Yingtai Feng
Yingtai Feng | |
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英泰风 | |
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| Born | 19 September 1955 Maojie, Maguan Prefecture, Kingdom of Monsilva |
| Alma mater | University of Wodai (BS) Weberfeld University Central Amking University (MS) |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1975–present |
| Known for | Leadership of Yingtai International and Qingshen Insurance |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | Yingtai Jiao Fu Xue Yingtai Hu |
Yingtai Feng (Monsilvan: 英泰风; born 19 September 1955) is a Monsilvan billionaire business magnate, chairman and CEO. He is the CEO of Yingtai International, a leading infrastructure management and investment company. He is also the founder of the Qingshen Insurance Company. Yingtai took over Yingtai International in 1975 after his father, Yingtai Yuan, founder of the company, retired. The company had seen some success since its founding in August 1955, however its largest growth came during the Monsilvan Miracle which took place in the 1980s and early 1990s after the establishment of the Monsilvan Republic in 1978. As a result of his success, Yingtai is considered one of the most successful and well-known fundamental investors. As of August 2023, he possessed a net worth of QSC ₵20 billion, placing him as the third-richest person in Monsilva.
Yingtai was born in Maojie, Maguan Prefecture, Monsilva. His interest in business and economics developed directly from his father and in 1971, at the age of 16, he joined the Maojie Business School where he begun realising his potential at his father's company. In 1973, Yingtai transferred to the University of Wodai, from which he graduated early in 1974 with a Bachelor's in Economics. He also attended Weberfeld University in Altenberg, Kivu to focus on business management and partnerships from 1974 until October 1975. Yingtai's father retired at the end of 1975 and left his company to him, which was unexpected and initially brought challenges for him and the company. However, Yingtai managed to take control of the company as its new chairman and begun establishing partnerships with construction companies across the country.
In 1978, with the nation-wide protests taking place against the Monsilvan military government, Yingtai had to make difficult decisions in order to avoid his company becoming susceptible to the many boycotts taking place to similar companies which had history with collaborating with the government. One of these decisions was severing multiple ties with the construction companies Yingtai had spent years building due to their affiliations with the government. In October 1979, after the arrest of Shao Yaoting, Yingtai was approached by a member of the Monsilvan Revolutionary Army, which was beginning to construct a provisional government to replace the military one, offering a deal between the new government and Yingtai International to assist in the rebuilding of the nation after it's year-long violent protests. It was this offer that kickstarted the growth of Yingtai's company into one of international standings.
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Early life and education
Yingtai was born on 19 September 1955 in Maojie, Maguan Prefecture as the only son of Yingtai Yuan. He began his education at Zhubu Elementary School. His father had already founded Yingtai International (then known as Yingtai Financial Services) a month before Yingtai was born and the company's initial success began whilst he was in elementary school. In 1962, his family moved to Siming in central Maojie and Yingtai attended Central Maojie Middle School. He graduated from Maojie Business School in 1973, which is where he had discovered his interest in entrepreneurial and investment ventures. Yingtai wanted to begin working for his fathers company immediately after graduating, however his father instead encouraged him to attend the University of Wodai, one of Monsilva's top business and economics universities. Yingtai attended UOW, taking a one-year compressed bachelors degree in economics. After he graduated he relocated to Weberfeld University in Altenberg, Kivu in order to educate himself of business management in preparation of taking over his father's company.
In October 1975, Yingtai's father had a heart attack. In order to care for his father, Yingtai left Weberfeld University and came back to Maojie. His father had originally planned to retire from the company much later, however his declining health meant that Yingtai became the company's chairman at the beginning of 1976, just a few months later. At only 21, Yingtai had just become the CEO of a rapidly growing company in a country undergoing major civil unrest. Despite his young age, Yingtai's intensive education in business management allowed him to successfully continue the company's legacy. In September 1976, Yingtai begun attending Central Amking University, where he studied another two-year intensive until May 1978, when the university closed due to the 1978 Monsilvan protests.
In 1978, Yingtai was approached by Zheng Yan, a senior member of the Monsilvan Revolutionary Army which had recently arrested Monsilva's military dictator, Shao Yaoting, and was beginning to form a provisional government for the new Monsilvan Republic. Zheng asked if Yingtai Financial Services would be able to contribute funding, alongside multiple other Monsilvan banks and financial services companies, to the re-construction of Monsilva's damaged infrastructure during the 1978 protests. Yingtai accepted this offer, which, although initially very expensive for the company and lead to it having to focus all of its money on the investment, ended up as an extreme success for Yingtai and his company, as he received a return from the new government in 1981 of ₵150 million (around ₵500 million today). In 1982, at the age of 27, Yingtai initiated his company's first major international investment: the re-building after the Setberg Chemical Plant disaster in Reykanes.
Business career
Growth of Yingtai International
In 1983, with Yingtai Financial Services becoming international, Yingtai renamed the company appropriately to 'Yingtai International Development Corporation', or just 'Yingtai International' for short. Yingtai also begun upgrading his company's offices, purchasing the Tianting Tower in Maojie to host the company's headquarters, and establishing smaller offices in Amking and Luhai.
In 1984, Yingtai married Fu Baozhai, after divorcing his previous wife, Pan Qi, in 1981. Yingtai had met previously at the Unversity of Wodai, but had fallen out of touch after Yingtai left the country abruptly in 1974 to study at Weberfeld University in Altenberg, Kivu. They re-united in 1981, not long after Yingtai's divorce, after Fu discovered the growth of Yingtai International and travelled to Maojie to meet him. After Fu and Yingtai married, they have had three children in 1985, 1989 and 1994 respectively.
In 1986, Yingtai begun teaching lectures in business and economics at Maguan State University. The university had approached Yingtai in 1985, asking if he would like to do a vising lecture, however Yingtai responded that he would rather teach more frequent lectures, sharing his stressful business experiences and learning path with the university's students. Five months later, MSU accepted his response and asked that if he would teach business and economics at the university. Despite protests from his wife, citing his increased blood pressure due to stress, Yingtai began teaching in September 1986.
In 1991, Yingtai was offered his first government investment from the government of Majocco. The government had sent a request of ₵50 million for the construction of the Tarqiqini Canal. The deal was accepted, and Yingtai International received its largest return yet, of ₵200 million from an interest rate of 300%, which had been given due to a promise from Yingtai International to prioritise Majoccan investments.
Becoming a billionaire and philanthropy
Yingtai became a billionaire in mid-1995 when Yingtai International began selling class A shares, with the market closing at several thousand credits a share. In 1998 he acquired Hongya Insurance, a company that had been struggling due to a fraud case involving the chairman of the company. Yingtai made himself the CEO of Hongya Insurance after he acquired it and had to fire the entire senior staff due to their involvements in embezzlement and fraud cases. He renamed the company to Qingshen Insurance due to the bad reputation the previous name held.
In 2002, Yingtai announced he would gradually give away 85% of his YI holdings to several charity foundations in annual gifts of stock. He began in 2003, with the largest contribution going to the Byasanese EndPovertyBY charity. Other charities Yingtai has donated significant amounts of money to include several Monsilvan charities advocating for more accessible education to disabled children. In 2007, a journalist discovered Yingtai had been donating to the controversial charity, YIERSAN. YIERSAN had been accused of money mismanagement and the exploitation of impoverished people in eastern Byasa in 2005. Yingtai responded to the discovery by stating that he did not donate to the charity until after the company had re-organized its leadership.
In 2015, in a letter to shareholders, Yingtai announced that he was looking for a younger successor, or perhaps successors, to run his investment business. An account on Twitter that claimed to be an employee at Yingtai International claimed that Yingtai was going to appoint his son, Yingtai Hu, to succeed him as CEO. In 2016, Shi Lijuan, Chief Financial Officer of Yingtai International, said in an interview with MBS News that this claim was untrue, and Yingtai had not yet found a certain successor.
Jan Voronin and Koman controversy
In December 1992, Yingtai Feng begun investing in operations by Rakhmani businessman Jan Voronin. These investments contributed towards Voronin founding a major mining company, known as the Koman Corporation, in 1993. Yingtai worked closely with Voronin and continued his investments in Koman until 2004, when Vornin was arrested by the Rakhmani authorities for fraud. This incident was quickly connected back to Monsilva with Yingtai and Yingtai International, which had invested in many of Koman's infrastructure projects.
In June 2004, Yingtai's private home in Waiping, Bazhong, was raided by the Federal Police Force. Although the police did not discover any evidence that Yingtai nor his company were involved in any fraud or embezzlement themselves, they did find that Yingtai had known about Voronin's fraudulent operations for a much longer period than the Rakhmani authorities and did not report it. As as result, Yingtai was fined MSY ¥1.8 million (QSC ₵300,000) for assisting a criminal in committing an offence. As a result of this incident, between 2004 and 2005, Yingtai International suffered a significant loss in funding and hundreds of employees quit from both Yingtai International and Qingshen Insurance out of protest.
Due to Voronin's arrest and Yingtai's fine, the investments of Koman Corporation were ceased. Despite the negative press he recieved from the controversy and the resulting loss in staff and income to Yingtai International, Yingtai's net worth increased during 2004 and 2005. Although no evidence has been found, multiple sources from within Yingtai International claim that Yingtai secretly continued investing in Koman Corporation after 2004. In 2013, Voronin was released from prison and returned to the Koman Corporation. Yingtai also returned to publicly investing in the Koman Corporation once more.
Personal life
In 1978, during the mass protests in Monsilva and Yingtai's difficulties maintaining his father's company, Yingtai met Pan Qi. Pan helped Yingtai throughout his difficult period by serving as his secretary and assistant. They married in 1979 and stayed together during Yingtai's intial success after the establishment of the republic. After an disagreement over the future of Yingtai's company and how Yingtai managed his money, Pan divorced him in 1981.
In 1982, Yingtai reunited with a fellow student at the University of Wodai, Fu Baozhai. Fu and Yingtai had been close friends at the university, but lost contact when Yingtai left for Kivu in order to study at Weberfeld University in Altenberg. Fu managed to re-establish contact between the two due to Yingtai International's involvement in the reconstruction efforts in Monsilva after the riots in 1978. They begun dating in 1983 and married in 1984. Fu and Yingtai have had three children together.
Yingtai is an avid player of Mahjong, a Monsilvan tile-based game, which he has played with multiple famous Monsilvans including former president of Monsilva, Chen Bai-xin as well as fellow billionaire fan of Mahjong, Zhao Jingfei. Some sources have claimed that Yingtai plays Mahjong for around 4 hours every week. In 2018, Yingtai sponsored the International Mahjong League's Terraconserva Mahjong Games. In 2019, during an interview, he jokingly suggested taking part as a representative for Monsilva in the games.
He is also a dedicated, lifelong follower of the Monsilvan association football club, Maojie F.C., and has attended as many games involving the team as his schedule permits. His insurance company, Qingen Insurance, has sponsored the team since 2008. In 2012, after the end of the 2011–12 Monsilvan Super League, in which Maojie FC were the champions, images of Yingtai shouting in joy and pointing at the pitch when the team scored a goal during the final circulated the internet, some with additional unrelated captions.
Yingtai's speeches are famous for mixing serious business discussions with humor, and he has frequently trended on the Monsilvan internet due to the comments he makes during his speeches. Yingtai International and Qingshen Insurance's annual reports and letters, which are prepared by Yingtai, frequently receive coverage by Monsilva's financial media. He often includes quotations from sources that are presently popular, including controversially quoting Jan Voronin in 2015, not long after he was released from prison.
Political and public policy views
Yingtai has made many political contributions over the years, including campaign contributions to Ling Mu's campaign for the 2003 Monsilvan presidential election. Yingtai attended Ling's inauguration ceremony in January 2004 and spoke briefly due to being a close friend and her campaign's largest contributor. Yingtai said in his speech that Ling's success was a pivotal moment for Monsilva as she became the country's first female president.
In 2020, Yingtai got into an argument with a senior member of the People's New Party at a public event in Luhai. Video of the argument circulated the Monsilvan internet, and during an interview with Yingtai not long after the incident, he was asked if either of them apologised to each other afterwards. Yingtai responded to the female interviewer saying "No, of course not. Why should I apologize to someone who believes in legislations that would stop you from having this job?".
In July 2023, Yingtai was reported to have been in support of removing presidential term limits in Monsilva. He had apparently asked the question, "why should we limit the terms of someone who the people clearly like?". He later posted on Twitter that those were indeed his views. The post received thousands of retweets and replies, most of which were in support.
Yingtai has also strongly opposed gambling, having said in 1993 that it should be banned in Monsilva. He called gambling a "tax on the ignorant", and stated that his father had had serious gambling issues which started before he could adequately learn about the harms of a gambling addiction.
Film and television
Although Yingtai has never appeared in any significant roles in films or television shows, he has featured in multiple cameos in some Monsilvan television shows. He was also the subject of the 2016 MBS documentary Fame Comes From Struggles.
