Min-Liang Tan

Min-Liang Tan or Tan Min Liang (simplified Chinese: 陈民亮; traditional Chinese: 陳民亮; pinyin: Chén Mínliàng; born 5 November 1977) is a Singaporean entrepreneur and former lawyer. He is best known as the co-founder, chief executive officer (CEO) and creative director of gaming hardware company, Razer Inc., and CEO of THX. He oversees the design and development of all Razer products.[3] Tan was a lawyer before he co-founded Razer with Robert Krakoff.[4]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Tan (陈).
Min-Liang Tan
陈民亮
Tan at 2019 RISE conference
Born (1977-11-05) 5 November 1977
Singapore
CitizenshipSingapore[1]
Alma materNational University of Singapore
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active1997–present
Known forCo-founding Razer Inc.
Net worthUS$650 million (August 2020)[2]
TitleCEO of Razer Inc.
CEO of THX
Signature

Tan debuted in 2016 on the Forbes Singapore Rich List with a net worth of US$600 million[5] and became the youngest self-made Singaporean billionaire at the age of 40 with a net worth of US$1.6 billion when Razer went public in 2017.[6]

Apart from Razer, Tan is a founding member of the Open Source Virtual Reality platform, which aims to create a common standard for VR program design. The next frontier for Razer has been said to lie in the realm of virtual reality, and Tan hopes to create an entire virtual reality industry, citing that the prospects are “phenomenal” in entertainment, health care and military applications.[7] Tan is a board member of Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).[8]

Early life and education

Born on 5 November 1977 in Singapore to Tan Kim Lee, a real estate consultant, and Low Ken Yin, a homemaker, Tan is the youngest of four children in his family.[9] Being raised in Singapore, he is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English. Two of Tan's siblings eventually became doctors, one of whom is the renowned clinician-scientist Tan Min Han (who is also the founder, CEO and medical director of Singaporean genomic medicine company Lucence Diagnostics),[10] another became a lawyer, and the last is an ex-lawyer.

Tan attended Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Junior College prior to attending university and graduated from the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law).[11][12] Tan graduated with a Master of Laws,[13] and was ranked top 20[14] in his post-graduate law class when he graduated in 2002.

Career

Prior to founding Razer, Tan was an advocate and solicitor for the Supreme Court of Singapore.[15]

In 1999, Tan and Robert Krakoff (who was GM of kärna LLC) met and worked together to design the world's first gaming mouse — the "Razer Boomslang".[16][17]

In 2005, Tan and Robert Krakoff acquired the rights to the Razer brand and officially incorporated Razer Inc. in San Diego, California. Tan took on the role of CEO and Creative Director of Razer.[17]

On Mar 31, 2015, Tan was appointed as a board member of Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).[8]

On November 13, 2017, Razer had their IPO and Tan became the youngest self-made Singaporean billionaire at the age of 40.[18]

Fan base and reputation

Tan has a cult-like following worldwide and his fans have created fansites of him as well as even tattooed Tan's name on themselves.[19] One of his fans has gone as far as tattooing Tan's face on himself.[20]

In December 2019 Kotaku published an exposé[21] based on the statements of 14 former Razer employees, containing wide allegations that under Tan's leadership Razer celebrates a culture of fear, and that Tan himself berates, threatens and shames his staff.[22]

Awards

Tan was included in the "Top 10 Most Influential Leaders in Tech" in 2015 by Juniper Research.[23] Tan was named one of "The 25 Most Creative People in Tech" by Business Insider.[24] He has been ranked one of the top 40 most powerful people in gaming by Kotaku in their "The Kotaku Power 40" list.[25] Tan was ranked No. 1 of the 30 top Southeast Asia tech founders by TechinAsia.[26] Tan was named the Asian of the Year in 2016 by The Straits Times.[27]

He has won awards from his alma mater, the National University of Singapore (NUS), including their Outstanding NUS Innovator Award in 2011,[28] and as one of their Outstanding Young Alumni in 2015.[29]

Philanthropy

In March 2012, Tan contributed US$10,000 to the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter project where he admitted it was to atone for infringing the copyright of Wasteland when he was a child. Brian Fargo replies that Tan has more than made up for his downloading of the game.[30][31]

In November 2014, Tan donated US$10,000 and did the Ice Bucket Challenge in an effort to raise funds for ALS.[32]

In February 2015, Tan donated £10,000 to fight Motor Neuron Disease. The donation was done via Twitch live stream subscription to ProSyndicate.[33]

Media appearances

Tan was a backer of Wasteland 2[34] and Torment: Tides of Numenera[35] on Kickstarter which resulted in him being added to both games as a non-player character. He also appears in Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues.[36]

Tan has also had cameos in movies like Dead Rising: Watchtower where he acted as a zombie.[37]

References
  1. Lucas, Louise (31 October 2017). "Min-Liang Tan: the $700m gaming impresario". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. He splits his time between Singapore, where he has citizenship, and San Francisco.
  2. "Forbes profile: Min-Liang Tan". Forbes. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  3. Gamesbeat 2009 Speakers Archived 2010-02-18 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Razer CEO Tan Min Liang: "We are our biggest challenge". e27. October 11, 2012. Archived from the original on August 27, 2015.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2017-09-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2017-11-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Tan Min-Liang: Gaming Guru". The Peak Magazine Singapore. Aug 3, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-08-27.
  8. "SIM Provost, Razer CEO join Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Board". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  9. Tan, Sumiko (July 30, 2017). "Lunch With Sumiko: Razer founder Tan Min-Liang's 'insane drive to be the best'". The Straits Times.
  10. "Tan Min-han". emedevents.com. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  11. "The fourth issue of ONE - The Raffles Institution Alumni Magazine". Raffles Inc. November 3, 2011. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  12. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2015-06-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "MIn-Liang Tan". Forbes. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  14. "Notices". www.lawgazette.com.sg. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  15. "5 Questions With Razer CEO". CNBC. NBC Universal. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  16. "The Swordmaster". Prestige Singapore. December 4, 2012. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  17. "About Razer". Razer. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25.
  18. "Fortune of Razer Founder Min-Liang Tan Soars To $1.6B After IPO". Fortune. Nov 14, 2017.
  19. kishorekis45 Tweet on Twitter
  20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-12-10. Retrieved 2017-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. Kotaku exposé
  22. D'Anastasio, Cecilia (Dec 6, 2019). "Razer CEO Berated And Threatened His Staff, Former Employees Say". Kotaku.
  23. "Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, Heads Top Tech Leader Rankings 2015". Archived from the original on 2015-05-27. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
  24. "25 Most Creative People in Tech". The Business Insider. March 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-05-04.
  25. "These Are The 40 Most Powerful People In Video Games". Kotaku. March 8, 2012. Archived from the original on May 16, 2013.
  26. "Southeast Asia's top 30 tech founders". TechInAsia. October 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-10-13.
  27. "Straits Times Asians of the Year". Straits Times. December 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-12-16.
  28. "NUS Enterprise - Awards". enterprise.nus.edu.sg. Archived from the original on 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  29. "NUS honours 19 alumni for outstanding contributions to alma mater and society". news.nus.edu.sg. Archived from the original on 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  30. "Repentent(sic) pirate drops $10,000 in Wasteland 2 fund". vg247. March 14, 2012. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013.
  31. "$10,000 Worth of Wasteland 2 is Brought to You by Razer". Kotaku. March 14, 2012. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012.
  32. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2015-06-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  33. Tom Syndicate Tweet on Twitter
  34. Antista, Chris. "Razer CEO ponies up $10K to fund Wasteland 2". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  35. Rigney, Ryan. "BIG-MONEY DONORS HELP TORMENT GAME BREAK KICKSTARTER'S FASTEST-TO-$1M RECORD". Wired. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  36. Jennings, Scott. "Tower of the Shuttered eye". Shroud of the Avatar Forum. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  37. "Min-Liang Tan". Archived from the original on 2018-07-03.
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