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GOLDSEA 100
No. 2: Cyrus Tang
Tang Industries Inc
he most secretive of Asian American billionaires hides out near the haunt of famous recluse Howard Hughes. Cyrus Tang moved the headquarters of Tang Industries Inc, and of his primary residence, from Chicago to Las Vegas back in 1995. But Tang's lines of business don't match the glamour and hush-hush cache of defense-contractor and onetime aerospace giant Hughes Industries. Tang's prosaic products are industrial steel, scrap metal and aluminum under the name of National Materials, heavy-duty office furniture under the GF brand and obscure drugs under the name of Curatek Pharmaceuticals.
Tang Industries hasn't enjoyed much growth the past three years. In fact, 1998 revenues of $975 million represents a 30% drop from its peak in 1995. On the other hand, Tang's operations remain solidly profitable, more than can be said for many of the computer-hardware based companies that make up the GoldSea 100. What's more, whatever his companies make, is all his. Unlike most entrepreneurs who manage to get up to the big leagues, Cyrus Tang did it without giving up any equity.
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Tang got into business back in 1960 when he helped start a company called Electronetics in Chicago to stamp and laminate transformers and motors. Four years later he set up his first steel service center under the name of National Material Corporation. In 1971 he formed the Tang Industries umbrella to consolidate his diverse interests under a more manageable structure. Today his businesses employ about 3,400 in over 40 locations including the U.S., China, Canada and Mexico.
Cyrus Tang was born in 1930 in Chiangsu Province near Shanghai. He came to the U.S. in 1950 and attended Widener University and the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is married and has two kids, a middle-aged son named Michael who works for Dad as a key executive and a middle-aged daughter he declines to identify other than to describe her as "just a housewife."
A half century in the U.S. hasn't robbed Tang of his accent. He speaks in a surprisingly brusque, somewhat halting tones more evocative of the stereotype of a Japanese samurai than a Chinese businessman. Tang owns "many houses all over the world", in his own words, but he spends most of his time in the ones in Las Vegas and Chicago. He grudgingly admits to playing some golf and tennis as time permits.
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| Unlike most entrepreneurs who get up into the big leagues, Cyrus Tang did it without giving up equity. |