Taipan (corporate title)


A taipan, sometimes spelled tai-pan, is a foreign-born senior business executive or entrepreneur operating in mainland China or Hong Kong. The term Taipan also refers to the mixed political, social, and business oligarch families in the Philippines.

History

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, taipans were foreign-born businessmen who headed large hong trading houses such as Jardine, Matheson & Co., Swire and Dent & Co., amongst others.
The first recorded use of the term in English is in the Canton Register of 28October 1834. Historical variant spellings include taepan and typan.

Politico-business oligarchs in the Philippines

Taipans also refer to the Chinese-Filipino business oligarchs and business families who own or have involvement in various businesses in the Philippines and are the powerful billionaire-founders of Chinese-Filipino business empires. Some of them are also able to control, gain ownership to either temporary or permanent and wholly or partially, and have involvement on Philippine politics and the country's other sectors like mass media, energy, electricity, and many more.
Examples of taipans are: The López family of Iloilo of Lopez Holdings Corporation which includes ABS-CBN Corporation and its namesake media and content distribution company; Sy family of SM Investments and private concessionaire of the Philippine government-owned National Transmission Corporation and temporary owner of Philippine power grid portions acquired and designated from January 15, 2009 National Grid Corporation of the Philippines through vice-chairman Henry T. Sy Jr. with the latter also along with Robert Coyiuto Jr.; Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation; and Lucio Tan of Philippine Airlines.

In popular culture

The term gained wide currency outside China after the publication of Somerset Maugham's 1922 short story "The Taipan" and James Clavell's 1966 novel Tai-Pan, which was adapted into a 1986 film of the same name, directed by Daryl Duke.
The term was used to describe the protagonist's family in J. G. Ballard's 1984 novel Empire of the Sun.

Notable taipans

  • Anthony John Liddell Nightingale, Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong
  • William Jardine, Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong
  • James Matheson, Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong
  • Lawrence Kadoorie, China Light and Power, Hong Kong
  • Alasdair Morrison, Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong
  • Simon Murray, Hutchison Whampoa, Hong Kong
  • Percy Weatherall, Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong
  • William Keswick, Scotland
  • Merlin Bingham Swire, England
  • Douglas Lapraik, England
  • John Johnstone Paterson, Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong