2nd May 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A Maths tutor in China has become a billionaire based on his company’s growth on the stock market. Liu Yachao is the chief operating officer of TAL Education Group, a tutoring company based in Beijing, and he recently became the company’s second billionaire after their stock more than doubled in the last year according to a report on Bloomberg’s website.
Liu is 36 and joined TAL as a maths tutor, and in 2005 became their director of middle school tuition. He has also been in charge of teacher training and network operation, before taking his current post as COO. Liu’s 4.7% stake has just passed $1 billion and makes him the company’s second billionaire after Zhang Bangxin who is worth $6.6 billion.
Chinese parents spend an average of over $40,000 on their children’s education, and 93% of parents pay for a private tutor. This has driven TAL’s value to more than $21 billion and makes them by far the biggest private education provider in China. Connie Gu, an analyst at Bocom International said that TAL’s earnings were primarily driven by enrolment growth.