TECH - Meet BYD Chief Wang Chuanfu Who Charlie Munger Said Is 'Better At Actually Making Things' Than Tesla CEO Elon Musk | Benzinga
Wang Chuanfu, the 57-year-old billionaire founder and CEO of BYD Co. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF), has steered the Chinese automaker onto the global stage, positioning it as a formidable contender poised to outpace even Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) in fully electric vehicle sales.
Early Days
Wang’s journey from an impoverished village in eastern China’s Anhui province to leading a pioneering force in the automotive industry is nothing short of remarkable.
His roots in Wuwei shaped his resilience, facing the loss of his parents as a teenager and relying on support from older siblings for his education. His early career centered around mid-level government research in Beijing, focusing on rare-earth metals crucial to batteries and electronics.
Starting BYD
In 1995, armed with a loan from a friend, Wang founded BYD in Shenzhen. The company, under Wang’s leadership, was the first Chinese lithium-ion supplier to Motorola and Nokia in ...