Vincent Tan

Early life

Tan was born in Batu Pahat in 1952, and studied at Batu Pahat High School.

He had originally planned to study law in New Zealand, but as his father's business was failing, he found work as a clerk in a bank instead. He then sold life insurance for AIA and became an agency manager for the company.

Tan then started private companies in trading, credit, general insurance and real estate. He started a joint venture with Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance that became United Prime Insurance. In 1981, he won a McDonald's franchise in Malaysia, took an advance operations course at Hamburger University, and became the managing director of McDonald's Malaysia in 1982.

Business

Berjaya Corporation

In 1984, Tan moved into Berjaya, which purchased 48% of the consumer durables company Regnis the same year. Tan had association with the then finance minister Daim Zainuddin. In 1985, Tan bought 51% of Sports Toto from the Malaysian government. Pre-tax profit of Sports Toto rose from RM 5 million in 1985 to RM 36 million by April 1989. He injected his shares in Sports Toto into Berjaya to gain control of Berjaya. In 1988, he swapped his shares in Berjaya for Raleigh Bhd, a lost-making company linked to Daim, which was then renamed Inter-Pacific and turned into Berjaya's holding company. Under his leadership, Berjaya's pretax profit rose from RM 700,000 in 1984 to RM 70 million in 1989.

In 2010, Tan received a gaming license for his wholly owned subsidiary Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd. However, the license was revoked in October 2010, and as of July 2018 the government said it had no plans to reissue it.

Below are the listed subsidiaries under Berjaya Corporation Berhad:

Berjaya Land Berhad

Sports Toto Berhad (formerly known as Berjaya Sports Toto Berhad)

Berjaya Food Berhad

REDtone Digital Berhad

Berjaya Philippines Inc.

Football

In May 2010, Tan became the owner of Cardiff City after a consortium of Malaysian investors (led by Dato Chan Tien Ghee) bought 30% of the club's shares.

In May 2012, the consortium said they would invest £100 million to increase the stadium's capacity and build a new training ground, providing they were given permission to rebrand the club from blue to red. The plans sparked outrage among Cardiff supporters, who quickly organised an emergency meeting to discuss how they would respond to the proposal. The plans were subsequently dropped.

One month later, the club went ahead with the rebranding, to expand Cardiff's appeal in foreign markets. Cardiff's badge was redesigned to include a red dragon, while their home kit was changed from blue to red. The club's £30 million debt to the Langston Corporation was also cleared.

In April 2013, following Cardiff's promotion to the Premier League, Tan promised to spend £25 million to help Cardiff establish themselves in the top flight, and publicly stated his interest in listing his 36.1% stake on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). An initial public offering (IPO) would sell shares in the club to the public for the first time, in an attempt to gain capital to expand the business.

In October 2013, Tan created more controversy after suspending Iain Moody, the club's head of recruitment, who had apparently overspent by £15 million during the summer transfer window. Moody was initially added to the backroom staff by then manager Malky Mackay, and helped Cardiff sign several players ahead of their inaugural Premier League campaign. He was replaced by Alisher Apsalyamovby, a 23-year-old Kazakh who was previously on work experience with the club and is a friend of Tan's son. A few months later, following an investigation over Apsalyamovby's visa, he was forced to leave the club.

Despite going over budget during the summer, Mackay publicly stated his plans to boost his squad during the January transfer window, which upset Tan, who said that no money would be made available. Mackay said he would not resign following Tan's criticism, and was subsequently backed by Cardiff fans. Towards the end of December, Tan told Mackay to resign or be sacked. He managed two more games before being sacked. After his sacking, it was alleged that Mackay had sent texts of an anti-Chinese nature, which was defended by Dave Whelan, owner of his subsequent employers Wigan Athletic. Tan responded by calling both of them racists, and saying "I hope that stops at two racists in Wigan, not snowballing to 2,000 or 20,000 racists in Wigan."

Horse racing

In April 2014, Tan (through one of his representatives) bought a two-year-old colt from Doncaster Bloodstock Breeze-Up Sales for £190,000. It will be trained by Australian Jeremy Gask in Wiltshire. Eamonn Wilmott, Gask's business partner, said: "We are very excited, and pleased to have Mr Tan involved. The horse looks exceptional and dominated the parade rings outside the sales."

Philanthropy

Tan is the founder of the Better Malaysia Foundation, which provides interest-free loans and scholarships to students in need. In 2011, he was featured on Forbes Asia's list of Heroes of Philanthropy due to his pledge to donate half his fortune to social causes.

In 2017, Vincent Tan donated RM500,000 to Mercy Malaysia and Tzu Chi Malaysia, bringing the total sum of his donations to both organizations to RM7.6 million.

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

Malaysia

Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (1991)

Kelantan

Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Life of the Crown of Kelantan (SJMK) – Dato' (2005)

Pahang

Knight Grand Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (SIMP) – formerly Dato', now Dato' Indera (1989)

Terengganu

Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Terengganu (SPMT) – Dato' (1991)

Knight Grand Companion of the Order of Sultan Mahmud I of Terengganu (SSMT) – Dato' Seri (1997)