The Good Investor
Jerry Wu is widely praised for his cultivated gentility in Shanghai society. Aside from his illustrious family background, extraordinary experience and successful investment career, ZHANG LING has an even more charming side- a caring and loving spirit.
One night at the end of the year, Jerry Wu, Founder and Managing Director of JLT Capital Shanghai Ltd, sat at his dining table at home, chatting with his friends. He gently swirled his Macallan 12 Year whiskey, and said,¡± Our project near the Great Wall in Beijing takes up an area of more than 100 hectares, on which we will cooperate with a famous hotel group from Dubai to make a six-star hot-spring hotel and luxury villa district. The plan will be completed before 2008.The total investment will be over 200 million dollars."
The project is in northeast Beijing and features unique natural scenery and geothermal resources. In mid-winter, the mist rising from the hot spring hovers over clean green water. Not far from the spring, the earth is covered with cold ice. It used to be battlefront in ancient times, where thousands of soldiers and horses took part in what would become legendary stories. Nowadays, it has become the battlefield for capital giants.
Just imagine that in two years, Wu will sit in his office in the six-star hotel, facing the hot spring swimming pool, recalling how his career plan turned into reality. The project is his dream and ambition. Behind his success in the capital investment market, the accumulation of many years of experience,¡± and talent,¡± says Wu, "I believe that I am a good investor."
Wu's grandfather was a great businessman in the cotton trade in Wuhan in the 1930s and 1940s;his maternal grandfather was a general. His father graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai and went to Taiwan to establish his own company. He engaged in deep-sea fishing, and was once one of the greatest ship-owners in Taiwan. After graduation from UC Berkeley, Wu was employed by the CPPCC National Committee of the Sino-American relation of the United Nations. Soon after that, he went back to help his father with the family business
In 1991, with a deep interest in the financial investment industry, Wu wanted to join Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong. "The application process was very interesting experience. Because my educational background has nothing to so with finance, as one can see from my resume, I had no advantage over competitors," says Wu, He planned to stay in the waiting room for three days for a chance. "I planned to wait three days in succession to see whether I could get an opportunity to see the interview officer." On the second day, the interview officer saw him and said," How come you are still here waiting? Well, please come in with me" After they entered the room, the interview officer went out. Wu saw an album of Chen Yifei on the desk. He had a glance at the contents quite hastily. When the interview officer entered the room again, Wu could already discuss the works of Chen Yifei." He was surprised, and asked me to have a chat the next day. I made a phone call to a friend who knows a lot about Chen Yifei, and obtained more information," Wu says, Wu was recruited and participated in the training for new employees. Eighteen months later, he earned his first million. "Money is no big deal to me, but my father was very happy since he saw my independence and achievement."
His outstanding work achievement drew attention in the industry. After working at Morgan Stanley for more than three years, Wu joined Lehman Brothers in Singapore, and was directly promoted to vice-president. Two years later, he went back to Hong Kong to help the Koo Chen-fu family of Taiwan to establish an investment bank, and took the post as the first general manager.
"In 1997 I felt it was time I do something for my own career.¡±What helped Wu make the final decision was a heavy rain in Hong Kong. "At that time, my home was in Singapore. One Friday, I called a taxi to go to the airport. Because of the rain, I was caught in a traffic jam. I knew I would miss the plane back home. There was a billboard on the roadside, saying "Home is in your heart". At that moment, I was very sad. My family was in my heart, but I could mot go to them." Wu went to Macau and drank for two days happily. On Monday morning, he handed in his resignation.
Over the next eight years, Wu established his own industry, "but I was not a good operator, my interest was to become a good investor. "In 1999,when Wu agreed on an investment contract with Ma Yun, Alibaba was a little company with merely 23 employee. In 2001, Wu was invited to become the independent director of CellStar.
Wu has already become a good investor, but he says, "I also wanted to be an outstanding person, caring about friends, caring about society."
Back when Wu was working in Singapore, he began to love and study red wine. For many years, he has collected valuable labels like chateau Lafitte Rothschild, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, and Chateau Haut Brion. He also joined the French Food Association, Bordeaux Wine Community and some other wine associations, to popularize wine culture actively. Wu has a special feeling for red wines He has one particular bottle, of Le Pin, which he carefully preserves. It was a gift from a friend in Malaysia he met in a banquet. "You understand it better than I do, so I want to give to you,¡± said his friend. Wu was very glad at that time, he wanted to open the bottle and share the wine with everybody there. But his friend prevented him and said, "Please keep it." A fortnight .Recalling this, Wu always takes out this bottle of wine to have a good look. From then on, he always looks after every friend carefully.
Wu's father is 80 years old. He says to Wu, "When you reach my age, you will need four things---friends, wine, wealth and wife." "Someday, I will write a book, called 'What Father Has Left Us', "says Wu. Life itself is actually a course of under standing and summarizing. Wu has a ten-year-old daughter, who lives with her mother in Beijing. "I separated from her mother but I call my daughter every night now, accompany her for one weekend every month, and take her on holidays four times every year," says Wu.
Wu has three elder sisters. "The youngest sister and I are twins. She lives in Beijing now, and runs three orphanages for disabled children," says Wu, pointing to pictures of his sister and the children she has adopted. "If I could have the chance to change other people's lives, I hope I can do what my sister did, and help more people in need." |
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