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, hedge fund manager
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 he founded in 1997.[6] Tsai is also an avid art collector and holds the world's largest collection of works by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei.[7]

Early life and education

Tsai was born in 1974 in Greenwich, Connecticut to Gerald Tsai, a billionaire investor and philanthropist credited with building Fidelity Investments into a mutual fund powerhouse.[8] He was exposed to finance at an early age, analyzing investment opportunities for the family and its foundation. When he was 11 years of age, Tsai took $100 that he earned from gardening chores and invested into an insurance company.[9] Tsai earned a $25 profit, which hooked him on finance and investing.[9] Tsai convinced his broker to waive the commission on the trade. In his teens, Tsai regularly read The Wall Street Journal and Value Line to help educate himself, worked at TD Waterhouse, interned at GAMCO Investors and studied at the New York Institute of Finance.[9] Tsai attended Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut and graduated in 1993. At the age of 18, Tsai attended Middlebury College, where he majored in Philosophy and International Politics, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[8][10]

Career

Tsai gained his first client at the age of 16 when he convinced a Chinese restaurateur to give him $400,000 to invest, an amount which represented almost all of the investor's liquid savings.[11] Tsai multiplied the investment several fold and used the capital from his profit along with family capital to start Tsai Capital at the age of 22.[9][11] Operating as an SEC-registered investment adviser, the company is a global equity manager. Tsai is the President and Chief Investment Officer of the company and also serves as Chairperson of the company's advisory committee.[10]

Tsai credits his investment philosophies to a fishing trip with his father during which the elder Tsai told him, “You can't do that. You have to have the wind behind you just like in investing. You want to position yourself with the wind at your back,” a lesson that he states has stuck with him today.[11] He also attributes the works of Benjamin Graham such as The Intelligent Investor and Philip Arthur Fisher’s Common Stocks And Uncommon Profits as influences on his trading philosophies.[11]

As a result of his visibility in the financial industry, Tsai has been consulted by media outlets including Bloomberg Businessweek and CNBC to opine on various financial topics.[12][13] Issues he has spoken on include the purchasing power of the Asian middle-class (which has increased due to population growth), the risks associated with variable interest entities, and the largely retail-driven, speculative nature of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.[12][13][14][15][16]

Tsai began a new venture in 2014 when he launched Tsai Ventures, the seed and early stage venture capital arm of Tsai Capital.[11] In April 2015, Tsai led a $3 million Series A Preferred Stock financing for untapt inc. and was appointed to the company’s board of directors.[1]

Art

Tsai is an avid art collector and first focused on contemporary Chinese art, which he accurately predicted would rise in value.[7] Tsai is the world’s largest collector of works by Ai Weiwei.[17]

Tsai attributes his love of art to his father who collected works by Alexander Archipenko, Alexander Calder and Joan Mitchell.[7] 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][18]

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.[17] In September 2004, Tsai published an article in Worth Magazine arguing that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued.[17] In 2005, Tsai reiterated that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued, particularly when compared with contemporary Mexican artists.[19]

Tsai adheres to a well-defined methodology in making art acquisitions, balancing instinct and analysis.[17] Tsai has expressed interest in collecting the work of David Hammons and Berlinde De Bruyckere.[17] 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."[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]

Personal life

In addition to Tsai being the son of a famous investor, his grandmother, Ruth Tsai, was a pioneer for women in Shanghai.[11] 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.[11] Tsai is married to André Stockamp, making up the other half of the "Stockamp Tsai Collection".[3] Tsai practices Transcendental Meditation and lives in New York City and Berlin.[17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "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 3 Rao, Mallika (11 July 2014). "The Ai Weiwei Museum of All of Our Dreams is Coming". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  8. 1 2 Martin, Neil A. (23 August 2014). "Not Hist Father's Style". Barrons. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Gupte, Pranay (20 July 2005). "TheTsai Method of Selection: Stick to the Fundamentals". The New York Sun. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  10. 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.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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.
  12. 1 2 Melloy, John (8 July 2015). "China Crash Underscores Risk for US Investors". CNBC.com. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  13. 1 2 Massar, Carol; McKee, Michael (8 October 2014). "Taking Stock: Investing in Asia, FOMC Minutes". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  14. ↑ Blumenthal, Robin (30 May 2015). "They Said What". Barrons.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  15. ↑ Dennin, James (23 June 2014). "A long-term approach: Christopher Tsai on investing in Asia". Nasdaq.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  16. ↑ Samarotto, Gina (Spring 2015). "Modern Alchemy". Private Air. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moriarity, Bridget (28 March 2015). "A Concentrated Vision: Cultivating an Ai Weiwei Collection". Blouin Art Info. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "Ai Weiwei". ARTslant. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  19. ↑ Mazurkewich, Karen (8 July 2005). "The Art World's Newest Love: Contemporary Chinese Works". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  20. ↑ Dailey, Meghan (21 April 2015). "The Long View". Sotheby's Magazine. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "Ai WeiWei: According To What?". HirshHorn. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  22. ↑ "Arts Council Members". Middlebury.edu. Retrieved 12 April 2015.

External links

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