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tsai chongxin takes action again.

his latest investment has surfaced. according to bloomberg, the co-founder and chairman of alibaba recently bought a french vineyard. he was also involved in this investment with bluepool capital, which he launched. (blue pool capital) ceo weisberg.

previously, tsai chongxin turned his hobby into a tens of billions of business with his investment in the brooklyn nets, creating a much-talked-about investment.

known as alibaba's "god of wealth", tsai chongxin has always been a myth in china's venture capital circle. he gave up a million-dollar annual salary to join the grassroots alibaba in his early years. ups and downs, now he is still in the world.

60-year-old cai chongxin

became a french vineyard owner

tsai chongxin’s investment territory has expanded to vineyards.

according to foreign media reports, tsai chongxin participated in a consortium to acquire a french burgundy winery. he and another partner, oliver weisberg, ceo of blue pool capital, have purchased many vineyards, this land is located in the côte de nuits region.

it is a top-notch park right from the start. the côte de nuits is the most highly regarded region in burgundy. it has many red wine "grand cru" production area signs. it has the title of "burgundy's champs elysées" locally. it can be called the most elite wine region. a bottle of wine the retail price can reach hundreds of dollars.

a document shows that the cai consortium’s land is located in the charmes-chambertin, mazoyeres-chambertin and ruchottes-chambertin production areas. maps and photos produced by the official vins de bourgogne website show that these production areas are relatively close to each other and are famous for the pinot noir grape.

according to data recently disclosed by the french land agency safer, the average land price in the côte d'or (composed of the côte de nuits and other areas) is 983,800 euros/hectare.

this also marks tsai chongxin’s “unofficial” entry into france’s top vineyard investment club. many billionaires favor this. it is reported that bernard arnault, the founder of lvmh group and luxury goods tycoon, purchased clos de tart in côte de nuits for 220 million euros. in addition, bouygues, dassault and rothschild and other families have invested in vineyards here.

wine is to some extent a symbol of wealth, status and taste. relevant reports show that the 60-year-old tsai chongxin is keen on collecting wine. in 2020, he gave wine with the brand logo to nets fans. in addition, he is also the director of the documentary film "l'ame du vin" (the soul of wine) one of the producers, the film introduces the vineyards in the areas where they invest.

the person who joined forces with tsai chongxin to buy the land was the ceo of blue pool capital. blue pool capital was launched by tsai chongxin in hong kong in 2015. at that time, jack ma and many alibaba executives also participated. it is said that it manages most of the wealth of tsai chongxin and alibaba’s friends, mainly managing the profits brought by alibaba’s ipo. billions of dollars in wealth, but the relevant information has never been verified.

although not active in making investments, through bluepool capital, tsai chongxin invested in luxury homes in portugal and a penthouse in new york's billionaires' row, achieving diversification of wealth management. in addition, he also invested in the film studio ink factory and bet on the middle eastern version of huabei tabby. in july this year, blue pool capital just raised a new fund of 3.5 billion yuan.

this time, tsai chongxin’s investment landscape has once again entered the public eye.

from vineyard to basketball court

invest in hobbies

such a seemingly casual investment reminds people of the nets.

in june of this year, the new york post reported that tsai chongxin had sold part of his stake in the brooklyn nets to julia koch, the widow of david koch, the boss of koch industries. with a personal wealth of us$64.3 billion, she is the second richest woman in the world. upon completion of the transaction, julia koch and her family will also receive the right of first refusal to control the nets.

an email sent by bse global, the parent company of the nets, to other league owners showed that the total valuation of barclays center (nets) and new york liberty is approximately us$6 billion, breaking the nba's historical record and becoming the largest player in north america. one of the highest valuations in professional sports history.

prior to this, tsai chongxin's acquisition of the nets was a sensation. in april 2018, he announced that he would use his personal capital to purchase 49% of the shares of the nets, with the final price of the transaction exceeding us$1 billion. then in august 2019, he purchased the remaining 51% of the shares for a record us$2.35 billion. and the barclays center, becoming the first truly chinese owner in the nba.

the investment that once exceeded us$3 billion corresponds to the current total valuation of us$6 billion. in other words, in just five years, tsai chongxin’s investment in this hobby has nearly doubled. if nothing else, tsai chongxin can easily sell the team's equity for an amount higher than the original purchase price.

as we all know, tsai chongxin is very keen on sports. he played hockey and football in high school at lawrence willens high school in new jersey. when he was studying at yale university, tsai chongxin loved basketball very much and has always been a die-hard nba fan.

in fact, before acquiring the nets, tsai chongxin had already tested the waters in the sports world. in august 2017, bloomberg reported that tsai purchased an nll (national hockey league) expansion team in san diego.

while studying at yale, tsai chongxin was a huge basketball fan and very keen on sports. an interesting example is that after the alibaba sports project was launched in 2015, tsai chongxin, who has always been low-key, not only appeared at the strategic conference between the company and the american pac-12 alliance, but also ran to play basketball during the conference. in the past few years, tsai chongxin has often appeared on the basketball court.

he once said with emotion: we are very lucky to have founded alibaba. we work hard to make it easy to do business in the world. at the same time, alibaba’s feedback to me allows me to devote myself to the sport i love, and can also bring health and happiness to more people. , there is no more cyclical and happy life than this.

in an interview this year, tsai chongxin once again talked about the relationship between sports and business, "i think sports not only teach you discipline and diligence, but also teach you how to face failure. if you fall, if you lose the game, you have to start again. take heart. a lot of the principles apply to business.”

he admitted that one of the most valuable things was seeing his 17-year-old son play a basketball game.

still in the world

tsai chongxin is regarded as an idol by countless practitioners in the vc/pe circle.

in 1999, tsai chongxin met jack ma. at that time, this grassroots entrepreneurial team was looking for vc investment, and cai chongxin worked in the hong kong office of the venture capital department of swedish investor ab. the investment was not finally negotiated, but the atmosphere of the alibaba entrepreneurial team at that time attracted cai chongxin.

what follows is a well-known story: tsai chongxin resolutely returned to hong kong, quit his venture capital job with an annual salary of us$700,000, and went to hangzhou to join alibaba, which had no idea of ​​its future.

it was tsai chongxin, who was born in a venture capital institution, who put alibaba on the road to professional financing. the article "the past of alibaba cfo in the world" once recorded: on october 31, 1999, jack ma met investor masayoshi son for the first time. at that time, after ma yun only introduced his business for six or seven minutes, masayoshi son decided to invest in alibaba. son’s first bid was us$40 million, requiring 49% of the shares.

at that time, ma yun was filled with excitement after hearing this, but tsai chongxin said "no" because giving up 49% of the shares was too much and would be detrimental to the future growth of the team; so sun zhengyi paid back a price of us$30 million, and finally adjusted it to 20 million us dollars; the more than 20% of the shares released by this also laid an important foundation for the subsequent development of ali.

tsai chongxin is therefore known as ali’s god of wealth. in may 2013, he turned to be responsible for the group's strategic investment until he retired from the position of head of alibaba war investment in 2019. however, in june 2023, zhang yong, chairman and ceo of alibaba holdings group, announced his resignation. tsai chongxin was appointed as chairman of the board of directors of alibaba, returning to the public eye again.

looking at what he did in alibaba, it was nothing more than: finding money, managing money and steering the ship.

times have changed, and today’s situation is no more optimistic than before. on august 30 this year, ali finally ended its three-year rectification period and faced the changes in the business world again. however, in the past two years, the competition in the e-commerce arena in which ali has been involved has been unprecedentedly fierce, and the sense of crisis continues to permeate; ali the war pitchers also changed coaches again...

tsai chongxin previously stated in an open letter that facing the future, alibaba will continue to invest in two major areas: one is to accelerate the growth of core business, and the other is to maintain leadership in basic technology and innovation including ai.

as a leader, tsai chongxin proposed that an outstanding leader should be good at giving feedback, brave enough to admit mistakes, and not deliberately flaunt himself to avoid stifling innovation.

in the blink of an eye, everything seems to have changed, but tsai chongxin is still in the world.