David Teoh

David Siang Hai Teoh is an Australian businessman, and the 25th-richest person in Australia, estimated to be worth approximately US$2.9 billion.[1]

He is the executive chairman of TPG, a company he founded with his Taiwanese wife Vicky in 1992 after emigrating from Malaysia in 1986.

TPG started off as a computer retail company, but several acquisitions including the purchase of a mobile spectrum licence, have contributed to its success as a major internet service provider.[2]

In August 2018, Teoh announced TPG was in discussions with Vodafone Hutchinson Australia about a proposed $13 billion merger.[3] Teoh’s only comment about the proposed merger was the pricing would be “very aggressive” and that it would bring value to the customer.[4] It was blocked by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on the grounds that it would lessen consumer choice in both the internet and mobile phone markets.[5] But in early 2020 Vodafone and TPG were granted permission by the Federal Court to merge, paving the way for the stalled $15 billion deal to finally proceed.[6]

Famously reclusive, Teoh has only been photographed in public twice. A photographer staked out his house for three days in 2015,[5] and in 2019 the proposed merger with Vodafone obliged him to attend court.

His four sons, Shane, Jack, John and Bob, have launched more than a dozen startup companies dealing in clothing, furniture, technology, and eyeglasses. Vicky Teoh has her own substantial investments, including Vita Life Sciences Ltd, a pharmaceutical and healthcare company.[7]