Focus Malaysia issue 143, 29 August 2015
ALMOST everyone in the local information technology (IT) circle speaks highly of Goh Peng Ooi, the founder and group executive chairman of Silverlake Axis Ltd. In fact, he is regarded as a torchbearer
for the local IT industry where the number of homegrown software firms which have become successful internationally can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Goh is considered by many as Malaysia’s first tech billionaire, having started his career at IBM in the 1980s. Industry estimates Silverlake Axis provides financial software to about half the banks in South-
east Asia. Educated in Tokyo, he started off studying nuclear physics but later switched to electrical engineering.
Goh, 61, is listed in the Forbes Malaysia rich list with an estimated net worth of US$1.55 bil (RM6.5 bil). As of September last year, his wholly-owned company Intelligentsia Holding Ltd owned a 66.4%
stake in Silverlake. Coupled with his immense wealth, some industry players say the release of the anonymous report “The Unbelievable Financial Alchemy of Silverlake Axis” may in fact be a personal attack on Goh.
“Goh, being the poster boy of the industry, may be a victim of his success unfortunately,” says an IT official....
