Forbes - Asia (March 2020)

49












ANDRE K OO






































































“We’re very good at finding
niche markets,” says Andre Koo,
who owns a controlling stake
in Chailease and is one of its
executive directors. “We are
very confident we can manage
the risk profiles for those
markets very well.”

→ Andre Koo Sr.



can thank his

50
expertise in leasing

OFILE for making him a


THE PR member of Taiwan’s






50 richest list, with



an estimated net



worth of $2.3 billion.






In 1997 he took the helm of Chailease Holdings, a Taipei-
based listed company founded by his late father Jeffery Koo
Sr. in 1977. Long an also-ran in his family’s stable of finan-
cial firms, Koo turned Chailease into one of the fastest grow-
ing leasing companies in Asia, whose stock has risen seven- ROOM DESPITE CHINA BEING THE
fold in the last nine years into a $5.5 billion market cap firm. TO GROW WORLD’S SECOND-LARGEST
COUNTRY BY LEASING
His secret to growth for the $1.7 billion (annual sales) VOLUME, ITS PENETRATION
company is identifying businesses too small or too special- RATE IS RELATIVELY LOW,
IMPLYING ENORMOUS
ized for banks to lend to. “We’re very good at finding niche POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH.
markets,” says Koo, 52, who owns a controlling stake in 22%
Chailease and is one of its executive directors. “We are very
confident we can manage the risk profiles for those mar-
kets very well.” World’s top five leasing
Last year, Chailease earned a slot on the inaugural Best markets ranked by volume
Over A Billion list of the region’s 200 top-performing com- 7% Volume (US$ bil)
panies with $1 billion or more in sales. “Chailease has a Penetration rate*
unique and strong track record,” says DBS Research ana-
lyst Ken Shih in Hong Kong. Chailease’s 2019 results for the
first three quarters, released late November, were NT$12
billion ($386 million) on NT$43 billion revenues.
In the 1980s, Chailease leased construction equipment 428 254 92 73 66
to companies leading Taiwan’s industrialization, then fol-
lowed as they expanded across Asia, leasing them every- 33% 16% 5%
thing from cars and planes to kitchen equipment and ships.
Over the decades, it built a collection of what’s now called
Big Data on every industry it has financed. “Its key strength
is 30 years of data that helps it improve internal credit risk
models,” says Shih.
Koo is now ready to use those insights to further expand U.S. China U.K. Germany Japan
Chailease’s already-substantial mainland Chinese business,
* DEFINED AS A % OF TOTAL PRIVATE CAPITAL INVESTMENT
despite the coronavirus outbreak and a growing wave of SOURCE: WHITE CLARKE GLOBAL LEASING REPORT 2019 (DATA AS OF 2019)


F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

51












ANDRE K OO






Koo graduated from the New York Military Academy (left page).
Posing with his father Jeffrey Koo Sr. (left). As a cadet, Koo’s
responsibilities included caring for horses and their stables (top).
Koo says the academy drilled into him a strong work ethic and
discipline that he credits with his success today.







The youngest of Jeffrey Sr.’s three sons, Koo
started down a different path before becoming
chairman of Chailease. Lured by its glossy bro-
chures, he convinced his parents to enroll him
at age 14 in the New York Military Academy,
whose notable alumni include Donald Trump.
Once there, he found he wasn’t prepared for
the rigors of military school. “I thought about
quitting several times,” he says. He’s now glad
he stuck it out—he says the academy instilled
corporate defaults. Chailease’s lending in mainland China a strong work ethic and discipline that helped
grew 26% in 2019 to NT$131 billion ($4.4 billion), to more him to succeed.
than a third of the company’s almost $13 billion total port- Koo followed in his father’s footsteps to earn
folio. “We might slow down a little bit because of the vi- his M.B.A. from NYU’s Stern School in 1994,
rus situation,” says Chailease senior executive vice president then stayed in New York to work at real estate in-
Kevin Liao. Although Chailease’s Wuhan office is closed (for vestment firm Colony Capital for a year. “[Found-
now), he says: “We expect continuous growth in China in er] Thomas Barrack showed me the ropes and
the next 10, 20 years without question.” got me excited about real estate,” says Koo. “It
shaped what I wanted to do.”
hailease is only a small piece of a much larg-
Koo left Colony to oversee his family’s U.S.
C er family empire, started over a century ago property investments, including Hilton and
by Koo’s great grandfather, Koo Hsien-jung.
Radisson hotels across the country. “That was the
most enjoyable, fun part of my life,” he says of his
The crown jewel is CTBC Bank, founded by
COURTESY OF CHAILEASE HOLDINGS for a time by Koo’s oldest brother and Wharton grad Jef- Sr. called his youngest son back to Taiwan to join
Koo’s father Jeffrey Sr. in 1966 and helmed
two years in hospitality. In 1996, though, Jeffrey
a backwater of his empire, Chailease.
frey Jr., now 55. With $105 billion in assets in 2018, it is
Taiwan’s largest private bank by assets. Next is investment
Koo’s first assignment: learn about the divi-
sions under the Chailease brand. Chailease was
bank China Development Financial Holdings, with $100
billion in assets, where Jeffrey Sr.’s second son and Whar-
already filling a vital gap in Taiwan’s financial
ton alum Angelo Koo, 54, served for five years as chairman
ecosystem, providing loans to small companies
(and now runs one of its subsidiaries).


MAR CH 2020 that most banks shunned as too high-risk and
F ORBES A SIA

52



OFILE


THE PR












































































Koo has overhauled what was
once an also-ran in his family’s
stable of financial companies,
turning Chailease into a $1.7 billion
a year (sales) firm by identifying
businesses too small or specialized
for banks to lend to.

Over the decades, it built


a collection of what’s now


called Big Data on every 53


industry it has financed.







low-return to make. As Chailease expanded geographically,
it began expanding its offerings, too, adding lease-to-own
plans and accounts receivable financing.
When Koo joined, Chailease had a commanding, 40%
share of Taiwan’s leasing market. But as Koo delved, he dis-
From top:
covered that profits were being undermined by too many in- Koo Hsien-jung,
dividual units, each set up to satisfy regulations on its par- Koo Chen-Fu
and Jeffrey Koo Sr.
ticular product but then competing for identical customers.
“There was a lot of friction.” he says. In 1998, Koo proposed
merging Chailease’s trade financing unit with the leasing Family Tree
business to reduce redundancy. Jeffrey Sr. agreed on one DEEP ROOTS
condition: no layoffs. Koo agreed, but like most mergers,
combining two organizations ruffled feathers and sparked a Andre Koo comes from one of Taiwan’s
wave of exits. “If you ask me, the merger was a failure,” says most prominent business families,
Koo. “I wasn’t able to protect the mandate.” one whose fortunes stretch back over
In 2000, Koo called in consultants, who spent three years a century, starting with Koo’s great
helping him overhaul Chailease, and getting buy-in from grandfather Koo Hsien-jung. During the
Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, he
executives and staff. The overhaul worked: Koo has since became the first Taiwanese member in
boosted profits at Chailease 19-fold since taking over, ac- the upper house of Japan’s parliament.
cording to Liao. In addition, Koo also continued his father’s The Japanese government gave Koo a
efforts to expand into Southeast Asia, starting in Thailand monopoly in important commodities, in-
in 1989. Chailease followed Taiwan’s manufacturers into cluding salt, sugar and opium, the profits
from which he used to create the Koos
Vietnam in 2006, becoming by 2016 the largest leasing group. The group’s interests eventually
company there. In recent years it has ventured into Cambo- extended to cement, petrochemicals,
dia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Chailease plans to open manufacturing, real estate, commodities
offices in Indonesia and Singapore this year. and financial services.
The Koo family continued to thrive after
Southeast Asia now represents 15% of Chailease’s over- Taiwan came under the control of Chiang
all leasing portfolio, contributing 4% of net profit in 2019. Kai-shek. Hsien-jung’s eldest son Yue-fu
“They have developed a kind of expertise which is specif- died in 1936, leaving second son Chen-
ic to aircraft aviation financing, specifically in the midsize fu to take charge when the patriarch
CHEN-FU: CHERYL SHERIDAN BLACKSTAR PHOTOS/NEWSCOM
segments,” says Thierry Tea, chairman of Manila-based passed away the following year. Chen-fu
forged strong ties with Chiang as his
air charter firm PhilJets, which first signed a deal with wife Cecilia was a close aide of Madame
Chailease in 2015. Chiang Kai-shek. He also helped broker
warmer cross-Straits relations.
Yue-fu’s only son and Andre’s father,
he biggest growth, however, has been in
T mainland China, which represents 37% of Jeffrey Sr., started helping his uncle
Chen-fu run the Koos group in the
its portfolio. After entering the market in
would become CTBC Bank, and in 1977
2005, Koo wanted to raise funds for expan- 1950s. After setting up in 1966 what
sion, but Taiwan at the time prohibited in- creating Chailease, together they set up
vesting IPO proceeds on the mainland. So Koo held its IPO KGI Securities, the precursor to China
Development Financial Holding. Jeffrey
in Singapore, making Chailease the first Taiwan company Sr. introduced the first credit card to
to list there, selling a roughly 27% stake in 2007 for $170 Taiwan in 1944, and continued Chen-fu’s
million. After Taiwan lifted its restrictions, Chailease in work in promoting cross-Straits relations.
2011 delisted from Singapore and relisted in Taiwan. He passed away in 2012.


MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA

“‘Why do I have to give up my striction since 2016 on so-called shadow bank-
ing—from off-balance-sheet lending by banks to
passion for the service industry corporate lending and peer-to-peer loans. While
the crackdown was meant to slow China’s rising
to take on other responsibilities?’ debt load, it has also starved small companies of
54 funding, driving them to traditional leasing com-
I can manage both.” panies such as Chailease.
As China’s growth slows, defaults are rising and
OFILE interest rates falling, yet Koo is unfazed: rising de-
mand has helped it keep lending rates up even as
Now with 50 sales offices in mainland China, Koo wants
THE PR to expand further, despite the U.S.-China trade war and its funding costs fall. “Chailease is well positioned
to have strong bargaining power,” says Shih. And
the coronavirus. He aims to more than double Chailease’s
delinquencies, while rising 4% to NT$2.5 billion,
footprint to 120 offices by 2030, and boost China’s share are still less than 2% of Chailease’s total exposure
of Chailease’s portfolio to as much as half. His niche: Chi- in China. Indeed, Chailease default rates are low
na’s estimated 40 million small and midsized enterprises by global standards. Chailease says its proprietary
(SMEs). “We work with companies in the middle of the sup- model for managing credit risks—using its 40
ply chain,” Koo says. years of data—helps it manage default risk. Koo’s
Leasing is already growing fast in China: its $254 billion penchant for diversification is also key: not only
leasing market in 2019 experienced 20% growth, but is still has Chailease managed to diversify geographical-
equivalent to only 7% of total investment according to UK ly, it has spread its risk across various industries.
consultancy White Clarke’s data in the 2020 World Leasing “No single sector represents more than 10% of its
Yearbook. Leasing in China has also been helped by a re- portfolio,” says Hsu at Fitch.
















A wine connoisseur, Koo has collected him to start Les Terroir de Chailease,
roughly 50,000 bottles (bottom). In 2016,
he opened C.E.O. Beef Noodle (right) with which imports fine wines from Argen-
John Huang, CEO of Yellowstone Holding, tina, California and France to Taiwan. “I
selling the Koo-family favorite.
don’t buy the wineries because that’s a
money-losing business,” he says.
Then there’s Taiwan’s national dish,
beef noodles. Koo was raised on a
recipe perfected by Koo family chef
Tang Wen-ghuan, which uses beef
shank braised for eight hours in 23
spices. In 2016, he opened C.E.O. Beef
Noodle, located near Taipei’s famous
skyscraper Taipei 101, to sell the Koo-
RENAISSANCE MAN family favorite. “We were nominated
as one of the top 10 beef noodle shops
in Taiwan,” he says. He also sells frozen
Aside from Chailease, Koo has a number versions of Chef Tang’s Five Treasure
of privately held businesses, including Beef Noodle Soup, and has plans to
catering, hospitality and interior design. open branches overseas.
He’s especially proud of his wine and beef “I love the service industry,” says
noodle businesses, both of which grew Koo. Juggling these businesses with
out of his personal passions. “I love wine. Chailease is no problem, he says. “I’ve COURTESY OF CHAILEASE HOLDINGS
I’ve always enjoyed wine,” he says, and always thought to myself, ‘Why do I
has a collection of 50,000 bottles, which have to give up my passion for the ser-
he stores in cellars at home, office and vice industry to take on other responsi-
several other locations. That hobby led bilities?’ I can manage both.”



F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

WHAT DOES FREEDOM





MEAN TO YOU?






































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56



FEA TURES









































































Emerging power duo:
Behdad Eghbali and José
E. Feliciano of Clearlake
Capital, which made $800
million on its recent sale of
Sage Automotive alone.

FEATURES






PRIVA TE E QUITY’S



M
NEW BILLIONAIRE 57




MA CHINE


































































AS CALLS FOR TAXES ON THE SUPERRICH GROW
LOUDER, WALL STREET’S SMARTEST DEALMAKERS HAVE

QUIETLY DISCOVERED A NEW WAY TO UNLOCK VALUE
AND CIRCUMVENT TAXES. IT’S MINTING BUYOUT
BILLIONAIRES BY THE DOZEN.









BY NATHAN VARDI AND ANTOINE GARA PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT GALLAGHER FOR FORBES


MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA

part of a new guard of private equity titans who
are taking advantage of a world awash in cheap
capital and tax advantages and driving a boom in
the buyout business.
As investment banks and hedge funds struggle,
private equity—a business predicated on raising
capital subject to long-term lockups to invest in
assets using large amounts of leverage—is enjoy-
58 When the Detroit Pistons ing go-go times. The decade-long bull market has
FEA TURES → 13.7% over the 15 years ending March 31, 2019,
helped the group log average annual returns of

opened their 2017-2018
according to Cambridge Associates, compared
with 8.6% for the S&P 500. In 2018 alone, PE
deals amounted to some $1.4 trillion, and in the
season to a sellout crowd

8,000 companies, compared with 4,000 in 2006.
and a big welcome from U.S., private equity firms now own more than
Down the road from Gores’ palatial offices, in
Santa Monica, California, José E. Feliciano and
rapper Eminem, the team’s Behdad Eghbali operate Clearlake Capital, a bou-
tique firm with a relatively modest $10 billion in

owner, billionaire Tom assets. Feliciano grew up in Bayamón, Puerto
Rico, a city known for fried pork rinds, before at-
tending Princeton. Born in Iran, Eghbali arrived
Gores, beamed courtside. in the U.S. in 1986 at age 10 on a tourist visa with

his parents, who wanted to avoid his conscrip-
tion in the Iran-Iraq War. After graduating from
Yes, the gleaming new $863 million downtown arena was worth cel- college, both Feliciano and Eghbali paid their
ebrating, but Gores was finalizing the deal of his lifetime, a ten-digit dues toiling at old-guard private equity firms like
payout from his Beverly Hills buyout firm, Platinum Equity. TPG Capital. Then in 2006, they teamed up to
The deal was done quietly, without fanfare or a press release. Gores form Clearlake Capital.
forked over an estimated 15% of his stake in Platinum to another firm, By all accounts, their firm, which tends to buy
Dyal Capital Partners, which will garner $1 billion for him over four little-known software, industrial and consumer
years. In doing so, Gores, who’s now worth $5.6 billion after the trans- products companies, has been a roaring success.
action, scored a huge personal windfall, raised the valuation of his firm, Clearlake’s 2012 fund, for example, has posted an
which he still controls—and avoided taxes. annual net internal rate of return of 42.7%. So in
He’s hardly alone. In the last four years, no fewer than 60 private eq- 2018, as the GP-stakes market was exploding, a
uity firms have followed the same playbook, selling slivers of their gen- bidding war heated up for Clearlake. Feliciano
eral partnerships, according to PitchBook, frequently at eye-popping and Eghbali got Dyal and Goldman to team up
valuations. More than $20 billion was raised last year alone for more for a slice that valued Clearlake at a rich $4.2 bil-
such deals, half by Dyal, a unit of the large New York asset manager lion, making Feliciano, 46, and Eghbali, 43, two
Neuberger Berman, the rest by others, including units of Blackstone, of the youngest billionaires in private equity.
Goldman Sachs and Jefferies. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and The business reasons for these stake deals are
her husband, Richard, are getting into this game, out of their family of- abundant. Cash is pouring into private equity.
fice. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has teamed up with Bahrain’s When new funds are formed, institutions gen-
Investcorp to invest in private equity general partnerships, as well. erally insist that firms show skin in the game by
“Some firms have grown rapidly and are seeing increasing GP com- putting their own money into funds. However,
mitments. Many also want to invest more in their own deals, and this liquidity can be an issue, especially for younger
is a very efficient mechanism as the proceeds raised usually are funded firms. These GP-stake sales free up cash, provide
over time matching the needs, and there are some tax advantages,” says permanent capital and can help solve complex
Evercore’s Saul Goodman, the investment banker on most of the gen- succession issues.
eral-partnership-stake (GP-stake) deals. But there is another factor driving these deals:
Private equity firms, normally secretive about their internal econom- skirting Uncle Sam. Private equity already enjoys
ics, are loath to discuss these sales. Gores declined to comment, as did the most absurd tax break in America—“carried
pretty much all his private equity tycoon peers. However, based on interest,” which allows these big fund managers to
months of reporting and dozens of interviews with insiders and inves- pay capital gains taxes, rather than income taxes,
tors in these funds, Forbes has been able to identify 13 new billionaires on their profit bonuses, on the idea that their in-
who have unlocked fortunes by this financial engineering. Ever heard of tellectual contributions should be treated equally
Steven B. Klinsky, Egon Durban, Mike Bingle or Scott Kapnick? All are to the profits made by their investors. Carried


F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

interest has been a lightning rod with politicians for years. So he tapped Goodman, who worked at Evercore, the small
In 2016 even Donald Trump decried carried interest, which investment bank founded by former deputy U.S. Treasury
basically lets private equity executives pay a lower tax rate secretary Roger Altman. Together they met with Michael
than many wage earners. But Washington has yet to cur- Rees, who ran Neuberger Berman’s Dyal Capital unit, which
tail its widespread use (Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman had been buying stakes in hedge funds. In July 2015, Dyal
famously compared President Obama’s effort to eliminate bought more than 10% of Smith’s Vista Equity at a valuation
carried interest to Hitler’s invasion of Poland), and it again of nearly $4.3 billion. At the time, Vista had only $14 billion
survived the most recent tax reform bill. under management; today it has $50 billion. “The Vista deal
But these new deals go further. They effectively trans- woke everybody up,” says one senior Wall Street dealmaker. 59
form the 2% management fees (separate from the standard Rees quickly pivoted to focus on private equity. By Sep-
20% profit participation) from ordinary income into capital tember 2015 he was telling institutional investors like the
gains, as well. How? Take Gores as an example. In selling New Jersey State Investment Council that Dyal’s private eq-
his minority stake to Dyal, he also gave that firm a right to a uity stake deals were a “natural continuation of its existing FEA TURES
portion of his management fees. Voilà: a stream of ordinary business in acquiring similar stakes in hedge fund manag-
income becomes a windfall of capital gains, reducing the ers.” He marketed the Dyal private equity general partner-
maximum rate of 37% to 23.8%—and potentially deferring ship funds as steady income-gushers, with yields in the low
that tax payment for years. teens, at a time when Treasury bills were near zero and AAA
“The official story [to limited partners] has always been corporates paid less than 4%. For the liability-matchers of
we don’t make any money on management fees, we only the pension and insurance world, it was music to their ears.
make money on carried interest,” says Ludovic Phalippou, The hedge fund boom was ending, and private equity—
Oxford professor and author of Private Equity Laid Bare. with its ten-year life-span funds—seemed like a better deal.
“What this says is: I don’t make money only with carried Assets under management are stable, making those 2% fees
interest, I make tons of money with management fees.” associated with them more predictable. Limited partners al-
most never default on the capital commitments.
By contrast, hedge funds proved inherently more vola-
W hen the world’s biggest private equity firm, tile. In early 2015, for example, Dyal bought a 20% stake
Blackstone Group, went public in 2007,
in activist hedge fund Jana Partners at a $2 billion valua-
cofounder Stephen Schwarzman threw an
infamous star-studded 60th-birthday bash tion when Jana managed $11 billion. But within four years
at New York’s City’s Park Avenue Armory Jana was down to $2.5 billion in assets managed as returns
that many consider to be the high-water mark of precrisis went south and investors yanked their capital. Private equi-
excess. That year, billionaire Schwarzman enjoyed a $684 ty’s leveraged, long-term model had seemingly been tailor-
million payout. made for a low-interest-rate prolonged bull market.
But then came the Great Recession, the massive gov- In a typical deal, Rees would spend between $400 mil-
ernment bailout of financial institutions and the Occupy lion and $800 million over a two- to four-year period and
Wall Street movement. Schwarzman and other Wall Street in return receive a 10% to 20% stake in all of a private eq-
denizens suddenly became villains. So it’s no surprise that uity firm’s net management fees and half of its performance
the current boom in buyout billionaires is happening out fees, or carry, meaning Dyal would get, say, 15% of the fu-
of the spotlight. ture management fees and 7.5% of the carry. Dyal’s minority
By most accounts, the new wave of GP-stake deals started stakes were passive—Rees would have no say in the running
in 2015 when Austin, Texas-based Vista Equity Partners’ of the private equity firm. To make it work, Rees structured
founder, Robert F. Smith, went to talk to investment banker his Dyal funds as perpetual vehicles with a life span as long
Saul Goodman of Evercore about finding capital in the pri- as forever, meaning Rees would never be forced to sell his
vate market. No one embodied the new era of private eq- general-partnership stakes—so he and his institutional in-
uity more than Smith. Vista invested exclusively in software vestors could hold on to them like a high-yield annuity.
deals, an industry once seen as off-limits to leveraged buy- If the private equity managers selling decide to leave the
outs and ignored by the biggest PE firms. Smith had proved proceeds in their firm or roll it into its other funds, the PE
that systemic software LBOs were not only possible but ex- managers pay no tax on it—the tax bill is deferred—until
ceptionally lucrative, scoring some of the private equity in- the money comes out. In other words, the seller gets to turn
dustry’s best returns. future ordinary income into long-term capital gains—and
The leading private equity billionaires preceding Smith— if they leave the money in the fund, they effectively invest
like Schwarzman, Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein and pretax and put off the tax bill indefinitely.
KKR’s Henry Kravis—had all gone public, listing their Either way, the government is collecting less tax revenue,
private equity firms on the stock market in an attempt to because Dyal’s investors are often foreign and tax-exempt
cash out and bring in permanent capital. But they were also institutions and its funds use structures known as “corpo-
forced to contend with public company challenges—from rate blockers,” which protect investments from taxation.
analyst calls to seemingly irrational market gyrations. Smith It’s a pretty slick tax-avoidance trick, and there’s noth-
didn’t want the hassle of dealing with stock market investors ing illegal about this or about corporate blockers. A decade
on a quarterly basis. ago, tax lawyers called “management fee waivers”—in which


MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA

NEW BILLIONAIRES:

A BAKER’S DOZEN

THANKS TO A QUIET FLURRY OF GENERAL-PARTNERSHIP-
STAKE SALES, NEW BILLIONAIRES ARE IN BLOOM. STEVEN KLINSKY, 63
NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL, NEW YORK CITY
60 ASSETS: $20 BIL NET WORTH: $3 BIL
SAMI MNAYMNEH, 58 After earning a J.D./M.B.A. from Harvard, Klinsky
cofounded Goldman Sachs’ leveraged buyout
H.I.G. CAPITAL, MIAMI business in 1981 and then spent years at buyout
ASSETS: $34 BIL NET WORTH: $4 BIL
FEA TURES A former managing director at Blackstone, Mnaymneh started the firm Mountain Capital, which specializes in midsized
firm Forstmann Little. In 1999, he founded New
in 1993 with Tony Tamer, a former partner at Bain. Masters at buying
companies. Its May IPO of biopharma services
midsized businesses like Jenny Craig and sausage maker Southern
company Avantor produced a multibillion windfall.
Quality Meats, many of which produce huge returns. The duo also runs
WhiteHorse Finance, a publicly traded business development corpora-
tion (BDC).
JOSÉ E. FELICIANO, 46
CLEARLAKE CAPITAL, SANTA MONICA, CA
TONY TAMER, 62 ASSETS: $10 BIL NET WORTH: $2.1 BIL
H.I.G. CAPITAL, MIAMI A Puerto Rican who studied at Princeton on
ASSETS: $34 BIL NET WORTH: $4 BIL scholarship and worked for Goldman Sachs and
A graduate of Rutgers, with a master’s in electrical Tennenbaum Capital. Started firm with Behdad
engineering and computer science from Stanford Eghbali in 2006. Clearlake focuses on three sec-
and an M.B.A. from Harvard. Lebanon-born Tamer tors—software, industrials and consumer services.
and his wife, an MIT graduate, are active philan- Prominent investments include Sage Automotive
thropists. Endowed the Tamer Center for Social and Unifrax.
Enterprise at Columbia Business School in 2015.


BEHDAD EGHBALI, 43
CLEARLAKE CAPITAL, SANTA MONICA, CA
BARRY STERNLICHT, 58
ASSETS: $10 BIL NET WORTH: $2 BIL
STARWOOD CAPITAL, MIAMI Iranian-born Eghbali may be the world’s young-
ASSETS: $60 BIL NET WORTH: $3.1 BIL est private equity billionaire. He started his
Specializing in real estate investments, Sternlicht investment career at TPG Capital. He also spent
founded Starwood in 1991 and later the W hotel some time working in business development for
chain and Starwood Property Trust, one of the Turbolinux, a software company focused on the
biggest mortgage REITs. Japanese market.







buyout managers gave up management fees in exchange for tech deals like Skype and Alibaba, tapped Dyal to raise $400
more carried interest—the “holy grail” because the waivers million. At the time, the Silicon Valley-based firm managed
converted top-bracket taxable income to capital-gains-rate $24 billion and the deal valued the operation at about $4
income and deferred taxation for years. billion. Silver Lake was founded in 1999 by tech investing
But in 2015 the Internal Revenue Service indicated that pioneers Jim Davidson, Glenn Hutchins, Dave Roux and
it would begin auditing these fee waivers. Thoma Bravo, the Roger McNamee. McNamee left early on in 2004, and by
private equity firm run by billionaire Orlando Bravo, for ex- 2013 Davidson, Hutchins and Roux had also moved on. The
ample, told its investors that the IRS was auditing its man- firm’s younger partners, led by Egon Durban, Kenneth Hao,
agement fee offsets in its 2012 fund. Mike Bingle and Greg Mondre, wanted more cash to con-
With fee waivers out, these stake deals allow Wall Street’s tinue investing in the firm’s enormous new funds. They were
billionaires club to continue to admit new members. Some asset-rich but in need of liquidity. CHRISTOPHER GOODNEY/BLOOMBERG; FELICIANO AND EGHBALI: ROBERT GALLAGHER FOR FORBES
have even coined a name for them: “Synthetic fee waivers.” The new managing partners used part of the $400 million
raised by Dyal to increase their own commitments in their TAMER: AARON DAVIDSON/GETTY IMAGES; STERNLICHT: MICHAEL PRINCE; KLINSKY:
T he current deal bonanza reflects another funds. Some of the proceeds went to the founders, part of an
agreed-on sum related to the transfer of the firm, by invest-
reality: Firms are selling off pieces of them-
selves to build staying power. What followed
ing on their behalf in Silver Lake’s funds. After the Dyal deal,
Blackstone’s initial public offering in 2007 Durban and the other remaining Silver Lake partners wound
was a sixfold increase in assets in the ensuing up with 90% of the firm’s future net free income. Davidson re-
decade, from $88 billion to $545 billion currently. Today’s tained a slice of future performance fees in Silver Lake Fund V.
private stake deals offer a glimpse into the up-and-coming Meanwhile, Durban, 46, masterminded an incredible deal
firms that will dominate tomorrow’s Wall Street. for Dell that has so far returned $4.4 billion in profit. Silver
In July 2016, Silver Lake, a private equity firm known for Lake now manages $43 billion, and Forbes estimates that Dur-


F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020
F ORBES A SIA

MIKE BINGLE, 47
SILVER LAKE, MENLO PARK, CA
ASSETS: $43 BIL NET WORTH: $1.2 BIL
Joined firm in 2000, after stints at Apollo Global and Goldman Sachs.
Within a decade became co-head of its North American operations. He
helped close deals for Ameritrade, Virtu Financial, SoFi and Ancestry.com.


SCOTT KAPNICK, 60 GREG MONDRE, 45 61
HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, NEW YORK CITY SILVER LAKE, MENLO PARK, CA
ASSETS: $55 BIL NET WORTH: $1.4 BIL ASSETS: $43 BIL NET WORTH: $1.2 BIL
Formerly CEO of Highbridge Capital, the hedge Joined Silver Lake in 1999. He has done deals for
fund and credit manager owned by JPMorgan. Sabre Corp., Vantage Data Centers, UGS Corp.,
Kapnick started at Goldman Sachs, where he rose GoDaddy and Motorola Solutions. He first started FEA TURES
to co-head of investment banking and co-CEO doing tech PE deals at TPG and also worked at
of Goldman Sachs International. He joined High- Goldman Sachs.
bridge in 2007 after its sale to JPMorgan to build
a credit business. In 2016, JPMorgan divested HPS.
Assets have since ballooned.
LAWRENCE GOLUB, 60
GOLUB CAPITAL, NEW YORK CITY
ASSETS: $30 BIL NET WORTH: $1.1 BIL
EGON DURBAN, 46 Founder of Golub Capital, which says it received
no tax benefit from its stake sale. A former banker
SILVER LAKE, MENLO PARK, CA
with stints at Allen & Co., Wasserstein Perella and
ASSETS: $43 BIL NET WORTH: $1.2 BIL Bankers Trust, Golub founded Golub Capital in 1994
One of four managing partners who now run the as a traditional leveraged buyout firm. In 2001, he
firm, which specializes in tech investments and pivoted and turned the firm into a lender, mostly to
manages $43 billion. Durban is best known for other PE firms like Vista Equity and Thoma Bravo.
orchestrating high-profile deals for Dell, Motorola Since the crisis, assets have grown fifteenfold.
Solutions and Pivotal Software. Was a founding
principal of the firm in 1999.

DAVID GOLUB, 57
GOLUB CAPITAL, NEW YORK CITY
KENNETH HAO, 51 ASSETS: $30 BIL NET WORTH: $1.1 BIL
SILVER LAKE, MENLO PARK, CA Joined brother Lawrence in 2003 at Golub Capital, which says it received
ASSETS: $43 BIL NET WORTH: $1.2 BIL no tax benefit from its stake sale. He’s now CEO of the firm’s publicly
Hao expanded the tech private equity firm into key Asian markets by traded Golub Capital BDC. After graduating from Harvard, Golub got a
starting offices in China and Japan. He led Silver Lake’s profitable invest- master’s in philosophy from Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and
ment in Alibaba. Hao joined Silver Lake in 2000 after spending nearly a an M.B.A. from Stanford. He was the first chairman and a longtime direc-
decade at San Francisco investment bank Hambrecht & Quist. tor of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.






ban, Hao, Bingle and Mondre, all under 52, are billionaires. turned former career banker Kapnick, 60, into a billionaire.
KAPNICK: BENNETT RAGLIN/GETTY IMAGES; MONDRE: JARED SISKIN-PMC/GETTY IMAGES;
A few months after the Silver Lake stake deal, Dyal’s Rees Don’t expect populist cries about income inequality to slow
bought a stake in Starwood Capital, a real-estate-oriented down the blizzard of private equity stake deals coming to
firm owned by Barry Sternlicht, which now manages $60 market. In December 2018, Blackstone, which is ramping
billion. Another Dyal deal from 2016 was a near 15% stake up its GP-stake business, bought just under a 10% stake in
in H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm run by Sami Mnaym- a little-known New York City firm called New Mountain
neh and Tony Tamer. The stake deal gave Sternlicht an esti- Capital run by a Forstmann Little refugee named Steven
mated net worth of $3.1 billion. Mnaymneh and Tamer are B. Klinsky. Blackstone’s cash injection helped put Klinsky’s
now worth $4 billion each. Credit-oriented PE firms—which net worth at an estimated $3 billion. (New Mountain ve-
have been thriving as heavily regulated bank lenders have re- hemently denies Forbes’ valuation, arguing the net present
treated from riskier loans—are also getting in on the game. value assumes success for many years.)
Take the case of Scott Kapnick. A former co-head of in- helping. In 2017 Dyal bought another sliver of Smith’s firm,
Vista’s Smith has gone as far as to tap the well for a second
vestment banking at Goldman Sachs, Kapnick founded HPS
GOLUB: JOHN MINCHILLO/INVISION/AP Chase’s Highbridge Capital hedge fund unit. HPS’ private also sold a second stake. Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund is
Investment Partners in 2007 while working for JPMorgan
valuing it at $7 billion. Mnaymneh and Tamer of H.I.G. have
now making investments in general partnerships, as is a
credit platform, which specialized in senior debt and mez-
firm run by Jeb Bush and another created by the family of-
zanine lending, was so successful that Kapnick became CEO
of all of Highbridge when its cofounder billionaire Glenn
fice of Richard and Betsy DeVos.
“There is a need for capital. These businesses can consume
Dubin left the bank in 2013. But in 2016, JPMorgan decided
to spin out most of HPS with Kapnick as its CEO.
a lot of capital, so the capital is important,” says Dyal Capital’s
Fast-forward two years to July 2018 and HPS was man-
aging $45 billion. Dyal’s tax-advantaged bite of HPS has
business to fund GP commitments and product extensions.”

F ORBES A SIA
MAR CH 2020 Rees. “The vast majority of our invested capital stays in the

A SIA AL UMNI
















62
































































THE ACE W ith 900,000 merchants already

using his e-commerce site to sell
products to more than 6 million
OF BASE customers, Base founder Yuta

Tsuruoka managed to raise $26
million last October in an IPO.
Base’s listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
YUTA TSURUOKA is finding new growth for raised ¥2.8 billion ($26 million) for a roughly 9%
his startup Base by lending to his customers. stake. Part of the draw for investors was the com-
pany’s expansion from e-commerce into fintech.
By James Simms The latest move came in December 2018 when DEBY SUCHA FOR FORBES ASIA
Tsuruoka started Yell Bank to offer Base mer-
chants accounts receivable financing (Yell Bank is
operated by Base subsidiary Base Bank). Yell uses


F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

Reception
area (left) at
Base office
entrance
(right).




63





AI to judge a borrower’s creditworthiness from 30 UNDER
its sales data, then buys its receivables at a dis-
count. If the merchant doesn’t get paid, neither
does Yell. “Lending is bustling, but we need more
time to validate our model,” says Tsuruoka, 30. Setting up on Base is free; the site charges a fee 30 •
Online lending and an IPO are just the latest based on sales, which rose over 60% last year to A
in a busy few years for Tsuruoka since earning almost ¥66 billion, with the average shop selling SIA
a slot in the inaugural 30 Under 30 Asia list in roughly ¥140,000 a month. Sole proprietorships
2016. Base, which Tsuruoka set up in 2012 and selling fashion merchandise account for a ma- AL
still runs as CEO, now offers everything from jority of merchants. Base posted a ¥459 million
doughnuts to designer hoodies. With 136 em- loss for 2019 on ¥3.8 billion in revenue. Daiwa UMNI
ployees, the company is expanding its products Securities, Base’s lead underwriter, in October
and services, and wants to go global. Since list- projected that Base would turn a profit in 2021,
ing, Base’s stock has climbed nearly 28%, making earning ¥1.5 billion on ¥7.9 billion in revenue.
Tsuruoka’s roughly 15% stake worth ¥4.9 billion. Tsuruoka added fintech early in Base’s growth.
The inspiration for Base came from Tsuruoka’s In 2014, he introduced a settlement service, Base
mother, who wanted to sell online from her small Easy Payment, that charges merchants 6.6% of any
women’s apparel shop, but found Amazon and transaction, plus ¥40. The next year Base started
similar sites difficult to use. “I thought it would offering a payment service to other e-commerce
be good to have online shops for people, like my sites and in 2016 developed a cashless payment
mother, who weren’t that adept on the inter- system. “The users were really small-scale busi-
net,” he says. So instead of returning that fall to nesses,” says Tsuruoka, whose merchants couldn’t
resume studying for his information technolo- afford payment systems designed for larger com-
gy degree at Tokyo University of Technology, he panies. “Just because you were a sole proprietor
started the service in November 2012. your payment system was different from big com-
Base enables sellers to quickly set up an online panies, and had significantly higher fees.”
shop, including a payment system. A month af- Yell Bank helps small business owners get the
ter launching, Tsuruoka had signed 10,000 shops financing that’s long been difficult to get in Ja-
to the site, helped by word of mouth and Twitter. pan. While traditional Japanese banks do offer
With no business experience, he sought advice accounts receivable financing, they often require
from Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire’s CEO owners to personally guarantee repayment, a sig-
Yuta Tsuruoka in Kazuma Ieiri and one of his investors, Jakarta- and nificant hurdle. “He’s looking ahead to what its
Base’s office in Tokyo. Tokyo-based VC firm East Ventures’ cofounder merchants will need, such as the new loan ser-
The inspiration for
Base came from the Taiga Matsuyama—Tsuruoka had once interned at vice,” says Matsuyama. “He’s not just another EC
difficulty of Tsuruoka’s site operator. He really loves his users.”
mother in setting up Campfire. “I basically had no knowledge of how to
an online shop. raise funds or to value companies,” says Tsuruoka. Base has rolled out other services, such as
Ieiri and Matsuyama gave him more than low-cost shipping. Shoppers outside Japan can
pointers: when Base in January 2013 raised ¥30 now use its app and, if there’s enough demand,
million in seed capital, both invested, with East Tsuruoka says he will open the site to overseas
Ventures providing ¥20 million. Ieiri now sits on merchants.
Base’s board. “Tsuruoka struck me as someone One loyal customer is Tsuruoka, who estimates
who would push until the end to get results,” says he spends at least a few hundred dollars a month
Matsuyama. “His idea was really great because I on the site and buys most of his clothes through
knew that the time would come for small stores Base. His most recent purchase? A new black
to have their own (e-commerce) sites, rather hoodie from a video blogger’s shop to complement
than being on a large marketplace.” his signature look—a black T-shirt and goatee.


MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA

AMY ALLEN, 27
Songwriter
CHLOE BAILEY, 21; MUSIC
HALLE BAILEY, 19
Musicians—Pop, Chloe x Halle
JON BELLION, 29
Musician–Pop
NIJA CHARLES, 22
Songwriter
GLENNE
64 CHRISTIAANSEN, 29
Artist relations, Apple Music
LUKE COMBS, 29
Musician—Country
DABABY, 28
Musician—Hip-Hop
EDGAR ESTEVES, 28
Video director
SIMON GEBRELUL, 28
Founder, Isla Management
JOSEPH HARRIS, 29
Agent, Creative
Artists Agency
ILLENIUM, 28
Musician—Electronic
ZACH KARDISCH, 25
Manager, Maverick
KING PRINCESS, 21
Musician–Pop
GABZ LANDMAN, 29
Vice president,
Warner Records
LAUV, 25
Musician—Pop
LIL NAS X, 20
Musician—Country
MALUMA, 25
Musician—Latin
MEGAN THEE
STALLION, 24
Musician—Hip-Hop
NORMANI, 23 NORMANI, 23
Musician—Pop
MUSICIAN—POP
FINNEAS O’CONNELL, 22
Musician—Pop
“I like to always feel like I’m pushing the
CARLY PEARCE, 29
Musician–Country needle,” says pop sensation Normani. “Anytime
ADAM RICHMAN, 29; I feel complacent, I start to freak out.” She
JOE SILBERZWEIG, 29 should be pretty chill these days: The singer
Cofounders, Medium Rare
has been on a tear since the dissolution of her
HARRY ROBERTS, 29 supergroup Fifth Harmony (which included
Attorney, Roberts
Leibowitz & Hafitz Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui and
MAGGIE ROGERS, 25 Camila Cabello) in 2018. This year her instant
Musician—Folk hits, “Love Lies” with Khalid and “Dancing
BRANDON With a Stranger” with Sam Smith, both cracked
SILVERSTEIN, 28 the top ten on the U.S. charts, helping her
Founder, S10 Entertainment
reach 3 billion streaming spins since going
TEYANA TAYLOR, 29
Musician—R&B solo. Normani, who grew up Normani Kordei
SARAH TEHRANI, 28 Hamilton in New Orleans, has been wowing
Agent, WME crowds as a major act at the MTV Music Video
TYLER, THE CREATOR, 28 Awards, at festivals like Lollapalooza and
Musician—Hip-Hop in arenas opening for Ariana Grande. With
SUMMER WALKER, 23 a solo album set for early 2020, she’s only
Musician—R&B
picking up steam: “The moment that you’re
TIERRA WHACK, 24 too comfortable is when you’ve failed.” —Zack
Musician—Hip-Hop
O’Malley Greenburg, Alexandra Sternlicht




JUDGES: ADRIANA ARCE, MANAGER (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2019); THE CHAINSMOKERS, MUSICIANS (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2017);
MICKEY SHILOH, SONGWRITER (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2019); 21 SAVAGE, MUSICIAN (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2019).
NORMANI WEARS HER OWN DRESS.
MAR CH 2020
F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020
F ORBES A SIA

65
65












U .S. 20 20






















A WAKE-UP CALL TO CYNICS who think they have seen it all, we present this year’s
30 Under 30 as featured in the pages of the U.S. edition of Forbes. The young,

creative and bold minds on this year’s list are proof positive that the future will

be new, exciting and profoundly different. These entrepreneurs are teaching

viruses to fight cancer, developing technology to help astronauts breathe on

Mars and creating strings of hit songs that fuel our daily playlists. And that’s

just a few. Harnessing our expert community, our robust reporting, our vigor-

ous vetting and the wisdom of the world’s top investors and entrepreneurs,

we evaluated more than 15,000 nominees. The final product: 600 revolution-

aries in 20 industries changing the course—and the face—of business and

society. For the full list, visit forbes.com/30under30. And coming soon: the

region’s own, 300 most promising up-and-comers in the 30 Under 30 Asia.


EDITORS: STEVEN BERTONI AND ALEXANDRA WILSON
ASSISTANT EDITORS: MARLEY COYNE AND ALEXANDRA STERNLICHT














PHOTOGRAPHER: JAMEL TOPPIN STYLE DIRECTOR: JENNIFER LEE
PHOTO ASSISTANTS: MARK GRGURICH, ZORAN JELENIC STYLE ASSISTANTS: SAMANTHA KIDD, CHARLOTTE GHIGLIAZZA. HAIR AND MAKEUP: SUZANA HALLILI USING TEMPTU & MARIO BADESCU

SIA
MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA
ORBES A
MAR
CH 2020
F

ADELLE ARCHER, 29
Cofounder, Eterneva
JOSH AUGUSTIN, 27; EDUCATION
MOAWIA ELDEEB, 27
Cofounders, Pivot
TOM CANTERINO, 28
Cofounder, Ageless Innovation
JARRETT CHEN, 29;
DILLON MORGAN, 27
Cofounders, UNUM
DAN CLARK, 29
66
66 CEO, Brain.fm
JOSEPH COHEN, 28
Founder, Universe
JULIA ENTHOVEN, 26;
ERIC LU, 26
Cofounders, Kapwing
A. TOBY ESPINOSA, 29
Vice president, global business
development, DoorDash
TYLER FAUX, 29
Cofounder, Supergreat
RYAN FOUTTY, 29
Global head of business
development, Lime
BARRETT GLASAUER, 28;
ANDRÉS GREEN, 29
Cofounders, WanderJaunt
NIKHIL GOEL, 28
Head of product, Uber Elevate
MAXIMILLIAN HELLERSTEIN, 24;
CYRUS SUMMERLIN, 24
Cofounders, Down to Shop
JOE HOLLIER, 29
SAAD EL YAMANI, 26
Cofounder, Light
BEN JACKSON, 27
Founder, Bungii COFOUNDER, AMBI
HRIDAY KEMBURU, 25;
JAY PATEL, 25; VINAY RAMESH, 26 “Colleges have a labyrinth of
Cofounders, Wildfire clunky and disconnected digital
TYLER KENNEDY, 28; WES SCHROLL, 26 tools that don’t inform, engage or
Cofounders, Fetch Rewards CONSUMER
DAVID KOLODNY, 29 facilitate collaboration,” says Ambi
Cofounder, Wilbur Labs cofounder Saad El Yamani. Stu-
FARES KSEBATI, 28; dents must juggle a mess of web-
ADAM OXNER, 27 sites and apps to navigate student
Cofounders, MySwimPro TECH life. At many schools, there are sep-
ANNA LEE, 28 arate digital tools to track course-
Cofounder, Lioness
BENJAMIN LEE, 29 work, register for classes or sign up
Head of product design, Postmates for clubs. El Yamani and cofound-
HAYLEY LEIBSON, 26; DEVON TOWNSEND, 29 er Soham Khaitan want to simplify
SCOTT WU, 22 things. Their edtech company Ambi
Cofounders, Lunchclub
COFOUNDER, CAMEO combines disparate digitial pro-
OURIEL LEMMEL, 29 grams into a single product. With
Cofounder, WinIt
Want to send someone a love note from Stormy Daniels or Ambi, you can access readings for
ALEX MA, 26; AUSTEN MA, 24
Cofounders, TTYL a get-well message from Charlie Sheen? Devon Townsend Psych 101 or look up your next band
can hook you up. His marketplace Cameo sells personal- practice. The pair launched the
JAMIE MARSHALL, 23;
KEVIN TAN, 26 ized videos from thousands of minor celebrities and aging company while at Babson College,
Cofounders, Snackpass sports stars. A video from Brett Favre costs $500. One from securing $445,000 of seed fund-
DIESEL PELTZ, 26 the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld? $60. Celebs name their price ing from two professors. They have
Cofounder, Twenty
and take 75%—Cameo gets the rest, pocketing “tens of mil- since raised $6 million. They have a
ALEXANDER SCHIFFHAUER, 28 lions” a year. In 2014 he quit Microsoft to travel with friend deal with Columbia University and
Product lead, computational
photography, Google Cody Ko. While globetrotting, they launched a Vine account are in talks with nine other schools.
JESAR SHAH, 25 that got millions of views. Requests for personal videos re- They’re also negotiating with El Ya-
Product manager, Twitter vealed an unmet market: “We’ve tapped into something in mani’s home country of Morocco to
DEVON TOWNSEND, 29 the American psyche.” The investor psyche too—Cameo has onboard its university students.
Cofounder, Cameo
raised $65 million-plus from Kleiner Perkins and more. —Carter Coudriet, Caroline
SHARON ZENG, 29 —Biz Carson, Brianne Garrett, Michael Nuñez Howard, Katherine Love
Product manager, Instagram

JUDGES, CONSUMER TECH: JEREMY LIEW, PARTNER, LIGHTSPEED VENTURE PARTNERS; ANJALI SUD, CEO, VIMEO; HANS TUNG, MANAGING PARTNER, GGV CAPITAL; NICK WEAVER, COFOUNDER,
EERO (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2016). EDUCATION: JANET NAPOLITANO, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SYSTEM; RESHMA SAUJANI, FOUNDER, GIRLS WHO CODE; GREGG SPIRIDELLIS, CO-
CREATOR-CEO, STORYBOTS; RACHEL CARLSON, COFOUNDER, GUILD EDUCATION (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2017).
DEVON TOWNSEND WEARS A NORDSTROM SIGNATURE TURTLENECK SHIRT, A LUIGI BIANCHI MANTOVA BURGUNDY BROCADE TUXEDO JACKET, AND A BURBERRY BELT. SAAD EL YAMANI WEARS
AN ISAIA EMERALD SUEDE BOMBER JACKET.

F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

CHARLIE ANDERSON, 23; OCTAVIA ABELL, 28;
VANESSA GILL, 23; KYLEIGH RUSS, 28
LUCY STEVENS, 23; Cofounders, Govern for America LAW & POLICY
AMY WU, 23
Cofounders, Social Cipher JELANI ANGLIN, 27;
GABE LEADER-ROSE, 29
MASSI BASIRI, 26; METI BASIRI, 26 Cofounders, Good Call
Cofounders, ApplyBoard
YASSAMIN ANSARI, 27
SABIH BIN WASI, 27; RUKHSAR NEYAZ, 26 Advisor, United Nations
Cofounders, Stellic
MATTHEW ASIR, 22
JARED BROWN, 28 Founder, The Legal Bullet
Associate, My Brother’s Keeper Alliance,
Obama Foundation JESSICA CISNEROS, 26
Congressional candidate 67
KIARA BUTLER, 29
Founder, Diversity Talks ALEXANDER DIAZ, 27
Head of crisis response and
ROB CARROLL, 26; NICK FREUD, 27 humanitarian aid, Google.org
Cofounders, CampusReel
TOM DOWLING, 23; GEOFF SEGAL, 24
BERK COKER, 25 Cofounders, taxProper
Cofounder, TeachFX
RITIKA DUTT, 28
NICK CURRIER, 29; KASEY GANDHAM, Cofounder, Botler AI
29; JESSICA TENUTA, 28
Cofounders, Packback KATIE EDER, 20
Executive director, Future Coalition
REILLY DAVIS, 29; ADAM SAVEN, 29 KARTHIK GANAPATHY, 28
Cofounders, PeopleGrove
Partner, mvmt communications
ETHAN DURHAM, 27;
ALEXANDER JEKOWSKY, 24 JULIAN GLUCK, 29
Cofounders, Ulyngo Captain, United States Air Force
SOFIA GROSS, 26
MANU EDAKARA, 27
Program director, iVenture Accelerator Global public policy manager, Snap
SAAD EL YAMANI, 26; ANDREW LEON HANNA, 28;
SOHAM KHAITAN, 25 DAVID DELANEY MAYER, 27
Cofounders, Ambi Cofounders, DreamxAmerica
ELIZABETH ENGELE, 26; WILL HASKELL, 23
JULIA HARIED, 27 State senator, Connecticut legislature
Cofounders, MakerGirl AUDREY HENSON, 29
JOE ENGLISH, 24 Founder, College to Congress
Founder, Hope in a Box LINA HIDALGO, 28
DANIEL FISCHER, 29; RAAID HOSSAIN, County judge, Harris County
29; SHIREEN JAFFER, 26 AMANDA MATOS, 28
Cofounders, Edvo Director of constituency campaigns,
REBECCA FLEISCHMAN, 28 Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Associate director, national programs and JOHN MCCARTHY, 28
outreach, Child Mind Institute Deputy national political director,
BRANDON FLEMING, 29 Joe Biden for President
Founder, Harvard Diversity Project TASNIM MOTALA, 29
MICHAEL HAMAMOTO TRIBBLE, 28 Fellow, Howard University
Head of education strategy, Google Cloud MATT NGUYEN, 26
DENNIS HANSEN, 27; Supreme Court chambers attorney,
Supreme Court of California
SAMYR QURESHI, 27 VARSHINI PRAKASH, 26
Cofounders, Knack NADYA OKAMOTO, 21
JANELLE HINDS, 27 Founder, PERIOD. The Menstrual COFOUNDER, SUNRISE MOVEMENT
Movement.
Founder, Helping Hands
BRITTANNY PERRIGUE, 27
JACK KREWSON, 27; Fellow, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid “The science is settled. Now let’s talk about the
GAVIN SCHIFFRES, 26 solutions,” says Varshini Prakash. She’s cofounder
Cofounders, Kairos Academies BETHANY PICKETT, 28
Deputy associate counsel, of the Sunrise Movement, a climate-change non-
CASSIDY LEVENTHAL, 27 The White House
Vice president, University Ventures profit that rocketed to fame in 2018 after staging
WALTER POWELL, 28; a sit-in at Nancy Pelosi’s office to back the Green
CONNIE LIU, 24 JACKSON WHITE, 27
Founder, Project Invent Cofounders, Politiscope New Deal. This September, her group organized
AUSTIN MARTIN, 24 VARSHINI PRAKASH, 26; the Global Climate Strike, mobilizing more than
Founder, Rhymes with Reason EVAN WEBER, 28 3 million people in 150 countries to hit the streets
CHLOE MOORE, 25 Cofounders, Sunrise Movement to demand climate-change action. A first-gen-
Director, NEXT Memphis JACOB RUDOLPH, 25 eration college graduate, Prakash saw firsthand
SAMANTHA PRATT, 26 Executive director , The Pride Network the devastation wrought by floods in her parents’
Founder, KlickEngage KATIE SGARRO, 26
CAROLINA RECCHI, 26; Cofounder, AsylumConnect home country of India. Along with cofounder
CLAUDIA RECCHI, 24 JULIE SLAMA, 23 Evan Weber, she launched Sunrise to organize le-
Cofounders, Edsights State senator, Nebraska legislature gions of young people to fight for climate reforms.
MELANIE SHIMANO, 29 MCKENZIE SNOW, 29 With $6.5 million in funding from foundations
Founder, Food Computer Program
Policy director, and grassroots donations, Sunrise has 50 full-
RAHEL TEKOLA, 29; NIARA VALÉRIO, 29 U.S. Department of Education time staff and outposts in more than 200 cities.
Cofounders, Learnabi JEN ZHU, 27
CHRISTINA WALKER RAKESTRAW, 29 Founder, BMoreLoved.org —Marley Coyne, Anne Glusker, Christian Kreznar
Cofounder, Homeroom


JUDGES: CARRIE GOLDBERG, FOUNDER, C.A. GOLBERG LAW; JON HUNTSMAN, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA; LAURENCE TRIBE, PROFESSOR, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL; MICHAEL TUBBS, MAYOR
OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2018).
VARSHINI PRAKASH WEARS A L’AGENCE AQUA SILK AND VELVET JACKET, AND OFFICINA BERNARDI HOOP EARRINGS.

MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA

MATTHEW AGUAYO, 29;
AASHAY ARORA, 28 ENERGY
Cofounders, EnKoat
SANDEEP AHUJA, 28
Cofounder, cove.tool
BENJAMIN BACKER, 22;
DANIELLE BUTCHER, 23
Cofounders, American
Conservation Coalition
MARIA BUITRON, 29
Investor, PIVA
68
68 KEVIN BUSH, 27
Cofounder, Swift Solar
CHARLES-HENRI CLERGET, 27;
LOUIS CRETEUR, 29;
ERIC ZHANG, 29
Cofounders, Acoustic Wells
VAITEA COWAN, 26;
JAN-JUSTUS SCHMIDT, 28
Cofounders, Enapter
DANE DEQUILETTES, 29;
ANURAG PANDA, 29
Team leads, GridEdge Solar
DON DEROSA, 29
Cofounder, Eonix
UGWEM ENEYO, 29;
COLE STITES-CLAYTON, 28
Cofounders, SHYFT Power Solutions
ALEXANDRA HARBOUR, 25
Investor, Powerhouse Ventures
ROHIT KALYANPUR, 22
Founder, Optivolt Labs
KENTARO KAWAMORI, 28
Partner, Rice Investment Group
JORDAN KEARNS, 27
Founder, Medley Thermal
ANA SOPHIA MIFSUD, 25 ASHLEY ZUMWALT-FORBES, 29
Senior associate,
Rocky Mountain Institute
PRESIDENT, BLACK MOUNTAIN METALS
ISABEL MOGSTAD, 29
Senior manager,
Environmental Defense Fund Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes is big on batteries.
GRACE PAULSEN, 29 The president of Black Mountain Metals—a di-
Energy investments, Arena Investors vision of Fort Worth, Texas-based energy pro-
RYAN PEARSON, 27; ducer Black Mountain—is on the hunt for ore
MATTHEW RYAN, 27 like nickel, a key ingredient of the lithium-ion
Cofounders, Cypris Materials
batteries that power electric cars like Teslas.
ALEXANDRA RASCH, 29
Founder, Caban Systems In 2018 her unit plowed $75 million into min-
TIM SHERSTYUK, 26 ing operations in Western Australia. That same
Cofounder, GBatteries year, the Harvard M.B.A. ran a hostile takeover
APOORV SINHA, 29 bid for Australian miner Poseidon Nickel, ac-
Founder, Carbon Upcycling Technologies quiring a 20% stake. Zumwalt-Forbes grew up
ZACHARY SMITH, 29 near the oilfields of Choctaw, Oklahoma, ma-
Founder, Zauben
jored in petroleum engineering at the Univer-
ABRAHAM STANWAY, 29 sity of Oklahoma and worked as a drilling en-
Cofounder, Amperon
gineer at ExxonMobil. As head of business
ELISE STROBACH, 28;
KYLE WILKE, 29 development for Black Mountain, her analy-
Cofounders, AeroShield sis of the evolving battery landscape inspired
NAMAN TRIVEDI, 25 the company’s jump into mining. “My num-
Cofounder, WattBuy
ber one hurdle was overcoming impostor
ERICA TSYPIN, 28 syndrome,” says Zumwalt-Forbes (no re-
Cofounder, Steer
lation to the magazine’s founding fam-
WHITNEY WICKES, 29
Cofounder, Rocking WW Minerals ily). “I rarely see another woman in
meetings, let alone one without a
TYLER WITTMAN, 27
Founder, Precision NDT formal mining background, but I
JONATHAN YAN, 29 know I’ve earned my seat at the
Investor, Sparx table.” —Jeremy Bogaisky,
ASHLEY ZUMWALT-FORBES, 29 Elisabeth Brier, Chris Helman
Cofounder, Black Mountain Metals

JUDGES: CAROL BATTERSHELL, ENERGY CONSULTANT; LORD JOHN BROWNE, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, L1 ENERGY;
TIM LATIMER, COFOUNDER, FERVO ENERGY (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2019); EMILY REICHERT, CEO, GREENTOWN LABS.
ASHLEY ZUMWALT-FORBES WEARS A CHRISTIAN SIRIANO BURNOUT DRESS, A SOCIALITE ARMY FAUX FUR COAT AND GABRIEL & CO. GOLD-AND-DIAMOND EAR CLIMBERS.
MAR CH 2020
F
F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020
SIA
ORBES A

HEALTHCARE JOEY AZOFEIFA, 29

CHLOE ALPERT, 28
Cofounder, Medinas

Founder, Arpeggio Bio
ERICA BARNELL, 29
Cofounders, Geneoscopy
DOUG BERNSTEIN, 29;
JAIME QUINTERNO, 29
Cofounders, PECA Labs
CATHARINE BOWMAN, 21
Board director,
Alberta Lymphedema Association 69
JEAN FAN, 28
Postdoctoral fellow, Harvard University
MARK FAYNGERSH, 27;
ILYA VAKHUTINSKY, 27
Cofounders, CareSwitch
EVAN FEINBERG, 28;
BEN SKLAROFF, 27
Cofounders, Genesis Therapeutics
SAMANTHA GERSON, 26
Founder, UnBroken
ANNETTE GROTHEER, 29
Founder, The Shop Docs
LEA HACHIGIAN, 29;
TOMASZ KULA, 29
Cofounders, TScan Therapeutics
BOBBY BROOKE HERRERA, 29
Cofounder, E25Bio
RUMEN HRISTOV, 26;
ZACHARY KABELAC, 29
Cofounders, Emerald Innovations
ZAAMIN HUSSAIN, 26
Clinical researcher, Harvard University
JOE KAHN, 24;
YASYF MOHAMEDALI, 24
Cofounders, Karuna Health
ARTHUR KUAN, 29
CEO, Cold Genesys
RAINIER MALLOL, 28
Cofounder, AIME
ROB MANNINO, 28;
ERIKA TYBURSKI, 29
Cofounders, Sanguina
ASHLEY MOY, 25;
JASON TROUTNER, 26
Cofounders, Cast21
JANEL NOUR-OMID, 27
Cofounder, Vitalacy
KUNAL PARIKH, 29
ARTHUR KUAN, 29 Research associate,
Johns Hopkins University
BRYAN PATENAUDE, 29
CEO, COLD GENESYS Assistant professor,
Johns Hopkins University
Arthur Kuan is going viral. He’s the CEO of Santa Ana, VIJAY RAMANI, 29
California, biotech company Cold Genesys, which genetical- Principal investigator, UCSF
ly modifies viruses to attack cancer and, as an added bene- SANA RAOOF, 29
fit, bolsters your immune system against it. The former ven- Researcher, Harvard University
ture investor encountered Cold Genesys as a founding member ZACHARIAH REITANO, 28
Cofounder, RO
at Hong Kong healthcare fund Ally Bridge Group. Fascinat-
EVA SADEJ, 29
ed by the science, Kuan, who holds a master’s in biotechnolo-
Founder, Floss Bar
gy from Johns Hopkins, joined Cold Genesys as COO. When JESSICA SCHLEIDER, 29
founder Alex Yeung retired in 2016, Kuan took over. He’s since Assistant professor,
launched clinical trials of the biotech’s bladder cancer treat- Stony Brook University
ment and has inked a partnership to test its effectiveness with DEAN TRAVERS, 23;
SCOTT XIAO, 21
Merck’s immunotherapy drug Keytruda. Kuan says, “I’ve done Cofounders, Luminopia
a good job turning this science story into a real business con- CAMERON TURTLE, 29
cept.” In March he closed a $22 million series-C round with Chief business officer,
Eidos Therapeutics
ORI Capital and Lepu Medical, which has the China license
for its products. —Alex Knapp, Leah Rosenbaum CAROLYN YARINA, 29
Cofounder, Sisu Global

JUDGES: DENISE HINTON, CHIEF SCIENTIST, FDA; TREVOR MARTIN, CEO, MAMMOTH BIOSCIENCES (UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2019);
ROBERT NELSEN, PARTNER, ARCH VENTURE PARTNERS; HELEN TORLEY, CEO, HALOZYME.

ARTHUR KUAN WEARS AN ISAIA WOOL TOPCOAT, DENIM SHIRT AND FLORAL PANTS AND A RICHARD JAMES STRIPED TIE.
MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA

By Pamela Ambler





Forbes Life
LUXURY UPGRADE





70
CEO SÉBASTIEN BAZIN is leading a transformation
of French hotel giant Accor.







































































MUHAMMAD FADLI FOR FORBES ASIA

















F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

S tanding in the lobby of Sin-
gapore’s iconic Raffles Hotel,
Sébastien Bazin, the CEO of
the French hotel giant Accor,
declares: “This is the best hotel
on the planet,” drawing applause and cheers of 71
“bravo” from the VIPs gathered to hear him. He
made the remarks at the official reopening last
October of one of Asia’s grandest hotels, first F
opened in 1887 and which Accor manages. The
hotel had undergone a two-year renovation ru- ORBES LIFE
mored to have cost at least $100 million (the ho-
tel is mum on the exact figure).
The Raffles reentry into the Asia hospitali-
ty scene is a crucial part of Bazin’s global strat-
egy for the world’s fifth-largest hotel chain by
rooms. While Accor has long used its budget
brands as a major cash cow, Bazin, 58, is deter- Singapore’s iconic press Hotel, named after the storied train, due to
mined to push further into luxury, where mar- Raffles Hotel, first open this summer.
opened in 1887.
gins are fatter. “When I started six years ago, Thanks to Bazin’s drive—he says he spends
luxury was less than 20% in terms of revenue. It 260 nights a year on the road—Accor is on track
will be 50% of our revenue in 2020,” says Bazin to manage more than 5,000 hotels by the end of
in an exclusive interview held just hours before this year, up from 4,900 today. In Asia, a new Ac-
the Raffles reopening. (The interview was held cor property opens every three days. “We believe
before the coronavirus outbreak, so that topic that Accor hotels will continue benefiting from its
was not discussed.) well-balanced geographical hotel presence,” says
Asia is the regional focus for Accor now, says Yi Zhong, an analyst at Paris-based AlphaValue.
Bazin. Already the biggest hotel operator in Eu- With the hospitality industry under massive
rope and facing stiff competition in the U.S. from consolidation, Bazin must ensure Accor remains
Hilton and Marriott, Bazin sees Asia as ripe for big enough to be the predator and not the prey.
expansion. China alone sends 150 million tour- Getting Raffles back on the market is a leg up on
ists abroad each year, according to government Accor’s biggest rivals—Marriott and Hilton—by
data, at least two-thirds to destinations in Asia. building a constellation of accommodations that
After his Singapore stopover, Bazin headed to keep loyal lodgers constantly coming back and
Bangkok to inspect progress on a new Orient Ex- owners happy. “Every brand we add gives us an-
other opportunity to seduce an owner,” says Bazin.
Bazin needs owners and brands, due to its “as-
set light” model of managing hotels rather than
ACCOR’S owning them—more than 90% of Accor’s hotels
PORTFOLIO Adagio Access are operated as management agreements and
Breakfree
Greet franchised (up from 59% when Bazin came in).
ECONOMY HotelF1 After selling 58% of its real estate holdings in
297,403 rooms Ibis
25Hours 2018 to a group of investors that included Singa-
Ibis Styles
Art Series
Ibis Budget pore’s GIC and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment
Fairmont Jo & Joe
Grand Mercure UPSCALE Fund for €4.6 billion ($5 billion), Bazin has been
ATHANASIOS GIOUMPASIS/GETTY IMAGES Peppers rooms 246,750 rooms Adagio familiar brands like Mercure and Pullman to a
Mantis
buying up hotel brands to round out Accor’s sta-
MGallery
ble, expanding it since 2013 from 14 of Accor’s
195,384
Movenpick
Pullman
bench of more than 30 that includes Fairmont,
Raffles
Swissôtel and Raffles.
Rixos
Mama Shelter
Frenchman Bazin’s path to the head of Accor
MID-SCALE
SBE
Mantra
So by Sofitel
is atypical. While others in similar positions are
Novotel
Sofitel
Novotel Suites
normally seasoned hoteliers, Bazin’s former ca-
Swissôtel
Mercure
The Sebel
based in London, New York, San Francisco and
Source: Accor, December 2019
F ORBES A SIA
MAR CH 2020 Tribe reer was in dealmaking, as an investment banker

customer base,” says Bazin. “It costs so much to
acquire customers that whenever they stay with
you, make sure you follow them and give them
whatever they want outside of the hotel.” Starting
this year, Accor will introduce a revamped loyal-
72 ty program across all its properties called ALL—
standing for Accor Live Limitless.
With typical French flair, ALL will offer what
Bazin calls “money-can’t-buy” experiences—ex-
clusive gallery exhibitions, private dinners host-
ed by Michelin chefs and backstage concert pass-
es. In Asia, the program—for now —offers mostly

room discounts and wine-tasting dinners.
To ensure ALL lives up to its promises, Accor
is investing €400 million to buy into companies
that operate restaurants, nightclubs and exclu-
sive lounges so that Accor has its own in-house
resources to wow guests. It also has tieups with
the likes of talent management company IMG
and sports and entertainment firm AEG. How-
ever, a €50 million deal in early 2019 to sponsor
French football team Paris Saint-Germain did
Paris. In 1997 Bazin became head of the Euro- “Every brand we add raise a few eyebrows.
pean business of Los Angeles-based property in- gives us another op- Some investors and analysts questioned how
portunity to seduce
vestment firm Colony Capital. At Colony, he led an owner,” says the large sum paid will provide a return on its
Sébastien Bazin.
several hotel acquisitions, including a €1 billion investment. “Our concern is that the decision to
investment in Accor, before representing Colony sponsor may not have been made in the best in-
on Accor’s board in early 2006. In August 2013, terest of shareholders,” Thomas Beevers, founder
Bazin was appointed chairman and CEO of Ac- and CEO of London-based equity research firm
cor (and left Colony). StockViews, wrote in a report last March.
In 2015, he led Accor’s $2.9 billion purchase of Bazin counters that these investments are all
Canada-based FRHI Hotels & Resorts (the “R” designed to dazzle guests and to transform Accor
in FRHI originally stood for Raffles). The group into a lifestyle operator. Loyalty programs have
was studded with luxury gems, such as the Raffles been an increasingly important revenue source
chain, the Fairmont chain, the Savoy in London for the big chains—Marriott’s Bonvoy generates
and the Plaza Hotel in New York. Accor bought a roughly 6.5% return on investment and 50%
FRHI from its three owners, Colony, Saudi Ara- of the chain’s hotel booking. Bazin aims to grow
bia’s Kingdom Holding, and the Qatar govern- earnings from its loyalty program to more than
ment. In the transaction, Accor paid $840 million €100 million. “It’s not good enough, but it’s so
in cash and 46.7 million new shares that left King- much better than €6 million right now,” he says.
dom and Qatar holding respective stakes of 5.8% Despite headwinds in Accor’s key Asia Pacif-
and 10.5% in Accor (now 6.1% and 10.9%). Raf- ic markets, including the trade war, Hong Kong’s
fles, which had been bought by the Qatar govern- unrest, and now the coronavirus outbreak, ana-
ment in a separate deal, remained 100% owned by lysts are generally optimistic on Accor’s prospects
the Qatar government’s Katara Hospitality. in Asia. “The trade war may actually be benefi-
To further woo luxury travellers, Bazin needs cial for the French company if you think that Chi-
to beef up Accor’s membership program, simi- na may limit access to its market to the likes of
lar to what Marriott has been doing with its Bon- [U.S. companies] Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt,” says
voy program. “What we want to do is retain our Thomas Sineau, senior intelligence analyst at
New York-based analytics firm CB Insights.
Bazin is already planning Accor’s next move— MUHAMMAD FADLI FOR FORBES ASIA
In Asia, a new Accor property to partner with major digital players such as Ali-
baba, Amazon and Google. “Those guys respect
opens every three days. size,” he says. “Scale matters even more today than

it mattered 20 years ago.”


F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

It’s never black and white.

As the world’s most trusted news organisation , we provide insightful,
1
in-depth and accurate analysis. Find out what’s actually happening.


1 SOURCE: Brand Tracker H1 2018. Percentage who consider the brand ‘Trustworthy’ in an implicit association test.
BASE: (n=4,769), I8-65 y/o international consumers who are aware of and would consider brand. USA, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Nigeria, India
Conducted by Insites Consulting, an independent market research agency

By Susan Adams

the most expensive artwork ever sold? It’s un-

Forbes Life clear. Although auction houses trade their trea-
sures in public, most transactions remain pri-
EYE OF vate. Still, record-breaking sales have a way of

coming to light.
THE BEHOLDER After combing through much data, here’s a list

74 of the highest-priced known art deals in each
year of the last decade. In second place: “Inter-
change,” a 1955 work of abstract expressionism
A look back at the ten most expensive sales by Willem de Kooning, which fetched $300 mil-
of artwork over the 2010s. lion in September 2015. Chicago hedge fund ti-
tan Ken Griffin reportedly paid entertainment
billionaire David Geffen’s foundation a total of
T he overflow crowd at Christie’s auction $500 million for two works. The second was
house broke into applause when the gavel fell
“Number 17A,” a 1948 painting by Jackson Pol-
on the blockbuster art sale of the decade. On
lock. Griffin loaned both works to the Art Insti-
November 15, 2017, a Saudi prince agreed to tute of Chicago, where he is a trustee.
pay $450 million—nearly half a billion dol- Paul Cézanne’s “The Card Players” brought the
lars—for “Salvator Mundi,” a 500-year-old portrait of Jesus third-highest price of the decade. In 2011 the na-
Christ hyped by Christie’s as “The Last da Vinci.” No matter tion of Qatar paid the estate of the late Greek
that many art scholars believed the work was a product of shipping magnate George Embiricos $250 mil-
Leonardo’s studio rather than the master himself. lion, according to Vanity Fair. In the 1890s Cé-
Since the sale, the painting seems to have gone missing. zanne painted a series of four versions of Pro-
The Louvre Abu Dhabi abruptly canceled a scheduled un- vençal farmhands relaxing over a game of cards.
veiling in September 2018. The latest speculation is that The other three are in museums, including New
Saudi Arabia’s ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. If there’s a
whisked away the painting on his private plane and stowed lesson from the decade’s sky-high prices, it’s that
it on his $500 million yacht, Serene. Is “Salvator Mundi” the art market’s ceiling keeps ascending.





1


























ISABEL INFANTES/PA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES




















F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

3
1. “Salvator Mundi”
ARTIST: attributed to
Leonardo da Vinci
SOLD: $450m, 2017
Christie’s
75
2. “Interchange”
ARTIST: Willem de Kooning
SOLD: $300m, 2015 F
Private sale by David Geffen
to Ken Griffin

3. “The Card Players” ORBES LIFE
ARTIST: Paul Cézanne
SOLD: $250m, 2011
Private sale by the state of
George Embiricos to Qatar

4. “Nafea Faa Ipoipo? 4 8
(When Will You Marry?)”
ARTIST: Paul Gauguin
SOLD: $210m, 2014
Private sale by Rudolf
Staechelin to a Qatari buyer

5. “Wasserschlangen II”
ARTIST: Gustav Klimt
SOLD: $184m, 2012
Private sale by Ursula Ucicky
to Dmitry Rybolovlev

6. “Nu couché
(Sur le côté gauche)”
ARTIST: Amedeo Modigliani
SOLD: $157m, 2018
Sotheby’s
STAN HONDA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; LEEMAGE/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES; IMAGNO/GETTY IMAGES; AFP
7. “Le Rêve”
ARTIST: Pablo Picasso
SOLD: $155m, 2013
Private sale by Steve Wynn to
Steven Cohen
9
8. “Adele Bloch-Bauer II”
ARTIST: Gustav Klimt
SOLD: $150m, 2016
Private sale by Oprah Winfrey
to a Chinese buyer

9. “Mueles”
ARTIST: Claude Monet
SOLD: $111m, 2019
Sotheby’s

10. “Nude, Green Leaves
and Bust”
ARTIST: Pablo Picasso
SOLD: $107m, 2010
Christie’s






MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA

THOUGHTS ON






Morale

“Keep buggering on.” “My expectations were

76 Winston Churchill reduced to zero when
I was 21. Everything since
then has been a bonus.”
“The term ‘morale’ is never
used except in reference Stephen Hawking
to soldiers or people in
analogous positions, such “Military power wins battles,
as employees of large but spiritual power wins wars.”
corporations or prison George C. Marshall
inmates. No one ever
talks about the morale of
participants in a passionate “We either make ourselves
love affair.” miserable, or we make
ourselves strong. The
P.J. O’Rourke
amount of work is the same.”
Carlos Castaneda
“The greater part of our
happiness or misery
depends upon our “No soldier outlives a
dispositions and not upon thousand chances. But
our circumstances.” every soldier believes in
Chance and trusts his luck.”
Martha Washington
Erich Maria Remarque

“About a third of my cases are
suffering from no clinically “Happiness in intelligent
definable neurosis, but people is just about the
from the senselessness and rarest thing I know.”
emptiness of their lives. This Ernest Hemingway
can be defined as the general
neurosis of our times.” “A cheerful heart is good
Carl Jung medicine, but a crushed
spirit dries up the bones.”
Gimbel’s Gambit
“The best morale exists Proverbs 17:22
when you never hear the
January 1, 1948
word mentioned. When you
hear a lot of talk about it, good boss has to know how to handle
it’s usually lousy.” FINAL THOUGHT
Dwight Eisenhower A people considerately to get maximum re-
sults,” boomed Bernard F. Gimbel, 62, the
183cm, 95kg president of Gimbel Bros.
“Phrases like ‘the team
spirit’ are always employed department stores. Gimbel, a former
to cut across individualism, Penn fullback and wrestler, had guided his family’s chain
love and personal loyalties.” from its humble roots in Philadelphia to a preeminent
Muriel Spark spot in New York City retail, fighting neighborhood rival
Macy’s every step of the way. His management theory:
“If you are distressed by “As Gimbel’s head man, it’s my job to be a builder-upper,
anything external, the pain to strengthen the morale of my team, never to repri-
is not due to the thing
itself but to your estimate mand anyone in public, to give everyone a clearheaded,
of it; and this you have followable conception of what has to be done.” Gimbel
the power to revoke at any would retire five years later with his stores’ sales having “Into which path shall
workers be turned—the
moment.” grown 40 times over, to $600 million (nearly $6 billion one that leads to construc-
Marcus Aurelius in today’s money), during his tenure. tive effort, ambition
and contentment, or the
one that leads to mental
“Morale is good; troops idleness, dissatisfaction
are confident; leaders SOURCES: GIVE WAR A CHANCE, BY P.J. O’ROURKE; MEDITATIONS, BY MARCUS and Bolshevism?”
are capable.” AURELIUS; THE SCIENCE OF SECOND GUESSING, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE,
DECEMBER 12, 2004; THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, BY MURIEL SPARK; ALL —B.C. Forbes
John Abizaid QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, BY ERICH MARIA REMARQUE; THE GARDEN OF
EDEN, BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY.

F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020

A NEW CHAP TER BEGINS IN SYDNEY


















S YDNEY





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