Wang Sicong: China’s “richest son” is also a leading esports investor

Son of Wanda founder Wang Jianlin, Wang Sicong is notorious for his playboy persona. He is a huge investor in Chinese esports, through Invictus Gaming and streaming site Panda TV.

League of Legends

Josh Ye

Published: 7:31pm, 11 Sep, 2018

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This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Wang Sicong is one of China’s biggest investors in the country’s fast-emerging online entertainment business. He is owner of streaming platform Panda TV, entertainment company Banana Culture and esports club Invictus Gaming.

Dubbed “China’s richest son” and “China’s most eligible bachelor”, Wang is also known for courting controversy with his playboy lifestyle and lavish displays of wealth -- as the son of billionaire Wang Jianlin, owner of the Dalian Wanda Group.

Dalian Wanda is the world's biggest private property developer and owner of the world's largest cinema chain, Wanda Cinemas and the Hoyts Group. The Beijing-based conglomerate also owns AMC Theatres and Legendary Entertainment.

Educated at Winchester College and University College London in the United Kingdom, Wang Sicong returned to China… and started streaming himself playing video games. He was later reportedly given 500 million yuan (US$73 million) by his father, with which he founded private equity firm Prometheus Capital.

In 2011, Wang founded Invictus Gaming, which has teams competing in League of Legends, Dota 2 and StarCraft II. Invictus Gaming has one of the most successful League of Legends teams in China’s professional league LPL. Wang himself is a registered member of his own team, and even played one game for Invictus in a professional match.

(He wasn’t great, but his team won, and he immediately retired to preserve his winning record.)

In 2015, Wang started Panda TV. The platform has grown to become one of China’s biggest streaming websites alongside Huya and Douyu -- but there are reports that Panda TV is struggling financially. Wang also founded Banana Culture in 2015, which hosts entertainment events and promotes artists.

While Wang is considered one of the most important figures in China’s nascent esports scene, he also openly embraces his playboy celebrity persona in the style of Tony Stark, by throwing extremely lavish parties and for posting pictures which flaunt his wealth.

He once posted US$400,000 worth of receipts from a karaoke bar on social media. There are also instances where he posted pictures of his dog wearing two gold Apple Watches (worth more than US$37,000) and being surrounded by eight iPhone 7 boxes.

(He says he flaunted his wealth to… shame others for flaunting their wealth. We don’t really get it either.)

Wang publicly shamed the rich by showing that he is a super rich. (Picture: Wang Sicong/Weibo)

Wang also prides himself on his ability to offend, regularly trading barbs with A-list celebrities. And Wang, a bachelor, also said that his girlfriend must have big breasts.

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