Donald Tang is a Chinese and American billionaire

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

who serves as executive chairman of Shein Group, a global online on-demand fashion retailer. He is the former vice chairman of

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was an American investment bank, securities trading, and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 during the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. After its closure it was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chas ...

and former chairman and CEO of Bear Stearns Asia. He also founded Tang Media Partners.

Early life and education

Tang was born in

Shanghai, China Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, where his parents were college professors. At the age of 18, in 1982, he followed his girlfriend Jean to Los Angeles after she and her family immigrated to America. After he arrived in Los Angeles, Jean and Donald married, and they both became U.S. citizens. Working in a series of restaurant jobs to finance his education, Tang graduated from

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a Public university, public Institute of Technology (United States)#Polytechnic universities, polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the l ...

, in 1986 with a chemical engineering degree.

Career

Finance career

Tang's career in finance began at Merrill Lynch & Co. in 1987 on the institutional equity sales team, later moving to Lehman Brothers and concentrating on fixed income institutional sales. He joined

in 1992 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

as senior managing director of investment banking. In 1993, he was appointed president and chief executive officer of Bear Stearns Asia and moved to its

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

office, subsequently being named chairman of Bear Stearns Asia. From 1993 to 1999, he built up its Asian operations, opening offices in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. While in Hong Kong, Tang was elected to the board of directors of Bear Stearns & Co. in 1997. In March 1999, Tang moved to Chicago and managed the Bear Stearns Midwest Region. In 2001, he was elected vice chairman of the Bear Stearns board of directors. Later in 2001 he was transferred to Los Angeles, with a dual mandate to both manage its West Coast operations and, as chairman and CEO of Bear Stearns Asia, to supervise all activity in Asia. In 2003, Tang was appointed chairman and president of Bear Stearns International Holdings. Tang advised an arm of the

CITIC Group CITIC Group Corporation Ltd., formerly the China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC), is a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China, established by Rong Yiren in 1979 with the approval of Deng Xiaoping. ...

during its $1.15 billion acquisition of Nations Energy in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. He led the Bear Stearns team representing Hunan Valin Group, a Chinese steel company, when it sold a 37% stake to

Mittal Steel Company Mittal Steel Company N.V., incorporated in the Netherlands and headquartered in the United Kingdom, was a steel producer. In 2006, it produced 110.5 million tonnes of steel and had annual production capacity of 138 million tons of steel. In August ...

(now

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation, headquartered in Luxembourg City. It is ranked second on the list of steel producers behind Baowu, and had an annual crude steel production of 58 millio ...

) in what was then the largest acquisition by an international strategic investor of a Chinese-listed firm. Under Tang's leadership, Bear Stearns Asia was the financial advisor to the telecommunications giant

China Mobile China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese State-owned enterprises of China, state-owned telecommunicationsStrait deals ''The Econ ...

and jointly led its secondary offering. Bear Stearns was the financial advisor and co-lead manager for the IPO of China Telecom. Bear Stearns Asia under Tang was also the financial advisor for Guangshen Railway Co Ltd., Beijing Yanhua Petrochemical Ltd., and Yanzhou Coal Mining Co Ltd., arranging financial transactions in their respective industries.

Career in media

In 2012, Tang facilitated the deal that resulted in

Dalian Wanda Wanda Group (), or the Dalian Wanda Group (), is a Chinese multinational conglomerate founded in Dalian, Liaoning, and headquartered in Beijing. The conglomerate's core businesses are a private property developer and an entertainment compan ...

, a leading Chinese conglomerate, acquiring AMC Entertainment Holdings for $2.6 billion. In 2015, he founded Tang Media Partners (TMP), a media holding company based in Los Angeles and Shanghai. In June 2016, Tang Media Partners acquired majority ownership of the international film, television, and music production sales and distribution company IM Global, and announced a partnership involving IM Global and China's social media giant Tencent to form a new television production joint venture called IM Global TV. In 2017, Tang Media Partners purchased the U.S. motion picture distributor

Open Road Films Open Road Films, LLC (formerly known briefly as Global Road Entertainment) is an American independent film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Tom Ortenberg on March 26, 2011, as a joint ven ...

from AMC and Regal, and created

Global Road Entertainment Open Road Films, LLC (formerly known briefly as Global Road Entertainment) is an American independent film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Tom Ortenberg on March 26, 2011, as a joint ven ...

as an operating unit incorporating Open Road, IM Global, and IM Global TV.

Shein

In November 2022, Tang joined global online on-demand fashion retailer Shein Group as executive vice chairman, after having served as advisor to the company's CEO and cofounder Chris Xu (Sky Xu) for over a year. As of August 2023, Tang is executive chairman of Shein Group. Under his stewardship, Shein and SPARC group entered into an agreement to expand Shein's retail reach.

Board memberships

Tang is a former member of the boards of trustees of

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

(LACMA),

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

UCLA Medical Center Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (also commonly referred to as UCLA Medical Center, RRMC or Ronald Reagan) is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United S ...

, and

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

. He is a former member of the board of councilors of

USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is a part of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It has 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students. Willow Bay is the dean. Prof. Hector Amaya is the Director of the Sc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Donald Living people American chief executives of financial services companies American financial businesspeople American investment bankers Bear Stearns Businesspeople from California Businesspeople from Shanghai California State Polytechnic University, Pomona alumni Chinese emigrants to the United States Lehman Brothers people Merrill (company) people Members of the Committee of 100 1963 births