Cai Haoyu

Cai Haoyu (Chinese: 蔡浩宇; pinyin: Cài Hàoyǔ; born 1987) is a Chinese businessman, investor, and video game producer. He is best known as the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of the Chinese game company miHoYo. The Chinese magazine New Fortune ranked Cai in 73rd place on the "2022 New Fortune 500 Rich List" that ranks the 500 richest people in China.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Cai (蔡).
Cai Haoyu
蔡浩宇
Born1987 (age 35–36)
Tian'qiao, Jinan, Shandong, China
Alma materShanghai Jiao Tong University (BSc. & MSc.)
OccupationChairman & CEO of miHoYo
Chinese name
Chinese蔡浩宇
Websitebcmi.sjtu.edu.cn/~caihaoyu

Early life

Cai was born in Jinan, Shandong, in 1987.[1][2] His parents, who both work as computer subject-related instructors, began teaching him about computers after noticing his interest for it beginning when he was five years old and exhibiting his aptitude for it.[2][3] In 1995, Cai received second place in the animation category in the youth division of the National Computer Competition.[2][4] In 1996, he received the "Top Ten Teenagers in Tianqiao District, Jinan City" award.[4] In 1998, his "Alien Envoy" (Chinese: 外星使者) and "Blue-Eared Spaceship" (Chinese: 蓝耳朵飞船) submissions received second place in the animation category in the youth division of the National Computer Competition.[4] In February 1999 when he was 12 years old, he was elected to the Chinese Youth Academy of Sciences in the first group of junior academicians chosen.[1][2][3] He said in an interview, "The computer is not a dead thing. It changes all the time. I have to keep learning to keep up with it."[3]

Also at an early age, the young Cai exhibited entrepreneurial proclivities, which also influenced him as a youth to "conduct business." One of his first business ventures as a teenager was when he bought Xiaolingtong cordless telephones for cheap and sold them for a profit. As a junior in high school, he sold watches as a side venture. By the time Cai reached college, he became an active stock investor, where in one instance, his speculative success in stocks allowed him to earn a windfall profit over ¥300,000 RMB (US$46,511.63) in a single month.[5]

Cai attended Jinan Baliqiao Primary School (Chinese: 济南八里桥小学), Jinan Foreign Language School, and Shandong Experimental High School.[1] He matriculated at Shanghai Jiaotong University when the institution admitted him as a student in 2005.[1] He majored in computer science and also went on to earn a master's degree from the same university.[5][6]

Career

At Shanghai Jiaotong, Cai became roommates with Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao.[2] He and his roommates became drawn to the ACG subculture of animation, comics, and games.[2] In 2009, they made video games with ACG as the theme including as their graduation project.[2] Cai started making his first game FlyMe2theMoon in 2010. Two years later, it received its first and only angel investment worth 1 million RMB. After that, he started to work on Honkai Gakuen (Guns Girl Z) as the production director.[7][8]

Cai and his roommates secured a ¥100,000 RMB (US$15,504) grant from the Shanghai Technology Innovation Center's Eagle Program.[1] In January 2011, using the grant, they established miHoYo in a university dormitory while they were second-year graduate students.[6][9][10] It began as a literary open source community.[11] Cai is the chairman of miHoYo, which by 2021, made over ¥10 billion (US$1.4 billion) in revenue.[3] Chinese Business Strategy, a media company that profiles businesspeople, said Cai "tends to think intuitively, is responsible for business strategy decisions, and is meticulous about affairs management".[3]

In May 2022, New Fortune, a Chinese magazine, published the "2022 New Fortune 500 Rich List" ranking the 500 richest people in China. Cai made his first appearance on the list in 73rd place at ¥56 billion (US$8.7 billion). Among the first 100 people on the list, Cai was the only person who made his fortune in the Chinese video game industry.[1] He is the richest person in Jinan.[2]

References
  1. Feng, Yunyun 冯云云 (2022-07-15). ""野蛮生长"米哈游：济南小伙在上海创业，身价直逼李彦宏" ["Barbaric Growth" miHoYo: The Jinan guy started a business in Shanghai, and his worth is close to Li Yanhong]. Shandong Business Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-09-12. Retrieved 2022-09-12 – via Economic Daily.
  2. Tang, Zhenglu 唐正璐, ed. (2022-06-21). "三位年轻人，造出游戏界"印钞机"，席卷全球，缔造千亿估值" [Three young people created a "money printing machine" in the game industry, sweeping the world and creating a valuation of 100 billion]. 七禾网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-09-12. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  3. Geng, Kangqi 耿康祁 (2022-06-20). "这3个后生，比马化腾、张一鸣还狠" [These three young people are more ruthless than Ma Huateng and Zhang Yiming!]. 华商韬略 [Chinese Business Strategy] (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-09-19 – via The Paper.
  4. "中国少年科学院首批小院士" [The first batch of junior academicians of the Chinese Youth Academy of Sciences]. China Youth Daily (in Chinese). 1999-02-11. Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-09-19 – via Sina Corporation.
  5. Bu, Jing 步静, ed. (2019-02-22). "别人家的孩子太优秀！这些"85后"正踏上IPO征途" [Other people's children are amazing! These "post-85s" are embarking on the IPO journey]. Shanghai Securities Journal (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-09-12. Retrieved 2022-09-12 – via National Business Daily.
  6. Lin, Hongyan 林红艳 (2022-03-09). Kang, Linghua 康玲华 (ed.). "米哈游CEO蔡浩宇上学时就研发网游 公司却因"兔女郎"引轩然大波" [Mihayou CEO Cai Haoyu developed online games when he was in school, but the company caused an uproar because of the "bunny girl"]. 运营商财经 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-09-12. Retrieved 2022-09-12 – via NetEase.
  7. "蔡浩宇：《崩坏学院2》做自己喜欢的游戏" [Cai Haoyu: "Houkai Gakuen 2" as your favorite game]. GameLook (in Chinese). 2014-07-14. Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  8. "初代『マクロス』が原点！『崩壊3rd』を作ったメーカーは日本のサブカル大好き集団だった！マルチプレイの情報も明らかに" [The original "Macross" is the origin! The maker who made "Houkai 3rd" was a Japanese subculture-loving group! Multiplayer information revealed]. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2017-04-12. Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  9. Wei, Zhong 卫中 (2020-07-08). Jiang, Fang 姜方; Xing, Xiaofang 邢晓芳 (eds.). "从10万无息贷款到20亿营收，米哈游专注打造一代人的二次元记忆" [From 100,000 interest-free loans to 2 billion revenue, miHoYo focuses on creating two-dimensional memory for a generation]. Wenhui Bao (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-01-29. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  10. Chen, Yuxi 陈宇曦 (2019-02-27). Sun, Fu 孙扶; Luan, Meng 栾梦 (eds.). "向上生长的民企｜米哈游总裁：做出好游戏需要耐心和匠心" [Upward-growing private enterprise｜President of miHoYo: Patience and ingenuity are required to make a good game]. The Paper (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  11. "上海企业年会"包场"背后，是年轻人走向台前的故事" [Behind the "private space" of the annual corporate meeting in Shanghai is the story of young people walking to the front of the stage]. GameLook (in Chinese). 2020-12-21. Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
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