Tsai Wan-lin (
Despite his family background, Tsai rose out of destitution to became one of the nation's legends -- one of those who have developed massive enterprises from scratch.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
At the age of eight, Tsai followed his elder brother, Tsai Wan-chun (
His business career started to take off after he established the Cathay Life Insurance Corp (
Cathay Life later become the flagship of Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控) and the group's main earnings contributor. At the end of June, Cathay Life accounted for 62 percent of Cathay Financial's consolidated assets of NT$2.5 trillion and 58 percent of the financial service company's capital of NT$146.7 billion, according to Taiwan Ratings Corp's (中華信評) statistics.
The family's financial group split in 1979 and in 1985, Tsai Wan-lin formed the Lin Yuan Group (
The group later evolved to include Symphox Information Co (
Earlier this year, Tsai and his family were estimated to hold assets worth US$4.6 billion, ranking 94th richest in the world, according to a Forbes report published in February. The nation's richest man had ranked 88th, 68th and 104th in the magazine's list in the previous three years.
Tsai Wan-lin moved to keep the business in the family. When he was 66, he began to make arrangements for his succession, putting his four sons in the business.
Currently, his second son, Tsai Hong-tu (
His third son, Tsai Cheng-yu (
Tsai's success in amassing a fortune out of nothing came from his bold yet precise investments in real estate. Cathay Life owns 230 buildings nationwide, with many located in prosperous downtown areas such as Taipei Main Station. These buildings contribute billions of NT dollars in rent every year, according to local media reports.
Tsai Wan-lin's younger brother, meanwhile, Tsai Wan-tsai (蔡萬才), is the fifth richest man in the nation, ranking 231 on the Forbes list this year, with US$2.3 billion in assets. Tsai Wan-tsai heads Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the fifth-biggest financial services company with NT$1.26 trillion in assets last year.
Relations between the brothers had been strained for most of last 20 years, however, due to a financial scandal involving their nephew, Tsai Chern-chou (
In 1985, Tsai Chern-chou became embroiled in a controversy after embezzling over NT$7.8 billion from the 10th Credit Cooperative of Taipei (
On the business front, the brothers were rivals as well. The Cathay and Fubon groups have competed for dominance in the financial market.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
RSS