Chen Tianqiao (); born 1973) is a Chinese businessman who founded Shanda Group.

Early life and education

Chen was born in

Xinchang County Xinchang County () is a county in the east-central part of Zhejiang province, administratively under the municipal government of Shaoxing Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang pro ...

, Zhejiang Province, China in 1973 and grew up near Shanghai with 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 Cretac ...

. His father was an engineer and his mother was a middle school English teacher. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from

Fudan University Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...

in 1993. (published 05-23-20)

Career

Chen started at the

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

Shanghai Lujiazui Group in 1994, holding management positions in the

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

office before becoming secretary to the chairman. In 1998, he became the vice director of the office of the president at Kinghing Trust & Investment before resigning in 1999. In 1999, Chen started the online gaming company

Shanda Shanda Group is a privately-owned multinational investment firm. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Redwood City, the firm invests in public markets, real estate and venture capital, focusing on companies in the field ...

with members of his family. (published 12-26-2016) The company went on to become the largest Internet company 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 ...

in China in 2004. (published 12-06-20) That same year, Chen was second on the ''Hurun Report'''s "rich list", (published 11-08-20) was voted

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...

's "Rising Business Star", (published 09-09-20) and was featured in ''

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...

Innovators Under 35 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by '' MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at '' Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.co ...

list. (published 10-01-20) Shanda Group went private in early 2012, with Chen, his wife, and his brother keeping a combined 57% stake. In 2015, Chen, as the

beneficial owner Beneficial may refer to: Organizations * Beneficial Corporation, a consumer finance company founded in 1914 that was ultimately bought by HSBC Corporation ** Beneficial Loan Society, the former name of Beneficial Corporation ** Beneficial Finance, ...

of Shanda Asset Management, acquired over 80,127 hectares of land in Oregon from

Fidelity National Financial Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF), is an American provider of title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries. A Fortune 500 company, Fidelity National Financial generated approximately $8.469 b ...

for US$85 million, making him one of the largest foreign owners of land in the United States. 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 corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the le ...

Legg Mason Legg Mason, Inc. 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 i ...

Lending Club LendingClub Corporation is an American financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was the first peer-to-peer lender to register its offerings as Security (finance), securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange ...

, 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 2 ...

. (published 12-21-20) (published 01-25-2018) (published 08-17-2017) It also had property operations in China and North America and stakes in companies such as

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

. 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. (published 01-25-20) Chen has invested in the venture funds Propel(x) and Ubiquity Ventures.''Barron's''
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, Chen purchased 500,000 acres in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The same year, the Committee of 100 gave Chen an award for Lifetime Achievement as Tech Entrepreneur. (published 06-03-20)

Politics

According to ''

China Youth Daily The ''China Youth Daily'' ( zh, s=中国青年报, t=, p=) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. It has been the newspaper of the Communist Youth League of China since 1951. It has occasional ...

'', Chen joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

at age 18 and was elected to the central committee of

Communist Youth League of China The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC; also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League or CYL) is a people's organization of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, r ...

in Shanghai. In 2008, Chen was appointed to the 11th National Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

(CPPCC). In 2013, Chen was appointed to the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC. He resigned from the CPPCC in 2018.

Boards

Chen is chairman of the Shanda Group, and is also on the boards of various portfolio companies. (published 01-31-2017)

Personal life

Chen is married to Qianqian "Chrissy" Luo. They moved from Shanghai to Singapore in 2009, then from Singapore to the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

of California in late 2017. (published 11-02-2017) They are currently residents of

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

. (published 12-21-2018) In 2018, Chen bought a historic mansion built for Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in 1881 on East 69th Street on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

for $39 million. (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 company founders Members of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Chinese Communist Party politicians from Zhejiang