A Chinese billionaire known as a pioneer in the online video game industry has become the second-largest foreign owner of land in the United States, thanks to nearly 200,000 acres of forested land in Oregon.
Chen Tianchao, 50, bought the vast tract of land in Oregon from Fidelity National Financial Ventures in 2015 for $85 million, or about $430 an acre. According to the land reportlists the Chinese-born, California-based businessman as the 82nd largest real estate owner in America.
Despite the acquisition nearly a decade ago, the magazine only added Mr. Chen to its list of top 100 landlords this week.
Mr. Chen is the only person on the list of foreign owners after Canada's Irving family.
The Irving family owns 1.2 million acres of forest land in Maine, ranking No. 6 in the Land Report rankings.
Chen made his fortune by founding the online gaming company Shanda Interactive in 1999.
Within five years, the company was one of China's largest internet companies, producing popular games such as “The Word of Legend,” “Dungeons & Dragons Online” and “Final Fantasy XIV.”
The company raised $152 million and was also listed on the US Nasdaq. This was his largest IPO for a Chinese internet company in the United States. According to Shanda's website.
By 2012, Mr. Chen had taken the company private, stepped down as CEO, and moved his holding group, Shanda Investment Group, from China to Singapore.
As of 2024, Forbes estimates Chen's net worth at $1 billion, down from a peak of $1.5 billion a decade ago.
Representatives for Mr. Chen at Shanda did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
Rural real estate has become popular with ultra-high-net-worth investors in recent years, with the average price of farmland in the U.S. rising 8.1% in 2023 alone, Bloomberg reported, citing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It has become an asset.
The value of American farmland has increased by more than a third since 2020, according to the USDA.
The country's largest landowners, according to the Land Report rankings, are the Emerson family, owners of the forestry empire Sierra Pacific Industries, media billionaires John Malone and Ted Turner, and sports giants. Industry great Stan Kroenke will follow.
According to Shanda's website, Chen's investments include U.S. real estate as well as public and private equity and ventures.
Chen and his wife Chrissy Luo purchased the Vanderbilt Mansion on East 69th Street in Manhattan in 2018 for $39 million. In 2021, he was involved in the $25 million purchase of the historic Seeley Mudd Estate outside Los Angeles.
The couple's philanthropic efforts include an initial $115 million founding gift to the Tianchao and Chrissy Chen Neuroscience Institute at the California Institute of Technology in 2016.
According to the institute's website“This is an important component of neuroscience efforts aimed at increasing our understanding of the structure of the brain and how it functions at the most fundamental level.”
