‘Free Fire’ game creator Forrest Li earns a spot on the world’s billionaires list
Forrest Li is now a billionaire at the age of 41. The founder of Singapore’s tech unicorn, Sea, made it onto the world’s billionaires list thanks to a 13.8 per cent stake worth roughly US$1 billion, Bloomberg reported on Friday last week.
The company owns gaming service Garena and e-commerce site Shopee, both of which are expected to see a spike in earnings in the coming year, Bloomberg said. It also counts Chinese giant Tencent as a shareholder.
China-born Li, now a Singapore citizen, once worked for Motorola in Shanghai, and graduated with an MBA from Stanford University.
Business Insider compiled five facts to know about the new billionaire:
1. Li is only the second person in the world to become a billionaire thanks to an online game. The first was Tim Sweeney, creator of Fortnite, a top game worldwide.
Li founded gaming company Garena – later rebranded as Sea – in 2009.
Bloomberg attributed Li’s new wealth mostly to the success of Garena’s game Free Fire, which Bloomberg dubbed “the Fortnite of Singapore”.
Free Fire is the world’s fourth most downloaded game, with more than 350 million registered users.
2. Last year, Li was the 42nd richest person in Singapore.
According to Forbes’ list of Singapore’s 50 Richest People, Li entered the ranks of Singapore’s wealthiest after listing Sea on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2017.
His net worth in 2018 was US$545 million, beating out the only other person in the gaming industry: Razer founder Tan Min-Liang (45th place). Both men are the same age.
3: Li chose his English name after watching the movie Forrest Gump.
According to Bloomberg, Li was born in Tianjin and studied engineering at a university in Shanghai, where he spent most nights playing games at an internet cafe till dawn.
At a college English class, he took the name Forrest when the American lecturer asked each student to come up with a Western name. Li’s Chinese name is Xiaodong.
While most of his classmates chose Michael (after basketball superstar Michael Jordan), Li – who Bloomberg described as “shy” and “a self-professed outlier”, said he identified most with the lead character in the movie Forrest Gump.
4. He was there when Steve Jobs gave that famous “stay hungry, stay foolish” speech – and it became his life motto.
Li met his wife at Stanford and attended her graduation ceremony in 2005 – the same one where Apple founder Steve Jobs was invited to speak, Bloomberg said.
Jobs’ speech inspired Li, who played the speech on YouTube every day “for months” to gather the courage to start Garena.
He has lived by Jobs’ “stay hungry, stay foolish” mantra ever since, Bloomberg said.
5. He started Garena in Singapore thanks to his wife.
The reason Li started up Garena in Singapore was thanks to his wife’s six-year scholarship bond with local company Temasek Holdings.
The two dated in the US, and when Li’s wife left for Singapore fulfil her contract, his father advised him to follow her there, so as not to allow the relationship to die, The Straits Times reported.
The gamble paid off – the couple married and now have two children aged six and one. Li’s wife has been working at Temasek Holdings ever since.
Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
Sea founder Li chose his English name after watching the movie ‘Forest Gump’