Li Ruigang: Shanghai’s rising media star set to rejuvenate TVB
Known as 'China's Rupert Murdoch', Li Ruigang climbed the ranks in Shanghai and has the expertise to help rejuvenate the broadcaster
Li Ruigang is a man who wears many hats.
Among them, he heads Shanghai's largest media group, chairs a gargantuan private equity fund and is a board member of the world's largest advertising firm.
Now he has a new one as the first major mainland investor in Television Broadcasts (TVB), marking what could be a watershed in his career after his China Media Capital (CMC) bought a stake in Young Lion Holdings.
"He is set to morph into a media business guru though he rose through the local bureaucracy," said an official with Shanghai Media Group (SMG). "His interest is in the business world rather than climbing the political ladder."
Li, 46, has been dubbed by many industry insiders as "China's Rupert Murdoch" for orchestrating several high-profile deals with the potential to bring far-reaching changes to the mainland's media landscape.
In 2009, Li founded CMC, an investment fund that attracted capital from the likes of China Development Bank and SMG when he was president of the media giant that controls Shanghai's major television and radio station.