Christopher Tsai (born December 20, 1974) is a

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...

investor and noted

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

. He is the founder of Tsai Capital Corporation, a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based

investment management Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...

firm.

Early life and education

Born in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

, to billionaire investor and philanthropist,

Gerald Tsai Gerald Tsai Jr. (; March 10, 1929 – July 9, 2008) was a billionaire investor and philanthropist who helped build Fidelity Investments into a mutual fund powerhouse. After starting Fidelity Investments' first publicly sold aggressive growth fund ...

, and model and actress, Marlyn C. Tsai, Tsai attended the

Brunswick School Brunswick School is a private, college-preparatory school for boys in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1902 by George B. Carmichael. History Brunswick School was founded in 1902 by George B. Carmichael. The school is a ...

, 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 18, Tsai studied securities analysis at the

New York Institute of Finance The New York Institute of Finance (NYIF) is an American Education Company that was founded by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1922. The institute provides continuing education to professionals in the finance Industry and corporations worldw ...

. Tsai attended Vermont's

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and International Politics and served on the Middlebury College Arts Council.

Career

Tsai began investing at the age of 11 when he purchased five shares of an insurance company. He used money he made from gardening for the investment and made a $25 profit. Tsai recounts he convinced the broker to waive the fee for the transaction as it was more than the profit he made from the investment. At the age of 16, Tsai began informally investing money for friends and business owners he knew from growing up in Connecticut. Tsai launched Tsai Capital in 1997 after working as an equity analyst for

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...

and interning for value investors

Mario Gabelli Mario Joseph Gabelli (born June 19, 1942) is an American stock investor, investment advisor, and financial analyst. He is the founder, chairman, and Chief executive officer, CEO of GAMCO Investors, Gabelli Asset Management Company Investors (Gam ...

and John A. Levin. Tsai credits

Benjamin Graham Benjamin Graham (; né Grossbaum; May 9, 1894 – September 21, 1976) was a British-born American economist, professor and investor. He is widely known as the "father of value investing", and wrote two of the founding texts in neoclassical inves ...

The Intelligent Investor ''The Intelligent Investor'' by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing. The book provides strategies on how to successfully use value investing in the stock market. Historically, the book has been o ...

and

Philip Arthur Fisher __NOTOC__ Philip Arthur Fisher (September 8, 1907 – March 11, 2004) was an American stock investor best known as the author of ''Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits'', a guide to investing that has remained in print since it was first published i ...

's Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits as two of his influences. His investment approach was also influenced by

Charlie Munger Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1, 1924) is an American billionaire investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney. He is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett; Buffett has described Mun ...

of Berkshire Hathaway. Tsai is president and chief investment officer of

Tsai Capital Tsai Capital Corporation is a Manhattan-based investment management and advisory firm. The company was founded by Christopher Tsai in 1997. Tsai is the son of the late American financier Gerald Tsai. The firm follows a value-oriented investment a ...

, an SEC-registered, value-oriented investment firm headquartered in New York City and focused on the long-term growth and preservation of capital. He founded the company in 1997 at the age of 22 and serves as chairperson of the firm's advisory committee Tsai has written articles about art as an investment, including commentary in ''Investment and Pensions Europe'' "about investing in art as an alternative assets class", and "Back Door to China," specifically advocating investment in

Chinese contemporary art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese c ...

, for '' Worth''.

Bloomberg, L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a ...

notes that he "has also been interviewed on

Bloomberg Radio Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market up ...

, China Money Network,

Fox Business Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue ...

, nd The Street.com TV", and "has written extensively about investing in emerging markets". In 2014, Tsai launched Tsai Ventures, the venture capital arm of Tsai Capital. CrowdTangle, a Tsai Ventures portfolio company, was acquired by Facebook on Nov. 11, 2016. Founded in 2012, CrowdTangle had raised $2.2 million in venture funding from Tsai Ventures and other venture capital firms.

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 Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...

. Tsai attributes his love of art to his father who collected works by

Alexander Archipenko Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr; uk, Олександр Порфирович Архипенко, Romanized: Olexandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian and American ...

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his ...

and

Joan Mitchell Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artis ...

. Through the Stockamp Tsai Collection, Tsai regularly contributes artwork to museums. These museums have included the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York, the

Pérez Art Museum Miami The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Museum Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Center for t ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in London and the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Prior to deciding to build a collection around Ai, Tsai collected contemporary Chinese art broadly, beginning in 2003. Tsai traveled to China and acquired some 50 works by artists including

Fang Lijun Fang Lijun (; born 1963) is a Chinese artist based in Beijing. He was born into a wealthy family with a high social status. In the 1990s, there was a cultural movementLü, Peng. "21-New Art and Artists." A History of Art in 20th-Century China. Mil ...

Liu Xiaodong Liu Xiaodong (; born 1963 in Liaoning, China) is a contemporary Chinese artist. Education Liu was born in 1963 in the small industrial village of Jincheng, a pulp and paper-producing center on the outskirts of Jinzhou in Liaoning province. A ...

, Xie Nanxing,

Zhang Huan Zhang Huan (; born 1965) is a Chinese artist based in Shanghai and New York City. He began his career as a painter and then transitioned to performance art before making a comeback to painting. He is primarily known for his performance work, but a ...

and

Zhang Xiaogang Zhang Xiaogang (; born in 1958) is a contemporary Chinese symbolist and surrealist painter. Paintings in his ''Bloodline'' series are predominantly monochromatic, stylized portraits of Chinese people, usually with large, dark-pupiled eyes, po ...

. In September 2004, Tsai published an article in

Worth Magazine ''Worth'' is an American financial, wealth management and lifestyle magazine founded in 1986 and re-launched by Sandow in 2009. The magazine addresses financial, legal and lifestyle issues for high-net-worth individuals. Each issue is organized ...

arguing that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued. In 2005, Tsai reiterated that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued, particularly when compared with contemporary Mexican artists. Tsai adheres to a well-defined methodology in making art acquisitions, balancing instinct and analysis. Tsai has expressed interest in collecting the work of

David Hammons David Hammons (born July 24, 1943) is an American artist, best known for his works in and around New York City and Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s. Early life David Hammons was born in 1943 in Springfield, Illinois, the youngest of ten ...

and

Berlinde De Bruyckere Berlinde De Bruyckere (born 1964) is a Belgian contemporary artist. De Bruyckere specializes in sculpture in various media including wax, wood, wool, horse skin and hair, though she also works in watercolour, gouache, and since the early 1990s ma ...

. 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." Tsai has been critical of art speculators looking to buy art for short-term financial gain.

Personal life

In addition to Tsai being the son of a famous investor, his grandmother, Ruth Tsai, was a pioneer for women in Shanghai. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she was the only woman to trade on the floor of the

Shanghai Stock Exchange The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the three stock exchanges operating independently in mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exc ...

until Japanese troops occupied the

Shanghai International Settlement The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction ...

on December 8, 1941, and trading was abruptly halted. Tsai is married to André Stockamp. Tsai is a know philanthropist and has supported organizations such as the

Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Man ...

, the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, and the

World Monuments Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...

to name a few.

References

External links