Chen Tianqiao (); born 1973) is a Chinese businessman and philanthropist. (published 01-25-20) (published 12-21-20) (published 05-23-20) His wealth is estimated at US$4 billion. Chen moved from Shanghai to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in 2009 and then to the

Bay Area, California The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, San Pablo Bay, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuary, estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is de ...

in 2017. (published 11-02-2017) He co-founded the

Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute (also referred to as the Chen Institute or TCCI) is a non-profit institute founded by husband and wife Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo with the aim of supporting study into the human brain. In 2016 the coup ...

in 2016.

Early life and education

Chen was born in 1973 in a city in the

Zhejiang Province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...

, China. With his father working as an engineer and his mother teaching middle school English, Chen and his younger brother

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretaceous� ...

grew up near Shanghai. In 1993 He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

Career

Chen joined the state-run property developer Shanghai Lujiazui Group in 1994, holding management positions in the public relations office and also secretary of the chairman. In 1998 he became vice director of the office of the president of Kinghing Trust & Investment. Chen resigned from this role in 1999. He started Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited as an online games company with his family in 1999. (published 12-26-2016) He became board president. Shanda Interactive became the first Chinese online games company listed in the U.S. on

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

in May 2004. Shanda is known for creating and promoting a

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...

model for online games subscription in China. The company became the largest Internet company in China by

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...

in 2004. (published 12-06-20) In 2004 Chen was second on China's '' Hurun Review'' rich list. (published 11-08-20)

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

voted him their leading "Rising Business Star." (published 09-09-20) He was put on the 100 Innovators Under 35 list put out by the ''

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

''. (published 10-01-20) Shanda Group went private in early 2012, with Chen, his wife, and his brother keeping a combined 57% stake. Tianqiao Chen and his family sold all their stakes in Shanda Games in November 2014, after which Shanda Group refocused on investing. With Chen remaining chairman and CEO, by early 2017 Shanda Group was the

majority shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal owner ...

Legg Mason Legg Mason was an American investment management and asset management firm headquartered in Baltimore, founded in 1899 and acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments as of July 2020. As of December 31, 2019, the company had $730.8 billion in asse ...

Lending Club LendingClub is a financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was the first peer-to-peer lender to register its offerings as securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and to offer loan trading o ...

, and

Community Health Systems Community Health Systems (CHS) is a Fortune 500 company based in Franklin, Tennessee. It was the largest provider of general hospital healthcare services in the United States in terms of number of acute care facilities. In 2014, CHS had around 20 ...

. (published 01-25-2018) (published 08-17-2017) It also had property operations in China and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and stakes in companies such as

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

. Shanda sold its stakes in Sotheby's in 2017 and then it sold its stake Legg Mason later that year, and then Chen resigned as vice-chairman of the Legg Mason board. Chen has invested in the venture funds Propel(x) and Ubiquity Ventures. Ranked on various rich lists, (2005) Chen personally had $4 billion in net value in 2017 and was ranked as the 93rd richest person in China, according to the ''Hurun Report''. (published 10-12-2018) (published 2014) In 2018, the Committee of 100 gave Chen an award for Lifetime Achievement as Tech Entrepreneur. (published 06-03-20)

Boards

Chen is chairman of the Shanda Group, and is also on the boards of various portfolio companies. (published 01-31-2017) Chen is married to Qianqian "Chrissy" Luo who in 2022 joined the Board of Governors of the Huntington Library and Gardens and the Board of Trustees of the California Academy of Sciences.

Philanthropy

Chen and his wife have donated money to medical programs, education, and

disaster relief Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...

in China and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. (published 12-13-20) Chen and his wife created the

in 2016, and set aside US $1 billion to the non-profit to support

fundamental Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental" * Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...

brain research. The non-profit has funded and partnered with the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, and the Zhou Liangu Foundation and Huashan Hospital in Shanghai. The couple was named '' Inside Philanthropy's'' 2017 Science Funders of the Year, and that same year Chen was named one of ''Forbes Asia’s'' Heroes of Philanthropy. According to ''

Barron's Barron's or Barrons may refer to: *Barron's Educational Series, a publisher of books, as well as college entrance exam preparation classes and materials, now an imprint of Kaplan Test Prep ** B.E.S. Publishing, the former owner of Barron's * ''Barr ...

'', the Chens as of 2019 were dedicating much of their time to the institute, with a focus on "compiling data gathered from universities on post-doc programs into a

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

that should allow them to better understand the challenges postdocs face, including pressures to leave for industry." After the post-doctoral focus and a second documentary, Chen wanted the institute to "facilitate the integration of neuroscience,

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

, and even

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

" to study "who we are" as humans.''Barron's''
accessed November 13, 2019

Personal life

Chen and his wife Qianqian "Chrissy" Luo. moved from Shanghai to Singapore in 2009, then from Singapore to the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

of California in late 2017. They are currently residents of

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; ...

. (published 12-21-2018) Chen bought in 2018 for $39 million a historic mansion built for Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in 1881 on East 69th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. (published 03-29-20) (published 03-15-18)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Tianqiao 1973 births Billionaires from Zhejiang Living people People from Xinchang County Fudan University alumni Shanda people Businesspeople from Shaoxing Chinese philanthropists Chinese company founders