{{Short description|Chinese-American investor and art collector}} {{Infobox person | name = Christopher Tsai | caption = Christopher Tsai | birth_name = Christopher Tsai | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1974|12|20}} | birth_place = Greenwich, Connecticut, United States | education = Middlebury College (BA)<ref name="Bloomberg">{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=257079422&privcapId=257119604|title=Christopher Tsai: Executive Profile & Biography|publisher=Bloomberg, L.P.|access-date=February 28, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.twst.com/bio/christopher-tsai/|title=Tsai, Christopher|publisher=The Wall Street Transcript|access-date=March 2, 2017}}</ref> | occupation = Investor | boards = | parents = Gerald Tsai <br /> Marlyn C. Tsai | children = 2<ref>{{cite web | last = Brehm | first = Matthew | title = A Tesla backer wants Elon Musk to spend less time at DOGE and more time making cars | website = Business Insider | date = 2025-03-18 | url = https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-backer-wants-musk-spend-less-time-doge-2025-3 | access-date = 2025-03-18}}</ref> | spouse = André Stockamp<ref>{{cite web | last = Brehm | first = Matthew | title = A Tesla backer wants Elon Musk to spend less time at DOGE and more time making cars | website = Business Insider | date = 2025-03-18 | url = https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-backer-wants-musk-spend-less-time-doge-2025-3 | access-date = 2025-03-18}}</ref> | website = [http://www.tsaicapital.com/ Tsai Capital] }}
'''Christopher Tsai''' (born December 20, 1974) is a Chinese-American investor<ref name=PBeachDay>{{cite news|last1=Vujovich|first1=Dian|title=Tsai Capital founder discusses growth of Passport SMA|url=http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/local/a-long-term-strategy/nkQHK/|access-date=9 April 2015|publisher=Palm Beach Daily|date=11 March 2015|archive-date=26 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426113331/http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/local/a-long-term-strategy/nkQHK/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and noted art collector.<ref name="Miami Herald">{{cite news|title=China Becoming a Major Player in International Art World|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/jordan-levin/article4279669.html|access-date=25 August 2015|newspaper=Miami Herald}}</ref> He is the founder of Tsai Capital Corporation, a New York-based investment management firm.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tran|first1=Huang|title=Hedge Fund Shorting Emerging Markets|url=http://www.etf.com/sections/features/22378-hedge-fund-shorting-emerging-markets.html|access-date=30 July 2015|publisher=ETF.com|date=18 June 2014|archive-date=23 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723062610/http://www.etf.com/sections/features/22378-hedge-fund-shorting-emerging-markets.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Early life and education==
Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, to investor and philanthropist Gerald Tsai and model and actress Marlyn C. Tsai, Tsai was raised in a prominent family with connections to influential figures in business and real estate. He attended Brunswick School, a private college-preparatory school for boys in Greenwich, graduating in 1993. During his youth, Tsai was close with the Trump family, as his father was acquainted with Donald Trump when Trump was a Manhattan real estate mogul, and Tsai considered Donald Trump Jr. his best friend, often vacationing together.<ref>{{cite web | last=Press | first=Alex | title=Notable Tesla investor says he hopes Musk's government role is 'short-lived' | website=The Guardian | date=2025-03-16 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/15/christopher-tsai-elon-musk-tesla | access-date=2025-03-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |title=Elon Musk plans to send humanoid robot to Mars next year with Starlink |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/03/15/elon-musk-plans-send-humanoid-robot-mars-next-year-starlink/ |access-date=2025-05-01 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2025-03-15}}</ref> Tsai began his career in finance at the age of 11, working for the Tsai family foundation.<ref name="Bloomberg"/> As a teenager, he would regularly telephone Alan Courtney "Ace" Greenberg,<ref name=":0" /> who managed a custodian account for Tsai, to ask him why he was buying certain companies like Schlumberger. Tsai also had the opportunity to learn from other Wall Street CEOs like Laurence Tisch, who was his sister’s godfather. At age 18, Tsai studied securities analysis at the New York Institute of Finance.<ref name="The New York Sun">{{cite news|url=http://www.nysun.com/business/tsai-method-of-selection-stick-to-the-fundamentals/17304/|title=The Tsai Method of Selection: Stick to the Fundamentals|date=20 July 2005|newspaper=The New York Sun|last1=Gupte|first1=Pranay|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref>
Tsai attended Vermont's Middlebury College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and International Politics<ref name="Bloomberg"/> and served on the Middlebury College Arts Council.<ref name="ForbesLifeBiggest">{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2014/06/19/at-home-with-the-worlds-largest-ai-weiwei-collection/|title=At Home With The World's Biggest Ai Weiwei Collector: 'He Is Still Vastly Undervalued'|date=30 June 2014|publisher=Forbes Life|last1=Elliot|first1=Hannah|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="BarronNotFather">{{cite news|url=http://online.barrons.com/articles/SB109305244568997507?tesla=y|title=Not Hist Father's Style|date=23 August 2014|publisher=Barrons|last1=Martin|first1=Neil A.|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref>
==Career== === Early investment experience ===
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.<ref name="BusineInsideHedFunMeet">{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-tsai-launches-venture-capital-fund-2014-2|title=Meet The Hedge Funder Whose Finance Roots Date Back To The Shanghai Stock Exchange During WWII|date=11 February 2014|website=The Business Insider|last1=La Roche|first1=Julia|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> 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.<ref name="BoutiqueWeek">{{cite news|last1=Huang|first1=Vicky Ge|title=Boutique of the Week Tsai Capital Corporation|url=http://citywireusa.com/news/boutique-of-the-week-tsai-capital-corporation/a1032465|publisher=CityWire|date=20 July 2017}}</ref>
At the age of 16, Tsai began informally investing money for friends and business owners he knew from growing up in Greenwich. One of those “clients” was the owner of a Chinese restaurant who entrusted Tsai with his life savings of around $400,000. That early investor became one of Tsai’s first clients when he started his firm.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Klebnikov |first=Sergei |title=An Accidental Momentum Investor's Market-Beating Strategy |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2023/09/02/an-accidental-momentum-investors-market-beating-strategy/ |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>
Tsai launched Tsai Capital in 1997 after working as an equity analyst for Bear Stearns and interning for value investors Mario Gabelli and John A. Levin.<ref name="BusineInsideHedFunMeet"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Van Doorn|first1=Philip|title=This money manager aims to hold on to stocks for decades|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-money-manager-aims-to-hold-on-to-stocks-for-decades-2017-06-13|access-date=11 December 2017|publisher=Market Watch|date=14 June 2017}}</ref> Tsai credits Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor and Philip Arthur Fisher's Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits as two of his influences.<ref name="BusineInsideHedFunMeet"/> His investment approach was also strongly influenced by Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway.<ref>{{cite web |title=Modern Alchemy |url=http://privateair.uberflip.com/i/478819-spring-2015/32 |website=Private Air New York |access-date=26 September 2019}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=About Tsai {{!}} Tsai Capital Corporation |url=https://tsaicapital.com/about-us.php |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=tsaicapital.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Art of Long Term Investing |url=https://www.investmentnews.com/investing/features/the-art-of-long-term-investing-249923 |website=InvestmentNews |access-date=29 March 2023}}</ref>
=== Tsai Capital Corporation === Tsai is president and chief investment officer of Tsai Capital, 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.<ref name="The New York Sun" /><ref name="ForbesLifeBiggest" /><ref name="BusineInsideHedFunMeet"/>
=== Media and publications === Tsai has written for "Investment & Pensions Europe" about art as an alternative investment class, and he is the author of "Back Door to China", published in ''Worth'', in which he favors investment in Chinese contemporary art.<ref name="Bloomberg" /> Bloomberg, L.P. notes that he "has also been interviewed on Bloomberg Radio, China Money Network, Fox Business, [and] The Street.com TV", and "has written extensively about investing in emerging markets".<ref name="Bloomberg" /> Tsai is the author of "Investing in an Age of Disruption", in which Tsai argues that investors continually underestimate the speed at which disruption, or disruptive innovation, transforms business and society.<ref>{{cite news |date=11 October 2023 |title=Christopher Tsai: Investing in an Age of Disruption |publisher=EquityMates |url=https://equitymates.com/general/christopher-tsai-investing-in-an-age-of-disruption/ |access-date=11 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Investing in an Age of Disruption by Christopher Tsai {{!}} Tsai Capital Corporation |url=https://tsaicapital.com/investing-in-an-age-of-disruption.php |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=tsaicapital.com}}</ref> Tsai is also the author of "The Power and Challenges of Compounding", in which Tsai states investors should think long-term and recognize that even the most exceptional businesses go through difficult periods and growing pains.<ref>{{cite news |date=27 March 2024 |title=The Power and Challenges of Compounding |publisher=Asset Digest |url=https://assetdigest.com/the-power-and-challenges-of-compounding/ |access-date=29 March 2024}}</ref> In a 2025 interview with Business Insider, Tsai praised Elon Musk, calling him “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time” for his innovative leadership at Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, highlighting Musk’s impact on technology and business.<ref name="BusinessInsider2025">{{cite news |last=La Roche |first=Julia |title=Hedge Fund Manager Christopher Tsai on Why He Admires Elon Musk |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/christopher-tsai-elon-musk-2025-1 |website=Business Insider |date=January 15, 2025 |access-date=June 5, 2025}}{{dead link|date=June 2025}}</ref>
=== Other business ventures === In 2011, Tsai joined an investor group, led by Brad Jacobs (businessman), that took control of Express-1 Expedited Solutions (now XPO, Inc.). The group provided $150 million of financing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=def14a |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1166003/000095012311072322/k50546ddef14a.htm |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=www.sec.gov}}</ref>
In 2014, Tsai launched Tsai Ventures, the venture capital arm of Tsai Capital.<ref name="BusineInsideHedFunMeet" /> 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.<ref name="BusineInsideHedFunMeet" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-buys-crowdtangle-social-media-tracking-tool-2016-11|title=Facebook just bought CrowdTangle, a tool that publishers use to dominate social media|newspaper=Business Insider|access-date=2016-11-23}}</ref>
==Art collection==
Tsai is an avid art collector. Tsai first focused on collecting contemporary Chinese art. Tsai is the world's largest collector of works by Ai Weiwei.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Elliott |first1=Hannah |date=29 June 2014 |title=At Home with The World's Biggest Ai Weiwei Collector |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2014/06/19/at-home-with-the-worlds-largest-ai-weiwei-collection/?sh=27e04dcf350c |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref> In 2006, Tsai commissioned Ai and the Swiss-based architectural firm, HHF Architects, to design a private residence in Upstate New York that would serve as an exhibition space for the Stockamp Tsai Collection.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bernstein |first1=Fred |date=7 November 2008 |title=Global Summit |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/style/tmagazine/09tsaiw.html |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref> Following completion of the main house, Tsai commissioned Ai to build a guest house, which won an American Architecture Awards in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cascone |first1=Sarah |date=6 April 2021 |title=The Only Home Ai Weiwei Ever Designed in the US Just Sold for a Whopping $4.9 Million in Upstate New York |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ai-weiwei-designed-house-sells-1957266 |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref>
Tsai attributes his love of art to his father who collected works by Alexander Archipenko, Alexander Calder and Joan Mitchell. Through the Stockamp Tsai Collection, Tsai regularly contributes artwork to museums. These museums have included the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.<ref name="Miami Herald"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Ai Weiwei|url=http://www.artslantstreet.com/artists/show/4565-ai-weiwei|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923174255/http://www.artslantstreet.com/artists/show/4565-ai-weiwei|archive-date=2015-09-23|url-status=dead|access-date=2019-08-18|publisher=ARTslant}}</ref>
Prior to deciding to build a collection around Ai, Tsai collected contemporary Chinese art broadly, beginning in 2003.<ref name="Miami Herald"/> Tsai traveled to China and acquired some 50 works by artists including Fang Lijun, Liu Xiaodong, Xie Nanxing, Zhang Huan and Zhang Xiaogang.<ref name=BAIweiwei/> In September 2004, Tsai published an article in Worth Magazine arguing that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued.<ref name=BAIweiwei>{{cite news|last1=Moriarity|first1=Bridget|title=A Concentrated Vision: Cultivating an Ai Weiwei Collection|url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1123311/a-concentrated-vision-cultivating-an-ai-weiwei-collection|access-date=9 April 2015|publisher=Blouin Art Info|date=28 March 2015|archive-date=9 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409194221/http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1123311/a-concentrated-vision-cultivating-an-ai-weiwei-collection|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2005, Tsai reiterated that contemporary Chinese art was undervalued, particularly when compared with contemporary Mexican artists.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mazurkewich|first1=Karen|title=The Art World's Newest Love: Contemporary Chinese Works|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB112076442651279843|access-date=30 July 2015|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=8 July 2005}}</ref>
Tsai adheres to a well-defined methodology in making art acquisitions, balancing instinct and analysis.<ref name=BAIweiwei/> Tsai has expressed interest in collecting the work of David Hammons and Berlinde De Bruyckere.<ref name="BAIweiwei"/> 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."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dailey|first1=Meghan|title=The Long View|url=http://www.sothebys.com/de/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/sotheby-s-magazine--may-2015/2015/04/christopher-tsai-long-view.html|access-date=21 June 2015|publisher=Sotheby's Magazine|date=21 April 2015}}</ref> Tsai has been critical of art speculators looking to buy art for short-term financial gain.<ref name="Miami Herald"/>
==Personal life==
Tsai is a third-generation investor whose financial roots date back to World War II. In addition to Tsai being the son of Gerald Tsai, his grandmother, Ruth Tsai, was a pioneer for women in Shanghai.<ref name=BusineInsideHedFunMeet/><ref name=":1" /> During World War II, Tsai's grandmother was the only woman to trade on the floor of the Shanghai Stock Exchange until Japanese troops occupied the Shanghai International Settlement on December 8, 1941, and trading was abruptly halted.<ref name=BusineInsideHedFunMeet/> Tsai is married to André Stockamp.<ref name=ArtNewsCollWants>{{cite news|last1=Gerlis |first1=Melanie |title=Collector wants to open first Ai Weiwei museum |url=http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Collector-wants-to-open-first-Ai-Weiwei-museum/32675 |access-date=5 December 2014 |newspaper=The Art Newspaper |date=14 May 2014 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519070927/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Collector-wants-to-open-first-Ai-Weiwei-museum/32675 |archive-date=19 May 2014 }}</ref>
Tsai is a philanthropist who has supported causes primarily related to the arts, including organizations such as the Asia Society, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Jewish Museum (Manhattan).<ref>{{cite web | last = Brehm | first = Matthew | title = A Tesla backer wants Elon Musk to spend less time at DOGE and more time making cars | website = Business Insider | date = 2025-03-18 | url = https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-backer-wants-musk-spend-less-time-doge-2025-3 | access-date = 2025-03-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Private Alchemy |url=http://privateair.uberflip.com/i/478819-spring-2015/33?m4= |website=Private Air New York |access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thejewishmuseum.org/press/press-release/the-sassoons|title=The Sassoons|publisher=The Jewish Museum|accessdate=2025-07-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thejewishmuseum.org/support/annual-campaigns/|title=Annual Campaigns|publisher=The Jewish Museum|accessdate=2025-07-02}}</ref>
==See also== * Tsai Performance Center
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [http://www.tsaicapital.com/ Tsai Capital official website] * [http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3719675631001/the-cost-of-doing-business-in-china/#sp=show-clips Fox Business video with Christopher Tsai - The cost of doing business in China.]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsai, Christopher}} Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:American finance and investment writers Category:American financial analysts Category:American financial company founders Category:American financiers Category:American hedge fund managers Category:American investors Category:American money managers Category:American stock traders Category:Brunswick School alumni Category:Businesspeople from Greenwich, Connecticut Category:Businesspeople from New York (state) Category:Middlebury College alumni Category:Private equity and venture capital investors Category:Stock and commodity market managers Category:Bear Stearns people