Artifact Details

Title

Wadsworth, Jack oral history part 2 of 3

Catalog Number

102781104

Type

Moving image

Description

Jack Wadsworth is an Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley and Honorary Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia. In this three-part oral history, Wadsworth discusses a storied career in investment banking driven by his pursuit of “the next big thing.”

Wadsworth recounts studying economics at Williams College and attending business school at the University of Chicago. In 1963, Wadsworth joined First Boston’s investment banking department, where he became Head of Japan and worked on the Amdahl Computer IPO. He joined Morgan Stanley in 1978 as a partner and was soon responsible for raising the firm’s first private equity fund. He describes his work on Apple’s IPO and how the firm’s relatively small underwriting fee (as compared to that of Hambrecht & Quist, whose return included their gain on a VC investment) helped him convince Morgan Stanley to open a venture capital business. From 1987-1991, during his time as President of Morgan Stanley Japan, he helped to deregulate Japanese financial markets and to focus stock and bond market price formation on supply and demand.

In 1991, Wadsworth became Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and moved to Hong Kong. From this position, he spearheaded the creation of China International Capital Corporation (CICC), the first joint venture investment bank in China. In these early days for the investment banking and securities industries in China, CICC’s work to privatize Chinese government-owned organizations helped to dramatically increase capital market flows. Morgan Stanley also carried out IPOs for Sina.com and AsiaInfo, the first Chinese internet companies to go public on NASDAQ. CICC’s work played a key role in developing a trusted efficient capital market, which was unprecedented within an emerging economy of China’s size.

Representing one of few foreign investment banking firms in Hong Kong, Wadsworth’s group also helped to merge the Future’s Exchange with the Stock Exchange and was one of the lead managers that took the Stock Exchange public. This work played an important role in developing Hong Kong as a global and international market with a unique partnership between the international firms and the regulator. Wadsworth also oversaw Morgan Stanley operations in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia, as well as a joint venture in India.

In 2001, Wadsworth retired in San Francisco and became honorary chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia as well as an Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley. He focused his attention on bioscience and climate change, as well as the U.S.-China relationship. Partnering with his son, he cofounded Ceyuan Ventures, a leading early stage venture capital firm in Beijing. He also speaks about his work to revitalize the economy and community of North Adams, Massachusetts, and discusses his involvement with the UCSF Foundation, Mission Bay Capital, QB3, MBC BioLabs, and the Asia Society. He describes his efforts to promote the adoption of renewable energy sources in China, and closes by offering words of advice to the next generation.

Date

2019-04-15

Participants

Hancock, Marguerite Gong, Interviewer
Wadsworth, Jack, Interviewee

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Place of Publication

Mountain VIew, CA

Duration

02:15:59

Format

MOV

Category

Oral history

Collection Title

CHM Oral History Collection

Credit

Computer History Museum

Lot Number

X8972.2019