-defined methodology in making art acquisitions, balancing instinct and analysis.[12] Tsai has expressed interest in collecting the work of David Hammons and Berlinde De Bruyckere.[12] Tsai prefers that the artwork he buys stays undervalued for as long as possible. Tsai stated, "It's like buying shares in a company that you know will be worth more in five or ten years. The last thing we want is for the stock to go up as we start buying."[15] Tsai has been critical of art speculators looking to buy art for short-term financial gain.[5]

Philanthropy

Tsai is a benefactor of numerous nonprofit organizations, both domestically and internationally. These organizations include the World Monuments Fund, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Serpentine Galleries and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.[16] Tsai is also a member of the Middlebury College Arts Council, which is a select group of 32 alumni and parents appointed by the president of Middlebury College to work in partnership with the Office of Advancement and the College's arts programs and Museum of Art.[17]

Personal life

In addition to Tsai being the son of a famous investor, his grandmother, Ruth Tsai, was a pioneer for women in Shanghai.[10] During World War II, she was the only woman to trade on the floor of the Shanghai Stock Exchange until Japanese troops occupied the Shanghai International Settlement on December 8, 1941 and trading was abruptly halted.[10] Tsai is married to André Stockamp.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Untapt Closes $3M In Series A Financing". FinSMEs. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "This Startup Found an Untapped Market and Raised $3 Million". AlleyWatch. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 Gerlis, Melanie (14 May 2014). "Collector wants to open first Ai Weiwei museum". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Vujovich, Dian (11 March 2015). "Tsai Capital founder discusses growth of Passport SMA". Palm Beach Daily. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "China Becoming a Major Player in International Art World". Miami Herald. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  6. ↑ Tran, Huang (18 June 2014). "Hedge Fund Shorting Emerging Markets". ETF.com. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  7. 1 2 Gupte, Pranay (20 July 2005). "TheTsai Method of Selection: Stick to the Fundamentals". The New York Sun. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  8. 1 2 Elliot, Hannah (30 June 2014). "At Home With The World's Biggest Ai Weiwei Collector: 'He Is Still Vastly Undervalued'". Forbes Life. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  9. ↑ Martin, Neil A. (23 August 2014). "Not Hist Father's Style". Barrons. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 La Roche, Julia (11 February 2014). "Meet The Hedge Funder Whose Finance Roots Date Back To The Shanghai Stock Exchange During WWII". The Business Insider. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "Facebook just bought CrowdTangle, a tool that publishers use to dominate social media". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Moriarity, Bridget (28 March 2015). "A Concentrated Vision: Cultivating an Ai Weiwei Collection". Blouin Art Info. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Ai Weiwei". ARTslant. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  14. ↑ Mazurkewich, Karen (8 July 2005). "The Art World's Newest Love: Contemporary Chinese Works". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Dailey, Meghan (21 April 2015). "The Long View". Sotheby's Magazine. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Ai WeiWei: According To What?". HirshHorn. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  17. ↑ "Arts Council Members". Middlebury.edu. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
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