He has used his assets to make investments well beyond the cerebral. He is the largest shareholder in peer-to-peer giant LendingClub Corp. and in the rural U.S. hospital chain Community Health Systems Inc. He also holds chunky stakes in Legg Mason Inc. and KKR & Co. He’s even bought up more than 700,000 acres of timberland in the U.S. and Canada.
Chen’s influence in China endures. Several of his lieutenants have gone on to become stars in their own right, including Daniel Zhang, who was Shanda’s former chief finance officer and is now Alibaba’s chief executive officer.
Former Shanda employees gather for a reunion every year, an event the founder never attends. This year though, Chen surprised the 1,700 attendees in Shanghai on July 30 with a 10-minute video. Many of them got up to take photos of the man they hadn’t seen in almost 10 years.
In the end, Shanda’s business couldn’t keep pace with the emerging titans of China’s tech industry. Alibaba’s dominance in e-commerce gave it profits to invest in new business lines and promising startups. Tencent has a similar strategic edge through control of messaging services like WeChat, while Baidu owns the search business. Today, Alibaba’s Ma is China’s richest man with a net worth of $43.6 billion, while Tencent co-founder Pony Ma is worth $33.2 billion,
Back in his office in Singapore, Chen says he has few regrets. He applauds Alibaba and Tencent for doing a “very good job,’’ and says he’s thankful for the pause he’s had in his life. He’s ready to move on to his next adventure and leave his 30-something self behind.
“I look at him and think he was a bright young man,” says Chen. “But I need to let that Tianqiao stay there and move forward.’’
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.