Chester Koo

Chester Koo (Chinese: 辜啟允; pinyin: Gū Qǐyǔn; Wade–Giles: Ku Ch'i-yün; 1952–2001) was a Taiwanese business executive. He was a third-generation member of the Koo family, a prominent business family in Taiwan.

Chester Koo
辜啟允
Born	1952 Taipei, Taiwan
Died	24 December 2001(2001-12-24) (aged 48–49) Taipei, Taiwan
Nationality	Republic of China
Education	Tunghai University (BA) University of Pennsylvania (MBA)
Father	Koo Chen-fu
Relatives	Leslie Koo (brother)

Early life and education

Koo was in 1952 in Taipei.^[1] After graduating from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School, he studied economics as an undergraduate at Tunghai University and graduated with a bachelor's degree. He then completed graduate studies in the United States, earning a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.^[2][3]

Life and career

After his graduation and subsequent return to Taiwan, Koo managed a branch of Chinatrust Bank, and at age 35 was appointed president of the China Life Insurance Company.^[4]

Koo later led many other Koos Group (KGI) subsidiaries and was active in the media industry.^[5] He was responsible for KGI's 1997 acquisition of Chinese Television Network (CTN).^[6]

Koo eventually sold CTN in January 2000, having never turned a profit.^[6] In an attempt to increase the market share of China Network Systems [zh] (CNS), a cable company owned by KGI, Koo restructured CNS and sought investors to form a media conglomerate, becoming partners with Rupert Murdoch in the process.^[7] Though he was credited with helping Koos Group gain a foothold in new industries,^[6] many of Koo's investments were also regarded as risky, and multiple ventures lost money.^[8] He resigned his position at China Life in December 2001.^[9]

As a result, Koo became less involved with Koos Group business ventures, except for Hoshin Gigamedia Center Inc. which he had founded in October 1998.^[10] Under his leadership, GigaMedia reached an agreement with Microsoft and began working on a set-top box design suitable for broadband Internet via cable services. In November 1999, Microsoft bought a ten percent stake in GigaMedia.^[11] The next year, GigaMedia began work with Yahoo Inc. on building a website which offered multimedia entertainment to GigaMedia customers.^[12]

Shortly after leaving China Life, Koo died from gallbladder cancer on 24 December 2001, aged 49.^[13] Later, Leslie Koo split Koos Group holdings with cousin Jeffrey Koo. Together, the two returned KGI to profitability.^[14]

Personal life

Chester Koo's father Koo Chen-fu and younger brother Leslie Koo were also businessmen. Chester Koo's only son was Koo Kung-yi.^[15]